This episode is going to be a little bit different than the previous episodes. We had switched from cold reviewing the items on demand to sitting down, tasting all on our own times, going back and re-tasting for better comparison and then after all the notes had been taken, we reviewed each individually. This method works much better, because the reviews can now be more in-depth, and the earlier items have comparisons. I’ve decided to leave in the initial tasting part where we’re all talking over one another. At times it gets confusing, and you might not be sure which cookie is being talked about, but most of the time it’s clear which is which. If the chatter gets to be too much for you to handle, feel free to fast forward to [23:20] to get straight to the point.
Episode 03 – Sandwich Cookies (traditional).m4a
This episode is different from the other episodes because it has elements from the first day of recording (the same day as the soymilk and tomatoes) interspersed among the second day’s recording. the sound quality is completely different, but the data was too valuable to toss. I promise this will never happen again. It’s just that I wasn’t happy with the way the first day of recording went, and we had found a few other varieties of cookie that we weren’t aware of during the first round, and wanted to make sure they got their chance to shine.
Before we start, I would like to take a moment to extend our thanks to Country Choice Organics, who had sent a box of 6 varieties of their sandwich cookies to us completely free. That was amazing of you. We still have the other flavors in storage, so we will definitely be having a flavored sandwich cookie tasting in the near future. We’re still in the middle of compiling our list. The only other vegan flavored sandwich cookies that we know of are Newman’s, Back to Nature, Health Valley, Kinnitoos, Nutter Butters, possibly OREO? and Trader Joes’, as well as Late July. If you know of another brand, be it national or generic, please drop by and leave a comment on the call for brands page. You could also send an e-mail to supercarrot @ veganreview.info or, we also have a brand-spankin’ new twitter account, so go ahead and tweet to @veganreview. whichever method you prefer, it’ll get to us. We’re grateful for your collective knowledge.
OK, i’ve decided that interspersing the initial tasting session throughout the results of the 2nd tasting session would be too jarring, so it’ll be used as an outro. the only cookie that was available during the first session that we decided against getting again for the 2nd session was Kinni-TOOS, a gluten-free cookie which was over $5 per package. Brands that are not featured in the first session are Country Choice Organics, Back to Nature and Health Valley. Not featured at all is Whole Foods’ 365 cookie. (I was told over the phone by a store employee that it contained dairy, so I didn’t bother checking the ingredients myself. After the recording date, I checked, and there were no obvious dairy ingredients, it just had a kosher dairy symbol on the package, which doesn’t really mean much in the vegan world. That’ll teach me to rely on telephone conversations with store employees instead of contacting the headquarters.) Aah well.
Reviews:
(a link to the ingredients/nutrition info of each cookie)
Famous Amos: cookie is too dry/solid. really bland. not enough filling. cookie was nice and crisp/crunchy. inoffensive, but not particularly bad. nice vanilla had a barley/bitter flavor. 2
Back to Nature (partially organic): weird molasses taste (brown rice syrup) the texture is too grainy/gritty. (too salty, too sugary) weird aftertaste. bitter. cookie isn’t crisp enough. too healthy tasting. Filling=very strange, foul. it’s awful. tastes like thickened soymilk. tied for last place. -14
Late July (organic): “that should not be called a cookie, that should be called punishment” too sugary, incredibly oily. cookie looks anemic. god. that is afwul! cookie doesn’t taste like chocolate. wrong/horrible/godawful/vile. not very chocolatey -23
Newman’s Own – Newman O’s (organic): tastes like a bad oreo. bad aftertaste. “not lovin’ the newman o’s” weird tasting filling. latex. “cinnamon gum flavor” “slightly odd flavor” cookie tasted burnt. too much cookie, not enough cream. hard cookie. bland. 0
Country Choice Organic: cookie= very crunchy, filling vanilla flavor is very nice. filling is one big lump. texture’s all wrong. very solid/chalky. cookie broke apart. crunchy cookie. middle of the road cookie. “side thumb” favorite of the organics. 7
Health Valley (same design as TJ’s): cinnamon? weird aftertaste/soyish. tastes like it has molasses in it. weird aftertaste in cookie. mystery flavor. gooey. 5
Wegman’s O’s: crisp cookie is softer/melt in your mouth. maybe too much baking soda? i like the wegmans better than the oreo. no bad aftertaste. really good filling. not that chocolatey. slightly waxy filling. not a bad substitute for an oreo. 15
Wild Harvest Organic: “not a fan” waxy filling. tastes fake. interesting texture, flavor is awful. gross. filling tasted like chemicals. greasy. tastes stale. cookie is too sugary. not that chocolately, filling is very soft. -9
Trader Joes – Joe-Joe’s: a little too oily. not much of a taste at all. it’s a waste of vanilla beans. flavorless, but with a weird bitter aftertaste. bakingsoda-y taste. stale cookie. 1
Oreo: golden standard. filling is a little grainy. they held up. crunchy. taste is good. 16
Kinni-TOOS: very soft taste. horrible taste. overly sweet. gummy, turns into paste in your mouth. chemical/chlorine aftertaste.
This episode’s outro music is On Another’s Sorrow by Her Blackened Rose.
Written by:
Clare Webster – myspace.com/herblackenedrose and www.claredelune.tk
Ekkehart Fromme – myspace.com/ekkiendorphin
Clare’s blurb: I have been vegetarian for around ten years now. Growing up as a child I spent a lot of time at the farm with my aunt and uncle, so I guess I have been exposed to the rural life since I was small, including the goings on in abbatoirs and the food industry. What I learnt really did affect me when I was younger and as the years have progressed, so has my passion and drive to help those animals involved.
Well that’s it for this episode. Stay tuned for when coconut-based ice creams go head to head.
Aww, I really like Joe-Joes! The all-chocolate ones, though. Or the candy-cane, only available during the Fall/Winter/whenever stores decide to market for Christmas (sometimes October?)
What a thorough, interesting review. Our differences in opinion may be due to the fact that I didn’t have as much to compare to… A decent cookie tastes much better if you don’t know what a fantastic one would taste like in the first place, right? I’ll have to track down some of these brands and find out.
this is so awesome! I wish I had so many choices of oreo type cookies! I have to say though, I think the country choice ones are better than oreos. I really, really like them. I’m addicted t them.
[…] own cookie-related coverage has dwindled recently, so I thought I’d share this gigantic taste test of fauxreos. I wholly disagree with their take on Joe-Joe’s and actually enjoy the Late July Green Tea […]
You are so right about the Late July cookies. In fact, I just ate one and thought, “I wonder if everyone hates these as much as I do.” I also can’t help but wonder who is buying these and keeping them in business. Is it the people who have no idea how bad they are? Eventually those people will run out…
I would add that the Late July Dark Chocolate sandwich cookies have a “mealy” taste, kind of like a bad apple.
It makes me sad that Oreos are the best tasting as they have bad ingredients in them. I am hopeful I will find a very tasty and organic alternative to them someday. I will take your word for it and try the Country Choice Organic. Will also keep you posted if I find something better!
No offense but you people look like a bunch of dogs
I love the Late July Cookies. They are a little sweet side I really enjoy the texture and I feel the flavor is great. I don’t find it gross or offensive in anyway. I’ve even got my mom into them and she would sneak and steal them from me. I also have a lot of friends addicted to them as well. It’s all individual personal opinion, but for my concensus it’s a good cookie, definitely prefer them over oreos.