Product Review: My Dad’s Cookies Gluten-Free Vanilla Grahams

Product: My Dad’s Cookies Gluten-Free Vanilla Grahams – $7.99+

After the joyous introduction to My Dad’s Cookies with the Gluten-Free Black & White Cookies, which I reviewed last month, I was back at my new grocery store, Lucky’s, and wanting more.  Wanting to see what else My Dad’s Cookies had to offer.  Since it seemed Lucky’s carried every single product that this cookie company produced…I wanted to give something else a try and see if it won me over as much as the Gluten-Free Black & White Cookies had recently.  As I perused the table which held the offerings, I narrowed it down to two choices…the Vanilla Grahams or the Lemon Drop Cookies.

It was a tough decision…and had the budget been able to stretch a little more, I would have just purchased both.  But, as it was…only one could make the journey home with me.

Ultimately, I went with the Gluten-Free Vanilla Grahams.

After polishing off the vegan ice cream in my freezer, it was time to put this new kind of cookie from My Dad’s Cookies to the taste test.  And that’s what I did one evening last week.  It was, literally, all I had in the apartment for a nice dessert.  So I doled out a serving of square cookies with a chocolate drizzle on top to both my roommate and I.  She got to eating hers first…as I was doing some minor kitchen clean-up after the dinner I had prepared.  She took a bite…and when I asked what she thought…I noticed a shoulder shrug and got the dreaded, “Eh…it’s okeedokee.”

Uh oh.

Did the cookie monster voodoo of finding awesome cookies fail me?  Did I choose unwisely?  I was in a panic…so I grabbed one of my Gluten-Free Vanilla Grahams and popped it into my mouth.  Yes…the entire thing.  Yes…I am capable of doing that.

While the My Dad’s Cookies Gluten-Free Vanilla Grahams aren’t awful…they weren’t great either.  I felt my heart sink, actually, upon eating this.  I loved the chocolate drizzle on the top as it provided some much-needed flavor, but the rest of the cookie just seemed dry…and bland.  It didn’t even have that vanilla flavor that I expected.  It was sweet…but not packed with flavor.  It was crispy, but seemed…a bit dry and a bit…of a let down.  Seriously.  I’m a cookie monster.  I love cookie things…even graham cracker cookie things.  Man…I can eat the hell out of some gluten-free graham crackers.  But these were, by far, bland…just bland.  With the texture of a cross between shortbread and Nilla wafers…it was just an odd mix.  I have decided that the remaining cookies will be doctored up some…using the My Dad’s Cookies Gluten-Free Vanilla Grahams as the graham portion of homemade s’mores.  Which will be on the menu in a couple of days for sure.  I can’t wait to stuff them with a slab of dark chocolate and some Fluff…which I will then toast with my kitchen torch.  Perhaps this will get the much desired effect the Vanilla Grahams failed to deliver the first time I ate them.

Meh.

But…as always I have to at least fill you in on what these cookies are made from, right?  Of course.  The My Dad’s Cookies Gluten-Free Vanilla Grahams are made from gluten free flour blend (tapioca flour, brown rice flour, white rice flour, soy flour, potato starch, xanthan gum), sugar, water, organic palm oil, chocolate dip (sugar, soybean oil, cocoa, chocolate liquor, salt, vanilla extract), vanilla extract, cinnamon, agave syrup, cream of tartar, baking soda,  and salt.  These cookies are gluten-free, egg-free, dairy-free and nut-free.

Nutritionally speaking, these cookies are pretty awesome as far as serving size and calorie/fat content.  A serving of the My Dad’s Cookies Gluten-Free Vanilla Grams is 3 cookies.  From this serving you will be taking in 150 calories and 6 grams of fat.  You will be consuming 45 mg sodium and 9 grams of sugar.  That’s not bad for cookies!  None of that is.  And finally, you will be taking in 1 gram of fiber and 2 grams of protein.  These are not filling.  These are a treat.  A dessert.  A snack.

After all the praise I gave to the My Dad’s Gluten-Free Cookies Black & White Cookies, these were more than a bit of a let down.  My only hope is that by adding some dark chocolate and marshmallow fluff to the center, I can bring out bolder flavors and maybe just turn the flavor profile up a bit on the My Dad’s Cookies Gluten-Free Vanilla Grahams.  I so wanted to love these…but I just couldn’t.  Not one bit.  I like them…but not enough to purchase them again.  I hope the next gamble I take with the next product from My Dad’s Cookies Gluten-Free products is a better one.