Product Review: Walkers Gluten Free Ginger and Lemon Shortbread

Product: Walkers Gluten Free Ginger and Lemon Shortbread – $4.99+

The great kitchen purge continues!!  It started with my cookware…got rid of all my old pots and pans and utensils I haven’t looked at in years…replaced what needed to be replaced…and now working my way through the last of the holiday impulse sweets that I purchased.

Hey…it happens.

A lot.

When it involves me and…COOKIES!

While I love my  healthy and fit lifestyle, I do have a very soft spot for cookies.  I am a Cookie Monster through and through.  No doubt about that.  Not even a little bit.  Cookies are my kryptonite.  Offer me any sort of dessert item…and if there are cookies…that’s what I want.  Nothing beats the perfect, buttery, soft, crumbly, cookie.

Kooky for cookies.  That’s me.

So, imagine the grab-and-buy mentality I had when I stepped into my local World Market just before I left for home for the holidays and found those infamous plaid Walkers shortbread boxes…but two…yes…TWO of them were labeled…GLUTEN FREE.  HELLO.  GOODNIGHT.  TAKE MY MONEY!

Seriously…that’s how it all went down.  With the holidays over and me at home, my roommate and I are working through the plethora of impulse buys and purchased sweets that have accumulated in the pantry.  And after revisiting the Trader Joe’s Gluten Free Candy Cane Joe-Joe’s (a holiday favorite and one I never pass up!), this past week, tonight it was time to choose a new treat.  My roommate made the choice to give one of the two (there are three varieties – Ginger and Lemon; Chocolate Chip; Original…our World Market didn’t have the Original) boxes of the Walkers Gluten Free Shortbreads a try.  And, since it was on top…the Ginger and Lemon was up first (scientific approach to choosing dessert…mastered).

Walkers Gluten Free Shortbreads contain the same butter and sugar content as their regular versions, but the wheat flour is replaced by a blend of rice flour, maize flour, and potato starch.  Keeping true to Walkers custom, these cookies contain no artificial flavoring, coloring, or preservatives.  They are certified gluten-free by the UK Coeliac Association, and meet the FDA standard for gluten-free as well.  Walkers promise is that the cookies have “all the pure-butter taste, aroma, and texture you love, but without the gluten.”

Now…keep in mind, I am the girl that shipped a large tin…YES…TIN…of Walkers shortbread cookies to myself when I was in Scotland.  I love…love shortbread.  A good shortbread is crispy, crumbly, and buttery.  Smooth, delicious, and rich.  That’s a good shortbread.  And let’s face it…when it comes to shortbread…Walkers is one of the best.

One bite…and I knew that Walkers can do anything when it comes to shortbread.  They can make perfect, gluten-free, shortbread rounds and make them taste exactly like “the real thing.”  The Walkers Gluten Free Ginger and Lemon Shortbread was flaky and buttery and savory and sweet and melt-in-your-mouth amazing.  I loved the refreshing hits of lemon that followed up each tasty bite.  And the little nibs of candied ginger just spark that much more flavor in each bite.  I totally loved this cookie.  In unhealthy, but healthy, ways.  You know?  I wasn’t expecting this product to be so like their original recipe.  But the nice, cry crumb that you expect to find in shortbread, with that rich buttery flavor…it’s all there.  This particular variety just turns it up a notch with a little citrus and spice.  So much love.

Let’s talk about the ingredients that go into the Walkers Gluten Free Ginger and Lemon Shortbread, shall we?  These cookies are made from their own gluten free flour blend (rice, potato starch, maize, stabilizer: xanthan gum), butter, sugar, candied stem ginger (stem ginger, sugar), ground ginger, lemon oil, and salt.  Notice how you recognize every ingredient listed.  Sure, this may be all about cookies, but at least they are cookies laden in chemicals, fillers, and preservatives.

As for the nutritional information, Walkers Gluten Free Ginger and Lemon Shortbread are…well…just as you would expect for a treat of cookies.  A serving size is two (2) cookies and there are five (5) servings per box.  Your two cookies will dish up 16o calories, 8 grams of fat, 5 grams saturated fat, 0 grams trans fat, 25 mg cholesterol, 75 mg sodium, 21 grams carbohydrates, 0 grams fiber, 9 grams sugars, and 1 gram of protein.  These are cookies and they are not meant to be filling, so don’t expect them to fill you up.

I have fallen in love with a lot of cookies in my life.  But Walkers really stepped up and created a fantastic line of gluten-free versions of their famous, sought-after, amazing shortbread cookies.  I am never going to give these up…because this took me back to a memory…and that is worth every bite of those cookies.  And another trip to World Market.  For more, of course.