Maison Fossier Charles VII Au Chocolat Noir Craquant

These biscuits come from the oldest biscuiterie in France, established in Reims in 1756. This features dark chocolate, and is made in the traditional method. The ingredient listing is good, for a cookie, wheat flour, dark chocolate (sugar, cocoa mass, cocoa butter, soy lecithin), sugar, concentrated butter (milk), eggs, dextrose, salt, baking powder and flavour.

How do they taste? The biscuit is crispy, a good biscuit, the dark chocolate is fairly sweet but does work well with the biscuits. I think these are pretty good, not great biscuits. From the box, it looks like they might have some with more interesting ingredients, like rose, but I don't have a source for this kind, nor any other kind. The box of 8 biscuits was $6, so a little pricey.

Rivi's Guilt Free Cookies - Chocolate

Another of Rivi's Guilt Free Cookies I tried was their chocolate one; the Granola with Dark Chocolate Chunks was fairly hard and difficult to eat — these ones were much softer and better tasting overall. The softness comes from prune puree and apple sauce, other ingredients include untreated flour, cane sugar, cocoa and egg whites. I thought these were much tastier than the Granola ones, they were quite soft yet chewy, and I would enjoy eating these or similar ones.

Rivi's Guilt Free Cookies - Granola with 70% Dark Chocolate Chunks

Rivi's makes cookies that are, well, guilt free, at least free of the "bad" things in cookies, such as butter, margarine and oil; they are low sodium, dairy and nut free; and have no preservatives nor artificial flavouring or colour. They are also made in Canada, in Toronto, and can be found in health food stores and some supermarkets. The granola is made of oats, barley and spelt; the sweetening, and binding, is from honey and brown rice syrup. Throw in 70% dark chocolate chunks, and you have an interesting cookie.

Ok, these might be good for you, and don't have any of the bad stuff, but they are hard — not crunchy, but hard, and a cookie I would not want to eat on a regular basis, and not be concerned about my teeth. Otherwise, they tasted good.

Kullanard Premium Durian Cookies

Kullanard makes several different baked goods featuring foods from Thailand, including mangosteen, and this one made from freeze-dried real durian. The goodness of the durian is offset by the other ingredients not found in health food stores (where we found it), including sugar and margarine. These cookies were crunchy, with the good taste and smell of durian. Not something I would eat on a regular basis, don't know that durian really works in a cookie.

Flourless Chocolate Cashew Cookies

Having eaten the combination of chocolate and cashew before, and enjoyed the flavour combination, I thought to make this version of the Flourless Cashew Cookies recipe that I had made earlier. I'm still playing the ingredient combinations, but these turned out like puffy cookies that stick a little to the roof of your mouth. An interesting combination, and one that came with great taste. This is a definite make-again cookie.

Flourless Chocolate Cashew Cookies 1 cup cashew butter 100 g good dark chocolate (70%) 1/2 cup xylitol 1/4 cup soft tofu 1 tsp baking soda 1/4 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 180C/350F. Heat chocolate over double boiler until just melted. Mix ingredients in medium bowl. Using two small spoons, form into ball using heaped 1 teaspoon of dough for each cookie. Arrange on 2 baking sheets lined with parchment paper, spacing 2 inches apart.

Bake cookies until puffed, golden on bottom and still soft to touch in center, about 12 minutes. Cool on sheets 5 minutes. Transfer to racks; cool completely.

Flourless Cashew Cookies

Having enjoyed Sweets from the Earth Flourless Cashew Cookies and looking round the 'Net for a recipe that would duplicate it, I managed to cobble together this recipe. Sweets from the Earth uses tofu to replace egg or oil (and don't call them Flourless Cashew Tofu Cookies, which I debated doing). Most of the original recipes also called for 1 cup of sugar; I decreased it by half as you can see, with little loss in flavour. I still have to work on this to make it more of a firm cookie, was thinking of removing some of the oil that comes with the cashew butter. Still, these were quite tasty and easy to make! Finally, like peanut butter, these stick a little to the roof of the mouth.

Flourless Cashew Cookies 1 cup cashew butter 1/2 cup golden brown cane sugar 1/4 cup soft tofu 1 tsp baking soda 1/4 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 180C/350F. Mix ingredients in medium bowl. Using two small spoons, form into ball using heaped 1 teaspoon of dough for each cookie. Arrange on 2 baking sheets lined with parchment paper, spacing 2 inches apart.

Bake cookies until puffed, golden on bottom and still soft to touch in center, about 12 minutes. Cool on sheets 5 minutes. Transfer to racks; cool completely.

