I Love Baking - Munchy Choc Chip Cookies product reviews

We are huge chocolate chip cookie lovers in our household, and although seldom cookies have lived up to good ole fashioned homemade cookies, we're always eager to try new ones! Especially ones that claim to be a healthier version than homemade cookies (always loaded with butter and sugar from generations ago!)

I love the packaging. It is so eye-catching and appealing that I would naturally pick them up from the shelf to have a closer look. With all what's right with the cookies clearly marked right on the front, it made it easy to decide to let my kids try these delicious looking cookies.

Opening that fresh looking packaging and you get a delicious whiff of delectable cookie smell. You get the home cooking smell without all the hard work and dishes! The cookies are nice and chunky, but not overly huge so I happily gave each child their own one (and saved the fight over who's piece is bigger for another food item later). Miss 5 was the first to try, and was not completely sold on the taste (she definitely know what she likes and often stays with it but does try new things often now). A couple more bites and she figured it wasn't for her and left the remaining cookie. Miss 2, however. Well I will be buying these more often, even just for her. She loved it!! There was not a crumb left by her and even tried to get her hands on another piece of goodness.

So before she managed to take them all for herself, I had to try one for myself! Sadly, they didn't appeal to my taste as much as I had anticipated. Had I perhaps talked them up too much to myself? Perhaps. To me, the worst part was that they were too dry and crumbled too much in my mouth, leaving a slight unpleasant taste and feel in my mouth. However, the delicious pieces of chocolate did make up for most of this disappointment of the actual cookie part. After going online to see what other flavours are available, I was pleased to see that they are made from the same people who make I Love Pies. Love the focus of this company and will happily buy for my kids more.

My family are biscuit eaters, there are those who very rarely eat biscuits, and then there is us, it is not unheard of for two packets a day to be consumed by my whanau. Needless to say everyone was keen to sample one of these biscuits and 'help' provide an opinion. They were quite impressed by the packaging, being shaped like a biscuit jar, it was quirky and cute, but being resealable it was very practical as there is nothing worse than biscuits that go soft.

The universal response was that these are good, which was interesting as there were a few faces pulled at the packaging's statement that the biscuits were sweetened by date puree. Their was delight with the chocolate chips as they were a generous size, with chunks of chocolate. The family all felt they were more like home made biscuits rather than store brought biscuits, even my two fussy children were both fans, you could claim that you had whipped them up yourself, except they were two uniformly shaped!

I sat down to try mine with a hot cup of tea, and some quiet family free time so that I could truly savour these treats. My first bite had me agreeing with all the feedback I had received so far, it was like biting into a biscuit that my mum had whipped up in prior years. I had a wee argument with one of my children as they were convinced that there must be brown sugar in these biscuits because of the colouring and a quick check through the ingredients confirmed nothing but unrefined sugar used. When I came to write the review it had been a full week since the packaging had been opened and I had tucked the biscuits away so I had one on hand for when I was writing, and I was surprised to find, the biscuits were still firm! Just like when the packet had been opened, it was a lovely surprise and I can say that the zip lock bag works brilliantly.

I think these are a great choice for families, they are healthy, they taste great, they use packaging that is practical as well as attractive, and they are budget friendly, I think that makes them a winner all around!

Can I just come right out and say that I love the shape of the packaging? The cookie jar shape is just a small detail that adds so much to the appeal of the product. That combined with the "amateur" style of doodles added to the package really gives that personal touch that tells you this is a made by people that care. In fact, the product is created by two mums; Jessie and Maree. That is the scale of the product, and it is an instant indicator that we should have some high-quality product.

The product has a lot of claims; the use of wholegrain oats and unrefined sugar, no palm oil, no artificial flavours and colours, no preservatives, and no "nasties". So it instantly picks up some extra points for appealing to the modern day need to avoid unnecessary ingredients, and a need to try and keep things as natural as possible. One of the main aspects that will separate this product from other products is how they sweeten them; by using unrefined sugar in smaller quantities and replacing it with date puree.

Opening the package I'm happy to see that it has a resealable component, to keep the cookies fresh. A fruity is noticeable from the package (presumably from the dates), but when you pull out a cookie, the individual doesn't have any really noticeable scent to it beyond the usual cookie smell. The cookies are very consistent in shape, with a diameter of about 6 cm, and a general shape like that of a rounded shortbread biscuit; small and thick like a small hockey puck, with a slight rise in the centre. The texture of the cookie is a bit crumbly, a likely result of the use of whole grain oats and unrefined sugar, so there is no solid crunchy aspect to this cookie. It has the characteristic of crumbling when you bite into it. The chocolate too is rather soft and presents no resistance when you bite into it. The chocolate flavour is not too strong, however, potentially because of the use of the date puree, giving the cookie a higher baseline of sweetness. It's still tasty, but it doesn't scream chocolate chip, despite the obvious inclusion of chocolate chips.

