Tag: Ghirardelli

What are Ghirardelli White Chocolate Sugar Cookie Squares?

The latest addition to this year’s sugar cookie craze comes from none other than San Francisco’s own Ghirardelli Chocolate. Ghirardelli’s stocking stuffer-ready interpretation of the quintessential holiday treat combines rich white chocolate with cookie bits and festive sprinkles.

How are they?

For a company based on a reputation for high-quality chocolate, these cheery little squares definitely deliver. Unwrapping one of the extremely eye-pleasing twinkly teal wrappers gifts a lush and smooth white chocolate experience. It’s subtly sweet, crunchy, and creamy in a way that activates all of my mouth’s senses. Yet, it doesn’t feel too over the top or excessive like how white chocolate sometimes can.

For how thin the squares are, there is a surprising amount of cookies embedded, and they manage their way into every bite. Although the label doesn’t indicate it’s flavored white chocolate, you could have fooled me with how much of a genuine cookie flavor sneaks through. It’s not just white chocolate; it really tastes like a cookie.

Anything else you need to know?

Sugar cookies can run the gamut from soft to crunchy, sprinkled or frosted, buttery or sweet. While they have a very particular flavor, they’re also very versatile. The closest grocery cookie comparison I can give to these little squares is an extra creamy and rich Mother’s Circus Animal Cookie – and that’s a damn fine thing.

Conclusion:

Of the other sugar cookie-flavored varietals I’ve tried this year – M&M’s and Kisses – these are the best representation of a buttery and nostalgic sugar cookie. Joining the ranks of Sugar Cookie Pop-Tarts and Sugar Cookie Toast Crunch, Ghirardelli has nailed cramming Christmas magic into proper white chocolate.

Purchased Price: $4.49
Size: 2.75 ounces
Purchased at: Target
Rating: 9 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (3 squares) 180 calories, 12 grams of fat, 7 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 5 milligrams of cholesterol, 35 milligrams of sodium, 18 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fiber, 16 gram of sugar, 2 grams of protein.

With some chocolate and mint candies it feels as if your mouth was assaulted by multiple candy canes or 9 out of the 10 dentists who recommend a particular toothpaste armed with the toothpaste they recommend. But that’s not the case with these Ghirardelli Limited Edition Milk Chocolate Peppermint Brownie Squares.

They have a mild peppermint flavor that doesn’t overpower the milk chocolate exterior or “brownie” filling. What’s with the quotation marks? I’ll get to that in a moment.

The filling has tiny crunchy bits and you might think it’s peppermint candy because everything about the packaging SCREAMS peppermint candy, but it’s not. Digging one out of my mouth reveals they’re mint chocolate cookie crumbs that look like part of a cavity all 10 of those dentists would remove from a mouth.

The milk chocolate is creamy and the filling is smooth, but with every square I’ve eaten I keep wondering when the ”brownie” flavor will show up. I’ve had enough brownies in my lifetime to know what they taste like and I don’t get an inkling of the baked good in these.

The squares have the right balance of milk chocolate and mint, the filling is smooth, and I love the crunchy cookie bits. But what excited me about these was the word “brownie” and I didn’t get any of it with flavor or texture.

For a minty chocolate candy, they’re really pleasing. And if the squares were used as tile in the bathroom of the witch in Hansel and Gretel, she would have to redo it after every time I came over because I would eat most of it.

But as I lay on her bathroom floor made from Ghirardelli Limited Edition Milk Chocolate Peppermint Brownie Squares, stuffing my face with the surface I’m lying on, I’ll be extremely disappointed they didn’t have brownie flavor or peppermint candy bits in them.

(Nutrition Facts – 1 square – 80 calories, 45 calories from fat, 5 grams of fat, 3 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 5 milligrams of cholesterol, 10 milligrams of sodium, 8 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fiber, 8 grams of sugar, and 1 gram of protein.)

Purchased Price: $4.49
Size: 5.1 oz. bag
Purchased at: Target
Rating: 6 out of 10
Pros: Wonderful mint and chocolate squares. Crunchy bits add a pleasant texture. Creamy milk chocolate. Brushing your teeth. Being able to leave the witch’s house in Hansel and Gretel without being eaten.
Cons: No brownie flavor. No peppermint candy bits. The witch in Hansel and Gretel sending me the bill for her bathroom repairs. Cavities.