Sweets from the Earth Flourless Cashew Cookies

I liked these the first time I tried them, later I picked up this box at Whole Foods. Sweets from the Earth makes a number of healthier baked goods - the list is very long - all natural; gluten free; 100% vegan; dairy free; egg free; cholesterol free; lactose free; 0 trans fats; low in sodium; no refined sugars; low in saturated fat; GMO free; nothing artificial; no preservatives. These cookies are flourless, and eggless (they use tofu instead of an egg), and have only a few ingredients - cashew butter, evaporated cane juice, tofu, baking soda and salt (the evaporated cane juice and tofu are Organic).

But healthy doesn't necessarily mean not decadent or tasty, these certainly are quite tasty. They remind me very much like a peanut butter cookie, with a similar flavour, though different. Something I hope to enjoy often - I might even have found a recipe to make them myself.

Kambly Bretzli

As you might know, I like picking up interesting baked goods. These looked intriguing, they are Swiss waffle thins made by Oscar Kambly since 1910. These came in a special Christmas tin. I didn't realize how thin they were, until I opened up the package, when I though waffles, I thought thicker. Biting into them, they are crisp and drier versions that waffles, but do have the flavour of waffles. The ingredients look fairly good, at least they don't have many unpronounceable chemicals, and have similar ingredients to what I would expect waffles to be made from, save that they use coconut oil (not a bad ingredient). I think they are pretty good, though expensive ($8 for this box, essentially 250 g of waffles).

President's Choice The World's Best All-Butter Scottish Shortbreads

I like shortbread, and especially Scottish shortbread, there’s nothing like this biscuit made from very good butter and only a few ingredients (flour, butter, sugar). This shortbread from President’s Choice has that short ingredient listing; they use demerera sugar rather than just white sugar.

How do they taste? I wouldn’t say they are the World’s Best, but they are a pretty good shortbread. I think they would have been better to make a smaller cookie, most of them were quite flaky, as they should be, but broke when I picked them up (and who wants to lose part of a good cookie). I probably just might buy these again sometime.

Mesquite Pistachio Cocoa Nib Cookies

I’ve seen mesquite pod meal now in quite a few places, before it was really unknown in Canada. I like the smell of the mesquite baking, it gives kind of a smokiness to the cookie. This is a variation on a honey based chocolate chip cookie recipe that is one of my favourites. This is the second of two desserts I baked today, with pistachios and cocoa nibs. The raw cocoa powder kind of disappeared, it certainly didn’t turn the dough brown; perhaps I had to add more.

Mesquite Pistachio Cocoa Nib Cookies
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 cup mesquite pod meal
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp raw cocoa powder
1/4 cup cane sugar
1/2 cup light muscovado sugar
1/4 cup butter, slightly softened
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 tsp honey
1/4 cup cocoa nibs
1/2 cup pistachios, chopped

Preheat oven to 375F/190C.

Combine flours, soda, cocoa powder and salt and whisk together.

Cream together butter and sugars. Add egg and beat until fully incorporated. Stir in vanilla and honey.

Add dry ingredients to the sugar mixture in two additions. Stir in cocoa nibs and pistachios.

Drop by heaping teaspoonfuls onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes, or until cookies all golden all over.

Cool for 2 minutes on baking sheet, then transfer to a rack.

More "Adult" Carob-Quinoa Chews

I made a more traditional version of this recipe earlier, substituting carob for cocoa and quinoa puffs for millet puffs. The recipe I took this from is called Cocoa Millet Chews, from Health by Chocolate by Victoria Laine, which contains a number of more healthy recipes that are made from chocolate. I mean more adult, in the sense of, I think these would be less likely to be eaten by young children; the adult ingredients are pistachios, cocoa nibs and currants. Thinking about it now, I could even have added some Frangelico to it, to make it even more “adult”. Otherwise, they still taste good, a chewy, crunchy bite; the cashew butter is tasty too. They were well received at work.

More “Adult” Carob-Quinoa Chews
adapted from a recipe from Health by Chocolate by Victoria Laine
1 cup cashew butter (almond or other nut butter)
1 cup honey (pure maple syrup or brown rice syrup)
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup carob powder (cocoa powder)
1/4 cup pistachios, chopped
1/4 cup cocoa nibs
1/4 cup dried currants
1 to 1-1/2 cups puffed quinoa cereal (millet)

Heat cashew butter and honey on medium heat or double boiler, stirring constantly, until mixture just begins to bubble (about 2-3 minutes).

Take off heat and stir in vanilla.

Mix in sifted carob powder and puffed cereal. Add nuts and cocoa nibs and mix well. Cool several minutes.

Mold into balls. Cool on counter or in refrigerator until firm.

President's Choice The Decadent Chocolate Chunk Cookies

I did like President's Choice The Decadent Chocolate Chip Cookie, made with their The Decadent Semi-Sweet Chocolate, this is very similar to that cookie, but with chunks of chocolate rather than chips of chocolate. Or so their picture on the package shows, very large chunks of chocolate. The actual cookies don't seem to have very large chunks of bulging chocolate pieces. So, I don't see what the difference is between the two. Still good, but not as good as one I can make.

