Already beloved here for its xlnt “Little Schoolboy” cookies (or as the frenchies would have it, Le Petit Ecolier), cookie maker Lu Biscuits appears to be undergoing some kind of renaissance w/ a whole wave of new prods. Here & now, a pair of sandwich cookies called Lu Cremes in two varieties: a so-so choc-mint and a solidly good ginger-lemon that aptly fits Lu’s description of “spicy zing of ginger and tart-yet-sweet lemon cream filling”. These, as well as Lu’s new Cream Roulee Rolled Wafers, are notable since they represent a more revolutionary direction than its various-tho-satisfying Little Schoolboy spinoffs such as the one made w/ rice-crisp choc a la nestles crunch

note the strong little NYCE, bravely holding up the big new product. note also the 2 photos, one shot w/ light, the other w/out. feel free to cast a vote. anyhow, Oreo ChocoStix just arrived in plano tx but it turns out they’re only semi-new (been out in australia a while; intro’d here in late oct). it’s a choc-coated choc wafer w/ layers of choc & white “cream“. you’d think they’d be an automatic 10, esp if you like wafers (which of course you should). but you know what? they’re not all that. the proposition is that you get the oreo flavor in a wafer format. well, it’s most definitely a wafer, but no sign of the “oreo flavor”. i think the problem may be the choc coating. it tastes neither like choc nor oreo nor anything other than “wax“

Following up on the ltd-edition holiday front: Pepperidge Farm Peppermint Crunch Geneva cookies which take a cookie that was pretty good to start w/ & merge it w/ an equally good candy, peppermint bark. the tragedy is that 1 + 1 does not = 3. combo-ing the two does not transcend the originals. It’s like-ok and a fun-ltd-ed-prod and certainly-worth-trying-if-you’re-a-pepp-fan, but one box is plenty. As an aside: pepp bark has surged. A few yrs ago it was just William Sonoma that did it. Then you (well, i) started to see it in cheaper versions at places like world market & whole foods. and may I say that, while WS’s pepp bark is sublime, i note some new online-only pepp swirl marshmallows that seem also-intriguing

Le Petit Ecolier white choc cookies reveal what a strict taskmistress innovation can be. there was the little schoolboy, happy for 150+ yrs in his French milieu as a butter biscuit topped w/ a slab of milk choc. Then mkt forces intruded and he was forced to welcome a baby brother: a spinoff in dark choc. Not enough. So the parent co. spawned another sibling, EXTRA dark choc. Still not enough. so now: white choc. (there’s also been a couplo bastard cousins: hazelnut & crisped rice.) This white choc is pleasingly not too sweet; but all Le Petit Ecoliers are good - not too many ingredients and they use butter (vs. butter-flavored hydrogenated oil).

Pepp farm duz so many new prods, they could star in their own blog. Most of it’s just Another New Flavor of Milano, but the Chocolate Delight line is semi-unique cuz 1/2 the 6 flavors are avail at Target only. That includes Marbella, choc cookies w/ a “rich choc layer” & choc cappuccino “crunchies”; and 2 others, mint & amaretto. if you can’t get to target, shed no tears; the choc tastes fake, like frosting, and the “crunchies” taste like ash. Celebrate instead that the Choc Raspberry Rialto, another in the line with a choc sandwich & raspberry filling that‘s a little better, is avail everywhere

as is visible in the adjoining photo, these droopy Quaker breakfast cookies don’t have much going on in the, how to put it, erection dept. but hey here’s a cookie for someone who likes ‘em xtrasoft & loaded w/ high-fructose corn syrup, currently being fingered for obesity in this country. There’s no way to fathom the thinking behind this thing. Maybe breakfast BAR sounded too healthy? It’s not even a great nutrition deal w/ 15% of various vitamins, 34 frigging carbs, & about 8,000 maltodextrins, modified wheat starches, propylene glycol diesters, etc etc etc. it’s depressing quaker even made this.

This is not brand new but since quaker’s blog-savvy publicist sent these out to a bunch of food blogs, nyce joins impulsive buy in a joint post today. Synergy!

Perhaps addled by the success of its various ltd-ed kiss releases, Hershey’s seems to be under the impression that the so-called kiss shape (cuz it’s not exactly shaped like a kiss, it’s more teardrop, right?) is some kinda valuable commodity. A few mths ago, the co. issued kissables, basically an M&M in the “kiss” shape. Now: teeny-weeny Hershey’s Kisses Mini Cookies. * There’s choc chip, Double Choc, & multi-colored Confetti Sprinkles. They’re so tiny that there’s lotsa crunch but not much going on taste-wise; the choc-chips are so small, they have minimal impact. It’s basically playing off the cute factor which makes you wonder how long they’ll last.

*brought to NYCE HQ by the “plano guy”

Intro’ing new prods, diversifying, taking chances, offering choices = all good things. So where did the Limited Edition Take 5 w/ chocolate cookie go wrong? It has, what, caramel, peanuts, PB, & milk choc. Hard to argue w/ that, right? Except what makes Take 5 Take 5 is the PRETZEL, i.e. the sweet vs the salty. The choc cookie is crunchy and offers a moderate contrast. But it ain’t no pretzel, man.

A few months ago, Pepperidge Farm* came out w/ a “choc fudge pirouette” – a choc version of the cylindrical pirouette cookie but w/ choc fudge filling & a choc cookie wafer. It seemed almost-newsy but not really. But there must be some kinda market for those pirouette-style cookies cuz that’s basically what new Nestle Stixx is: wafer cylinder filled w/ flavored cream & coated in choc. Flavors: 1. milk choc 2. dark choc 3. butterfinger. They’re good, esp the dark choc, w/ the A+ contrast between crispy cookie & sweet choc. The lame thing is that they’re pitching these as 90-cal bars that are “good for health-conscious types“ but try eating less than 3 at a time.
*Nestle & pepp farm’s websites blow

twix rules but has a downside. To its credit, it has the fab contrasting combo of salty (cookie base) & sweet (caramel & choc), in the same way as LU’s Le Petit Ecolier cookies (plain biscuit+choc) and Hershey’s Take 5 (pretzels+choc) (which btw will have 2 ltd eds this year). If only Twix didn’t have palm kernel oil which is not so great for you and leaves an icky residue on the tongue. And yet despite all that, Twix are still xlnt - even the new ltd ed Twix White Chocolate. Rather than tasting white chocolately, the white choc + the caramel = buttery. sigh maybe a little palm kernel oil isn’t so bad