Product: Sunstart Chocolate Wrapped Golden Crunch Cookies – $6.50+
There are very few cookies in this life that I have met that I haven’t wanted to just shove into my mouth and devour. Honestly. There are flavors I prefer to others and certain brands I would buy ahead of others. There are ones I would make before I made others. But there aren’t a lot that I would take one bite and just…feel so unimpressed.
But that was how I felt when I cracked open my box of Sunstart Chocolate Wrapped Golden Crunch Cookies.
I had never seen this brand before in my life. However, the Gluten-Free Trading Company in Milwaukee, Wisconsin had them on their shelves. And as I was making a conscious effort to purchase products from that store that I had never found anywhere else, these cookies made the cut. And I was pretty excited about them. I mean…chocolate makes everything worth biting into, yes?
Eh…not really in this case. Which I am truly sad to report because I was pretty excited about these cookies. For one thing, they are imported from Northern Ireland. One of the draws of this particular brand is that it is gluten-free, wheat-free, egg-free, cholesterol- free, and yeast-free. Hence part of the “Freefrom” branding that this company does. One reason I was stoked about trying these was how allergen-friendly it was. According to the box, these cookies are reminiscent of British digestive biscuit, coated on one side with chocolate.
Like I said…chocolate = delicious. Sadly, the chocolate was my favorite part of these cookies. One bite and I was less than impressed. Not to say that they were horrible. They weren’t. But I have so many gluten-free cookies in my pantry, I’ve decided not to waste my time on ones that don’t wow me. And these didn’t. At all. The actual biscuit part has a slight coconut flavor and texture…which didn’t work for me, oddly enough. Also, while the photo on the box shows a cookie liberally coated in chocolate, the reality is…quite different. In fact, you can see the golden biscuit through the light chocolate coating on the actual cookie from the box. So disappointed. I was expecting this thick layer of chocolatey goodness…and was left with just enough to put some sweetness into each bite.
Granted, these cookies are actually a decent size (about 2.5 inches across) and clock in at only 85 calories per serving with 5 grams of fat. That’s not bad for a cookie, especially a gluten-free cookie. But the flavor was just…not there for me. The texture was rather dry and crumbly, more like shortbread without that buttery flavor. In fact, this cookie was more like a Girl Scout Samoa…just lacking that caramel flavor. But…overall…just such a disappointment. I had high hopes for these, especially with those nutrition facts…but…they were just…eh.
And this cookie monster doesn’t want to waste time on cookies that fail to impress.
While Sunstart makes other gluten-free cookie options, I think I’m done with them on just this cookie itself. Not impressed to pour any more money into their products. I wanted to like these…I really did. And I liked them…I just didn’t love them. Nor did I feel the urge to go back for more or hide them so I didn’t eat the entire box in one setting. That, in and of itself, speaks volumes.
The Celiathlete 