Lucy's Cinnamon Thins

Right before I threw the box out ...

 First I'd like to ask why the cookie is called "Cinnamon Thin" when there are obviously several cookies in a box.  Shouldn't they be "Cinnamon Thins?"  For the purpose of this article, I will call them "Thins."  I really have a hard time calling a plural object by a singular name. 



There are a million brands of gluten free packaged cookies on the market these days.  Or at least, it feels like a million, doesn't it?  And so many of them are absolutely horrible.

They're too gritty, too dry, too weirdly chewy, taste like raisins, too sweet, not sweet enough, and so on.  I've had one brand absolutely wow me (Wow Baking).  A couple are fairly edible.  The rest have been disappointing and a big waste of money.

I like cinnamon, so when I saw these cookies on sale for $3.99 at Safeway, I was thrilled.  It was an opportunity to try a cookie that would normally cost at least a dollar more.  I've wasted so much money looking for a good cookie that I really really really wished that these would be good.

But they LOOK so nice, don't they?  A+ for pretty cookie.

I don't think they were awful, really.  They were just too sweet.  Really, really sweet.  I prefer a cookie to be a bit more buttery and subtle, but this was ... painfully sweet.  There wasn't enough cinnamon flavor, and there wasn't enough of any specific flavor, really.  At least they might have been really good sugar cookies if not for the sickening sweetness.

I had Lucy's chocolate chip cookies once in the past and I remember being pretty underwhelmed by them.  I would be pretty hesitant to give Lucy another shot in the future.

Each cookie is pretty diet-worthy at only 40ish calories.

Contains soy, soy, soy, soy, dairy, eggs and nuts.  (Seriously, there is a LOT of soy in there.) 

Enjoy Nastiness

Did I mention in the other Enjoy Life review how much I hate cookies that are made with raisins and dates as a binder (not as a visible ingredient like chocolate chips are a visible ingredient, though I'm no fan of that either)?  Yeah.  I hate it.  Usually I would see this with "low-cal" cookies to cut the calories in the eggs and milk and whatever.  These have no eggs or dairy.  And with something that contains absolutely no ingredients, you gotta use something to keep it all together.

So your good news, if there is any, is that these cookies contain no gluten, wheat, nuts, soy, eggs, or dairy.  They even don't contain fish or shellfish, which seems very "duh," but which also might have improved the flavor somewhat.  Two tiny little cookies contain 120 calories somehow.  And these are really really tiny.  Even compared to the snickerdoodles.  Just incredibly teensy.

I am not sure how one makes a chocolate cookie with no dairy.  Apparently the answer is "badly."  I could smell the odor of dried fruit from the moment I opened the package.  This one also uses dates, as well as grape, apple, and pear juice.  I guess I'm of the mindset that a chocolate cookie should never contain fruit.  But what do I know?  I decided to give them a shot anyway. 

Horrible. 

The texture was the same as the snickerdoodles, but more offensive because the flavor was just so terrible.  It was like eating a wad of date puree masquerading as a chocolate cookie.  There was probably something like chocolate in there, but it didn't really taste like chocolate.  It tasted like it was something trying to be chocolate.  I suppose if you're a celiac vegan and you've forgotten what a brownie tastes like, maybe it works out for you.  If you're simply celiac, then I hear Betty Crocker has some gluten free brownie mix (I have some in the cupboard, actually, so I'll review it at a later date) that's pretty good.  I wouldn't even bother eating these. 

The only time someone should eat these are:

1.  You're the aforementioned celiac vegan with multiple other allergies
2.  You're stuck on a desert island and this is the only food available
3.  Your mother buys them for you, thinking she's doing something good for you, and you don't want to see her cry

And I might be flexible on #3.  Hopefully your mom could deal with the fact that the cookies she bought you tasted like ass.    

Mi-Del Chocolate Sandwich Cookies

I must have some sort of body part that is dedicated to metabolizing Oreo cookies.  In the absence of Oreo cookies, it triggers a reaction that causes me to salivate and obsess over and crave Oreo cookies.  That's all I can figure.  I love Oreos more than life itself and would jump in front of a train for them. 

So it's been hard to not be able to eat them.  I see Oreo cheesecake and Oreo ice cream and Oreo this and that, and I want it soooo bad.  But really, I just want an Oreo.  How can I have an Oreo?  I needed something like an Oreo.  NOW.

Well, I found these lovely friends and decided that I would give them a shot.  After all, they LOOK like Oreos, right?

They are not Oreos.

They aren't horrible.  But let me explain how this works, exactly. 

When I opened the package, it was like staring at Oreos again.  Hello, fake Oreos!  And I pulled one out and bit into it.  Absolutely vile.  Like chewing on cardboard.  Just disgusting.  But then as I chewed and took another bite, the flavor started to catch up with itself.  Slowly it became the flavor of an Oreo cookie. 

When I bit into the second cookie, it was a convincing Oreo substitute. 

The aftertaste leaves something to be desired, though.  I'm sure this is a common problem, like my bland cheese problem. 

Well, so here's the thing.  You can eat these Mi-Del sandwich cookies in place of your beloved gluteny chocolate sandwich cookie of choice, but you need to be warned that you MUST eat two cookies in order to appreciate the flavor.  One will not do.  And at 130 calories per two cookies, you're wasting about 70 calories of your day on a cookie that tastes like paper products. 

Enjoy.

I wonder if they would be any good in something like a cheesecake.  I ordinarily eat my chocolate sandwich cookies by halves, but when I tried that with these cookies, found the frosting too bland.  Blah.  (I don't eat them with milk because milk is disgusting, but they might be good for that.  I have no clue.)