Soup to
Nuts!... Shortbread
In this feature, we offer up a slew
of gourmet goodies that run the gamut from
cocktail nibbles to spirits to sweets and
everything in between. Each issue, we round
up a bunch of samples of a particular product
and then offer reviews on our favorites.
We have no dog in this fight - we're open
to trying just about anything, and we try
to be as objective as possible. Sometimes
the results surprise even us!
This issue, we've raided the grocery store
shelves for shortbread. It's one of our
favorite cookies -- perfect to go with that
afternoon cup of coffee that sees us through
the rest of the day. And although we love
homemade shortbread best, let's face facts
-- we don't always have the time to play
Betty Crocker.
For years, we've gravitated to one of the
red tartan clad brands -- Walkers to be
exact. There's another, though (Campbells),
along with a slew of other choices available
these days. So in the interest of finding
the ones that comes closes to homemade,
we started tasting. Here's the scoop:
($4 for 15 cookies). Still darn good --
it's hard to go wrong with these. With nice
richness, some crunch, and loads of buttery
taste.
($3 for 15 cookies). These are sort of an
upscale generic replica of the Walkers triangles,
and we have to say -- they're nearly as
good. They taste only slightly different,
but they also seem lighter and have more
of the homemade melt-in-your-mouth quality.
Impressive.
($1 for 20 cookies).
Clearly the deal of the tasting, but not
really shortbread, and nothing even remotely
like homemade shortbread.. These are more
like animal crackers, really. Not that there's
anything wrong with that -- in fact, these
have a potato chip quality that make you
want to eat the whole package in one sitting.
These also contain some artificial ingredients,
if that kind of thing matters to you. (It
does to us.)
($4.25 for 8 cookies).
Really interesting -- and the most pie crust
or pastry-like of the bunch. Layers of flaky,
melt-in-your-mouth... crunch. The crunch
is the part that makes them unusual. Turns
out they contain ground rice, which is definitely
unusual, and must be what give them a Nestle
Crunch-like thing. But they're good.
($6 for 15 cookies).
The key lime oil really jumps out at you
here, both in aroma and taste. And although
we sometimes put some citrus zest in our
homemade shortbread, this just tastes too
flavored. The thing about great shortbread
is the wonderful delicacy they offer, verging
on blandness, to be honest. This just tasted
like key lime -- fine, if you're looking
for a key lime cookie. But not exactly our
cup of tea when it comes to shortbread.
($3.50 for 12
cookies). This one is appealing for its
intense nuttiness, and for the contrast
of the coarse sugar topping and the tinge
of salt -- love the salty/sweet thing. And
we could happily eat these with our coffee...
But again, not anything like homemade shortbread.
But, like the Key Lime version above, that's
probably not what they're going for.
($7.50 for
9 cookies). Again, the lemon zest appealed
to us, but for the most expensive cookie
of the tasting, it was pretty disappointing.
A little bitter, frankly. And the ingredients
list citric acid, which we felt like we
could taste. Would have to pass on these.
($5.50 for 10
cookies). Nobody would mistake these for
homemade shortbread, but they sure are tasty.
We typically like Chai-spiced things --
all those cinnamon, cardamom, clove, ginger
combinations just make us happy. If you
agree, you'll love these. And they're equally
good with a cup of good Indian Chai tea
as they are with coffee, we might add!
($9 for a tin of 12 cookies). The chocolate
chip ones are odd -- a combination that
just didn't work for us. But we loved the
plain ones -- our favorites of the tasting.
Even better than the Walkers, to be honest,
though it was close. These had the right
balance of rich buttery goodness, just a
hint of sweetness, and a spark of salt.
Delish.
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