Tag: Cookie Dough

REVIEW: Reese’s Cookie Dough Poppins

Brandon 3 Comments

Reese’s Cookie Dough Poppins Pouch with the Pillsbury Doughboy on it. Oddly other than the logo on the Doughboy's hat, there isn't any other Pillsbury logo on the pouch.

What is it?

Despite the cutesy “Poppins” moniker, Reese’s Cookie Dough Poppins are just… little balls of ready-to-eat peanut butter cookie dough, no more, no less. Is it just me or has it only been within the past few years that companies began selling “safe to eat raw” cookie dough nuggets? Why did it take them so long to start doing this?

How is it?

In the case of this one, they probably should have kept fine-tuning the recipe before release. While there was nothing inherently bad or offensive about this particular Poppins, there wasn’t really much to love, either. The texture is a familiar one in line with any kind of unbaked cookie dough — though I was expecting a bit more grittiness — but the taste is lackluster.

Brown balls of edible cookie dough.

Look, I don’t know how you describe the taste of peanut butter as anything other than “like peanut butter,” but this was like half the taste of peanut butter. Maybe peanut, no butter. That’s not quite it, but I don’t know how to explain it. The PB flavor was there initially, but it just trailed off at the end.

Anything else you need to know?

You can’t bake these. Also, while there are a few safe-to-eat raw cookie dough products on the market that you can bake, there are many others that aren’t meant to be eaten raw. There’s a chance you could get some Salmonella from the eggs or flour or, perhaps more seriously, E. coli from the latter. Thankfully, the only risk with this edible Reese’s dough is the disappointment of spending over $7 on something you shouldn’t spend more than a buck on.

Conclusion:

Even though these aren’t the worst things I’ve ever eaten, I’d never buy them again, and never in good conscience could I recommend that anyone spend $7 on them. But if I was at a party, and they had a tray of Poppins (not sure what strange party this is, but just pretend), I might eat, like, a couple. But only if it was the only dessert. You know, at the world’s weirdest party.

Purchased Price: $7.49
Purchased at: Hy-Vee
Rating: 6 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (5 pieces) 120 calories, 5 grams of fat, 1 gram of saturated fat, 25 milligrams of sodium, 17 grams of total carbohydrates, 9 grams of total sugars, 0 grams of fiber, and 2 grams of protein.

REVIEW: Sonic Fried Cookie Dough Bites à la Mode

Vin 2 Comments

Sonic Fried Cookie Dough Bites Everything

Wouldn’t fried cookie dough just be… a cookie?

That’s the thought I had when I heard Sonic was releasing Fried Cookie Dough à la Mode. Well, that and, “When can I get it, and how quickly can I shove it down my gullet?”

I thought a bit more, and realized I had no idea if I’ve ever had a fried chocolate chip cookie.

Do any of my favorite cookie brands swim in a vat of oil before they hit the shelves, or are they all baked? I guess it’s possible an unhealthy few might be fried? Either way, the only freshly fried cookies I’ve ever had were state fair-style Oreo, and those are great, so I was pumped when I saw Fried Cookie Dough finally pop up in the Sonic app.

How would I describe these things?

Well, let’s say you let your tray of cookies spend the last three minutes of cooking time roasting under the broiler, and they somehow came out of the oven with a crispy exterior while retaining the piping hot center. That’s Sonic Fried Cookie Dough.

Sonic Fried Cookie Dough Bites Middle

I’ve never attempted to air-fry cookies, but this is what I imagine a cookie “baked” in an air fryer might be like. They’re a little burnt and maybe a tad greasy, but they taste great.

It’s basically a balled-up version of a traditional chocolate chip cookie, but the fact the gooey chocolate and mushy dough center is encased in a fritter-like shell makes this a slightly fresh take on a cookie.

These may be the first cookies I’ve ever had that were equal parts soft and crispy while still being hot.

Sonic Fried Cookie Dough Bites Dipped

The three cookies are served with a tiny cup of vanilla soft serve, which quite frankly isn’t anything special, but it does the job. It’s not terrible or anything, but Sonic’s vanilla has always tasted like a poor knockoff of McDonald’s to me. Still, it makes for a nice pairing with the warm cookie dough bites, and the small size of the entire order is more than enough.

You wouldn’t even have to tell me where these came from, because they’re distinctly Sonic, and they’re a strong addition to the menu.

Sonic has always done a good job peppering said menu with weird little fried snacks. If you saw these with no prior knowledge, you might even think they were overdone tots, or fried cheese curds or something.

Side note: If any higher-ups at Sonic are reading this, you should add corn fritters to the menu.

Sonic Fried Cookie Dough Bites Exterior

Anyway, I’m not gonna sit here and call Fried Cookie Dough revolutionary. They didn’t reinvent the cookie, but it’s definitely a nice spin on an old classic.

When I ordered these, they were an app exclusive, but they may already be rolling out on the restaurant menus near you. If not, check out the app because I also got a free little “Wag Cup” of whipped cream for my dog. From what I can tell he rated it a 3 out of 10, but you’re here to read about cookie dough.