Late July Vanilla Bean with Green Tea Sandwich Cookies

This is the second of Late July's sandwich cookies that I tried; the first one was Dark Chocolate - which was not "Intense and Decadent" but pretty good nonetheless. These cookies are a better, more nutritious version of a sandwich cookie, they contain whole grains and antioxidants, produced without pesticides or trans fats or high fructose corn syrup or artificial flavours, colours or preservatives; a lot of their ingredients are organic as well.

How do they taste? Pretty good, though I prefer the Dark Chocolate one, and I didn't get much of the Green Tea flavour, though it was vanilla-y enough. These are expensive enough, too, that I couldn't eat them on a regular basis.

President's Choice Whole Wheat Hazelnut Cantuccini Mini Biscotti

I like the idea of this twice-baked cookie (which is what biscotti means) having whole wheat, a healthier version of this treat. It also has honey in it, another good ingredient, as well as butter. The hazelnuts were whole before the individual pieces were sliced. These taste pretty good, not too sweet, and with good hazelnut flavour. I would say, that I would eat these again, and it gives me an idea to make my own version.

Late July Dark Chocolate Sandwich Cookies

I have seen these cookies in various health food stores, and decided to finally try them (being on sale). They have several flavours of sandwich cookies, this one we picked out, as it is supposed to be dark chocolate. Late July's cookies are a better, more nutritious version of a sandwich cookie, they contain whole grains and antioxidants, produced without pesticides or trans fats or high fructose corn syrup or artificial flavours, colours or preservatives; a lot of their ingredients are organic as well. So saying, a lot of the ingredients are what give commercial sandwich cookies flavour, so how did these taste? Pretty good, I enjoyed them, as well did my beautiful Bride (who liked their crispiness). They were definitely thinner than most sandwich cookies I've eaten in my day, but I didn't miss the thickness. The only nice thing that I would like, is that they were cheaper.

Lu Noir Extreme Cocoa Beans

I've tried other cookies from the French baker LU, but this one I like the most so far. This is one of their Premium products, and is thus, one, expensive; two, has small cookies; and three, has a small number of cookies. You look at the packaging when you open the box, and you could easily fit another pocket of cookies, or make them bigger. So, saying, I like the dark chocolate 70% coating, and the interesting creme and cocoa nibs filling. I just wish, maybe, that they were a little bigger, so I could enjoy more than one bite each.

Salzburg Schokolade Haselnuss-Mignon

This is more like Manner's Haselnuss-Mignon, but tastes better. Still not as good as the version that is not coated with chocolate, Salzburg Sweet's Haselnuss-Schnitten. The ingredients are pretty typical of store-bought wafer cookies, ie. this ain't your health cookie. So, don't be eating half a bag of these, like my friend did once (and I know lots of people who could eat the whole bag if they wanted). You can find these in most supermarkets. I don't know the relationship between Salzburg Sweets and Salzburg Schokolade, but I believe they are related, the packaging is very similar.

Falcone Almond Cookies

These are very much like little biscotti, quite crispy with large almond pieces. Certainly, they are crunchy too, though the almond-lover in my family doesn't like them much, they are too 'eggy'. I see they have a little bit of honey in them. They come from Abruzzo, Italy (which I don't know is a good thing or not, just a fact). We found them at Highland Farms in Mississauga.

President's Choice The Decadent Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies

I read in the President's Choice Insider Report, that this cookie won the Chosen By You survey, as the most desired cookie flavour. This is the fourth cookie in 'The Decadent' line of cookies, all containing 'The Decadent' semi-sweet chocolate (okay, the one has white chocolate - it's the reverse of their signature and most popular chocolate chip cookie). There is lots of crunchy peanut butter, milk chocolate and semi-sweet chocolate chips in this cookie. Do I agree with it being the most desired cookie flavour. Well, no. I used to like peanut butter cookies, made a few in my day, and like the combination of peanut butter and chocolate (Reese owes me nothing), but I don't really care for this particular cookie. There is an underlying flavour to this cookie, that I do not care really care for, perhaps the peanut butter is not to my taste. I do like their The Decadent chocolate chip cookie.

Dare Mini Whippet Limited Edition

A co-worker of mine has an in on Dare goods, and often brings in new products from them. The Limited Edition part of these chocolate marshmallow cookies is that the coating is 70% cocoa dark chocolate. And, really the only reason I was interested in these, as I find the marshmallow part too sweet. The chocolate does taste fairly good, and is simply made, just chocolate liquor, sugar, soya lecithin and natural flavour. From the outside, it looks like it was a Limited Edition product around Christmas, or at least in Winter.