Whether they’re about a tree falling in the forest or a bear dropping logs in the woods, there are plenty of age-old questions to ponder. One of my favorites is: “What do holiday cookies do once Christmas is over?”
Some answers are obvious: speculoos fly home to visit their Dutch families, gingerbread men work as security guards at the Keebler Elves’ Hollow Tree, and butter cookies are melted down into a fine paste to make mannequins for Madame Tussauds.
But the secret life of snickerdoodles (which sounds like it could be the name of Pixar’s next movie) has long been a mystery -— until now. Now we know that during the summertime, snickerdoodles everywhere hit the treadmill to become Cinnamon Sugar Chips Ahoy! Thins.
During the winter, snickerdoodles need to be thick in order to supply Santa with enough energy to travel 650 miles per second and reach every home in one night. But now that it’s cookie bikini season, snickerdoodles have to stay competitive with every other trendy treat.
I mean, have you seen Oreo’s midriff in that dark brown two-piece?
Each Cinnamon Sugar Chips Ahoy! Thin is thin. And I don’t mean the “someone pushed the spatula down a little too hard” kind of thin. This is the “touched by an old gypsy woman from a Stephen King novel” kind of thin.
The Thins have the girth of 2-3 stacked dimes, but they’re far from sterling when it comes to fragility. They’ll shatter into bits the moment you so much as think an unflattering thought about their mother, so don’t pack these as a snack before a half marathon or Slipknot concert. This crumbliness also gives them a mildly crisp, yet disappointingly light “crunch.” It’s like eating that last, awkwardly browned cookie in a batch.
You know, the one that was just barely large enough to justify baking instead of gobbling down the raw, doughy evidence?
The flavor is a two-part deal. The Chips Ahoy! Thins’ plain sections are half-sweet, half-bland and sandy, as if they were the result of some deluded 8-year old’s entrepreneurial quest to invent a cookie you can make while relaxing on a hot beach.
Thankfully, the overall size and dense chip ratio of these one-bite wonders means that there’ll rarely be a nibble without one or more creamy cinnamon baking chips. The slightly buttery, mildly milky, and faintly spicy chips smack of cinnamon sugar goodness, and their icing-esque nature is what makes these Cinnamon Sugar Chips Ahoy! Thins taste like abridged snickerdoodles.
But the problem with these crumbly Thins is that they’re all payoff and no buildup. The sugary cinnamon punch strikes fast and is vaporized into oblivion just as quickly—don’t expect any layers of complex flavor that unravel as you chew. It’s like a rollercoaster that instantly drop you 100 feet before booting you off the ride. Your only choice is to get back in line, or in this case: clear another line of cookies.
Despite my complaints of fleeting ecstasy, I think Cinnamon Sugar Chips Ahoy! Thins are a step in the right direction for condensed cookies. They use their size to their advantage; if this gimmick were tried in full-sized Chips Ahoy! cookies, the goodness of the chips would get lost in a desert of boring dough.
Plus, their airy crispness makes them taste exactly like the imaginary “Snickerdoodle Toast Crunch” cereal I always put on my Christmas list. One of these days, General Mills Claus will inevitably deliver, but in the meantime…
Ho ho ho.
(Nutrition Facts – 4 cookies – 150 calories, 7 grams of fat, 2.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 60 milligrams of sodium, 20 milligrams of potassium, 21 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fiber, 12 grams of sugar, and 1 gram of protein.)
Purchased Price: $2.49
Size: 7 oz.
Purchased at: Walmart
Rating: 7 out of 10
Pros: The surprisingly creamy wallop of microcosmic snickerdoodle chips. Gloriously milk-soaked cinnamon sugar shards. Cookie swimsuit competitions. Posing with a butter cookie paste replica of Bill Murray.
Cons: Rare nibbles of Saharan cookie dryness. The Chips Ahoy! equivalent of a Top Thrill Dragster ride. Accidentally eating thirty 30¢-thick cookies. The unlikelihood of Gingerbread Toast Crunch. Sandy selling sandy Sandies by the seashore.
Hey Dan!
Sounds delicious, Especially for me as cinnamon gingerbread speculoos lover. And yes, I had to learn, that less dough (though that’s what I love with cookies) is sometimes more. When we speak about cookies of course^^
Plus, their airy crispness makes them taste exactly like the imaginary “Snickerdoodle Toast Crunch” cereal I always put on my Christmas list. One of these days, General Mills Claus will inevitably deliver, but in the meantime… you buy sugar cookie toast crunch and sprinkle some cinnamon in it? Or mix some “normal” toast crunchs in? 😉
Pretty yummy, and a little too easy to eat. Most Chips Ahoy! varieties I’ll try out of a misplaced sense of duty, but these I’ll return to.
Not a big fan of Chips Ahoy, but could eat the whole package of these in one sitting. Yes, they do resemble a crunchy snickerdoodle but also remind me of sand tarts. Unfortunately, went back to the store to buy more, none to be found. Hoping another store will have.
I loved these. They are too expensive for what they are, but regardless, they were great and I loved how crispy they were. A few friends and I ended up devouring the whole bag in a short time. Very easy to eat too many. I wanted to try them with ice cream.
I haven’t tried the new Chips Ahoy flavor yet. I just wanted to know how much I enjoyed your article. You have a great sense of humor. Have you ever tried stand-up comedy?
Love the cinnamon sugar combo. Reminds me of snickerdoodles. Cannot keep in the house. Son just told me to buy in bulk!
They where giving these all down town Chicago I can’t stop eating them they are so good and by them being so thin, make you think they aren’t a lot of Calories
Loved the new chips ahoy thin cinnamon sugar cookies! Reminds me of my grandmother’s sand tarts. Went to store to purchase more & not on the shelf, hope they haven’t been discontinued!
Addictive
Most people love big thick soft chewy cookies, THESE ARE NOT IT!!!!! But, if you love the kind of cookies that are completely flattened smaller than a pancake, as crunchy as a corn chip and taste as good as a churro, THIS IS THAT COOKIE!!!!!!!!!!! There is only one bad thing about this unbelievable perfect thin crunchy cookie, it should even come with a warning on the package,” WARNING, IF YOU ARE ABOUT TO EAT THIS COOKIE FOR THE FIRST TIME YOU WILL BECOME HEAVILY ADDICTED AND WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO STOP EATING THESE COOKIES!!!!” BaHaHa you are thinking but I am not kidding, so try at your own risk!!!!
I’m disappointed to hear that Chips Ahoy has discontinued the Chips Ahoy Thins Cinnamon Sugar cookies. There are too few cinnamon sugar cookies available and these were crispy with good flavor. In order to make them last, I would try not to eat more than 2 at a time. When I’d see them in the store, I would buy almost all that were on the shelves. I hope the powers that be consider bringing them back!