Purchased Price: $2.99
Size: 3 Bites
Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 440 calories, 25 grams of fat, 1 gram of trans fat, 9 grams of saturated fat, 30 milligrams of cholesterol, 410 milligrams of sodium, 50 grams of total carbohydrates, 10 grams of total sugars, 1 gram of fiber, and 5 grams of protein.

REVIEW: Ben & Jerry’s Cookie Dough Mixes (S’mores and Peanut Butter)

Marvo 1 Comment

Ben Jerry s Cookie Dough Mixes Pouches

What are Ben & Jerry’s Cookie Dough Mixes?

They combine edible cookie dough bites with another mix-in you might see in a Ben & Jerry’s ice cream pint. At this time, there are two varieties you can find in the freezer aisle —- S’mores and Peanut Butter. The former features graham cracker cookie dough with marshmallow truffles, while the latter has peanut butter chocolate chip cookie dough and mini peanut butter cups.

How are they?

Maybe it’s just me, but the dough pieces taste noticeably blander than previous cookie dough chunks I’ve had from Ben & Jerry’s. So much so that if I looked into these pouches and saw there were only dough pieces left, I might not want to finish them. Although maybe I feel that way because there’s a stark flavor contrast between the cookie dough and the candy pieces.

Ben Jerry s Cookie Dough Mixes Peanut Butter

The graham cracker cookie dough pieces are confusing because I’m not sure anyone would identify them as graham cracker anything. They taste more vanilla-ish and have a slight butteriness. While that makes sense in cookie dough, that doesn’t help me think of graham crackers. As for the peanut butter chocolate chip cookie dough chunks, the chips buried in them don’t have much chocolatey flavor and whatever nuttiness they have is mild.

Ben Jerry s Cookie Dough Mixes S mores

The much sweeter candy pieces provide the flavor boosts that make these a worthwhile purchase, and thankfully the candy mix-in to cookie dough ratio appears to be almost 1 to 1. The mini peanut butter cups taste exactly like what you’d find in pints. They have a strong chocolatey and peanut butter taste that dwarfs the dough chunks’ flavor. As for the marshmallow truffles, they were as delightful as the peanut butter cups, maybe even better. They have the perfect balance of chocolate and marshmallow flavor, and the latter helps intensify the vanilla in the dough. Now, if only those chunks had some graham flavor.

Anything else you need to know?

I’m not going to take credit for the Cookie Dough Mixes idea, but a year ago, well before they debuted, in a review of Ben & Jerry’s The Tonight Dough Chunks, I wrote, “Ben & Jerry’s should sell bags of its edible cookie dough with its non-dough mix-ins. It could be called Mix-In Mashups (feel free to use that, Flavor Gurus).”

Also, it seems as if the marshmallow truffles haven’t been in any other Ben & Jerry’s products. Feel free correct me, internet.

Conclusion:

Despite the somewhat bland cookie dough chunks, I enjoyed popping Cookie Dough Mixes into my mouth. Well, um, after making sure there was at least one candy piece before doing so.

DISCLOSURE: I received a free product samples from Ben & Jerry’s. Doing so did not influence my review.

Purchased Price: FREE
Size: 8 oz pouches
Purchased at: Received from Ben & Jerry’s
Rating: 7 out of 10 (both)
Nutrition Facts: (2 Tbsp./28 grams) S’mores 130 calories, 7 grams of fat, 4.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 20 milligrams of sodium, 18 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fiber, 14 grams of sugar (13 grams of added sugar), and less than 1 gram of protein. Peanut Butter – 130 calories, 7 grams of fat, 3.5 grams of saturated fat, less than 5 milligrams of cholesterol, 45 milligrams of sodium, 15 grams of carbohydrates, less than 1 gram of fiber, 10 grams of sugar (9 grams of added sugar), and 2 grams of protein.

REVIEW: Pillsbury Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cookie Dough and Cinnamon Rolls

BrandonP 2 Comments

Pillsbury Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cookie Dough and Cinnamon Rolls

When it comes to cereal mascots – Wendell the jolly baker and, more recently, the Crazy Squares – would not top your list of notable entries. But Cinnamon Toast Crunch has managed to cement themselves as the third best-selling cereal in the United States behind the Goliaths of BuzzBee’s Honey Nut Cheerios and Tony the Tiger’s Frosted Flakes. Even in his retirement, I can envision Wendell sitting in his rocking chair smiling about his dominance over Lucky the Leprechaun and Toucan Sam.

Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cookie Dough Raw

The Pillsbury Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cookie Dough comes in a tray of twelve pre-portioned sugar cookies with dark brown clumps of cinnamon pieces mixed throughout. They spread out thin when baking and achieve an even golden brown along the edges. The cinnamon looks faintly like the cereal pieces hiding just underneath the cookie’s surface but provides no actual texture.

Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cookie Dough Sheet

While the cookies fill the house with a lovely cinnamon aroma, the actual flavor is slightly underwhelming. When still warm, the soft gooey consistency with a gentle crisp around the edges is very satisfying. As they cool, the texture is less pleasant, even in comparison to other cookies, but you can then pick up on more caramelized notes that do become slightly reminiscent of the actual Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal. The balance of sweetness seems just right, but overall the cookies are lacking a pronounced cinnamon flavor. When tried raw, the cookie dough offers a stronger amount of spice and would make a good pairing with vanilla ice cream.

Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cinnamon Rolls Raw

The Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cinnamon Rolls come with eight rolls and icing ready to pop out of their tube. The dough has a slightly darker beige hue than the standard cinnamon roll and hard bits I was hoping was Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal mixed in. My hopes of a little crunch in the rolls did not come to fruition as they melted into little pockets of cinnamon during baking. Besides these little boosts of cinnamon throughout the dough, the rolls themselves are near identical to the standard offering.

Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cinnamon Rolls Icing

It is the cinnamon-infused icing that really drives home the spice in these rolls and makes them somewhat worthy of having cinnamon appear twice in their name. This offers a small upgrade over the vanilla icing that enhances the warm flavor without making the rolls overly sweet.

Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cinnamon Rolls Baked

While they pack a better cinnamon punch than the cookies, the rolls are also lacking any semblance of a crunch to drive home the Cinnamon Toast Crunch brand. Wendell might need to come out of retirement and show the bakers at Pillsbury a thing or two.

Purchased Price: $3.99 (Cookie Dough), $3.59 (Cinnamon Rolls)
Size: 14 oz. (Cookie Dough), 12.4 oz. (Cinnamon Rolls)
Purchased at: Lucky
Rating: 5 out of 10 (Cookie Dough), 6 out of 10 (Cinnamon Roll)
Nutrition Facts: Cookie Dough – 150 calories, 8 grams of fat, 3.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 5 milligrams of cholesterol, 0 grams of fiber, 19 grams of carbohydrates, 11 grams of sugar, and less than 1 gram of protein. Cinnamon Rolls 150 calories, 4.5 grams of fat, 3 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 350 milligrams of sodium, 24 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fiber, 10 grams of sugar, and 2 grams of protein.

REVIEW: Ben & Jerry’s The Tonight Dough Chunks

Marvo 4 Comments

Ben Jerry s The Tonight Dough Chunks Pouch

Full disclosure: This review will be partially about Ben & Jerry’s The Tonight Dough Chunks, but mostly a new product pitch to the folks at Ben & Jerry’s.

But before I present a PowerPoint slide deck of my idea, I should probably get the review out of the way.

If you’re not familiar with the ice cream flavor, it features caramel and chocolate ice creams with chocolate cookie swirls and gobs of chocolate chip cookie dough and peanut butter cookie dough. But the pouch above has a mixture of chocolate chip cookie dough and chocolatey coated peanut butter cookie dough chunks.

Is this two cookie dough chunk combination delicious? Absolutely.

But having had almost every single type of Ben & Jerry’s dough chunks, I have to say there’s nothing that really makes it stand out from the other varieties. The two are pretty much the combination of others but in one pouch.

Ben Jerry s The Tonight Dough Chunks Innards

Yes, if you want to get technical, there’s no chocolatey coated peanut butter cookie dough chunks variety. But the peanut butter chocolate chip dough chunks are basically the same thing. If you like those two, there’s no reason why you wouldn’t like this. Although, when I snacked on this, I popped into my mouth one of each simultaneously, and sometimes there was be a solid nutty punch, and other times it’s hard to notice the peanut butter flavor.

But with that said, as much as I enjoy edible cookie dough, I can’t help but feel myself getting bored of it. Yes, there have been several flavors, but how many more different dough chunks are there left? Maybe it’s time to change things up a little.

Now let me get to that PowerPoint I promised…Wait, this projector only has a VGA port. Seriously. Am I in the 90s? Does someone have a VGA to HDMI adapter? No one? Well then, I guess you won’t be treated to my 85 slides about what I’m about to propose to Ben & Jerry’s. Instead, it’ll be 85 words.

Ben & Jerry’s should sell bags of its edible cookie dough with its non-dough mix-ins. It could be called Mix-In Mashups (feel free to use that, Flavor Gurus). For example, I think it would be great to combine the fudge-covered waffle cone pieces in Americone Dream with the company’s chocolate chip cookie dough chunks. It would be a contrast of textures with the cone’s crunch and the cookie dough’s squish. Or maybe have a bag with cinnamon bun dough and fudge brownies.

Ben Jerry s The Tonight Dough Chunks Closeup

I might never get my Mix-In Mashups, so I guess I’ll have to settle for the perfectly fine Ben & Jerry’s The Tonight Dough Chunks and all the others in the edible dough bites line.

Purchased Price: $4.59
Size: 8 oz pouch
Purchased at: Target
Rating: 6 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (2 tbsp/28 grams) 120 calories, 4.5 grams of fat, 2.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 5 milligrams of cholesterol, 60 milligrams of sodium, 19 grams of carbohydrates, less than 1 gram of fiber, 11 grams of sugar, and 1 gram of protein.