A tasty morsel, and luckily, they are rather filling. The recommended serving size is only one cookie. A blasphemous idea for a male that weighs over 100kg, but try as I might, after a couple of cookies, I need to put the bag down. feeling satisfied after a snack is a rare occasion for me, and is, therefore, a real testament to the product. Well made.

When it comes to cookies chocolate chip cookies are right up there as one of my favourites, though to be honest the ones you buy in stores are often not the greatest so I tend to bake my own, as at least that way I know that they are actually going to contain a decent amount of chocolate and taste the way which a chocolate chip cookie is meant to taste! I have seen the I Love Baking range of cookies in supermarkets for the past month or so but hadn't yet tried them so I was delighted to be able to try them out through KIWIreviews.

When I first received the cookies the first thing to grab my attention was the packaging, and by this I mean every single thing about it! The packaging was just so creative, bright, colourful and eye-catching I loved it, especially how the bag was shaped like that of a cookie jar rather than the usual square shape cookies come in! At first glance of the front of the package I could see exactly what I was getting, and could tell that these cookies were in fact made with LOVE they weren't packed full of refined sugars, they were made from wholegrains, they contained no nasties, no palm oil and they were even sweetened with date puree, the picture of the cookies was pretty much exactly what the cookies within the packet were like, size shape and all a true resemblance.

With 11 cookies in a pack this is plenty as 1 cookie generally equals to 1 serve and I must say I was left feeling satisfied after just 1 cookie, being made of grains made them rather fulling! The cookies at first bite seemed a lot like the texture of a shortbread biscuit, only grainy, I did at first find this a bit odd but my taste buds soon adapted and I realised how amazing they were. As for the chocolate they are jam packed full of chocolate, large pieces of chocolate that is deliciously rich and creamy, I found that every mouthful of cookie had chocolate in it which was great! The cookies were just the right sweetness and If I hadn't of already read the packaging there is no way I would have known that there were sweetened with date puree rather than sugar, they were very tasty indeed.

My whole family loved these, Miss 4 was probably the biggest fan saying that they were the best cookies in the world, and my mother in law loved them also, so much so that when I was around at her house the other day I spied a unopened pack in the pantry, she had gone out and purchased her own after trying my review pack. These cookies are a clear winner with everyone who has tried them, and everyone comments on the beautiful texture of which they are, not to hard and crunchy but just right.

I without any second thought will be purchasing these cookies again and I really look forward to trying out some other flavours in the range and seeing how they compare to these ones.

I do enjoy choc-chip cookies, I have been known to tweak a biscuit recipe in a way that allows me to turn it into a choc-chip version in fact. However, never have I come across a choc-chip cookie quite as tasty as these. Replacing the standard sugar with a reduced amount of unrefined sugar, then topping up the sweetener with date puree was simply genius! That said, as they admit on the back of the pack, they buy in the chocolate chips and that manufacturer does use refined sugar so the "Made With Unrefined Sugar" statement on the front of the pack is actually a bit risky, as it could be grounds for a "false advertising" claim. It's a blanket statement that is contradicted on the back, and they could easily cover themselves if they add an asterisk to that statement on the front, the same way they did on the back. Still... that's for the legal beagles to fight over... for me, the amazing taste and effort to improve the healthiness of the recipe far outweighs the limitations of the supply chain.

I find many standard choc-chip recipes can produce biscuits that are dry, crunchy or crumbly... and while these are not "moist and chewy" they are far closer to these ideals than any other non-home-made versions I have come across. They have a slight moistness and chewiness that really appeals to me. They actually make me think of a modified, moister shortbread biscuit, something that I find very more'ish.

Leading the trend, these packs are wonderfully quirky, and were first on the shelves, but no longer the only 'fun' packaging there. However they are extremely eye-catching and I noticed them instantly the first day they went on sale at my local supermarket, which happened to be on my regular shopping day. I love how the photos of the biscuits actually match what you find in the pack, down to the actual size too, give or take a very small fraction. This lends great credibility to the product for me, and significantly increases the likelihood of me being a repeat buyer.

The only niggle I have is that the packaging does not offer any indication of its recycle status. This is something I am becoming more aware of in recent years, having increased my recycling to the point I put out a single rubbish every 6-8 weeks on average, where I used to put out 2 a week regularly. If the pack isn't recyclable, I would like to see it made from a more biodegradable material so I could compost it. Healthy food is great, but a healthy environment is more important to me and I will often switch brands if they use more eco-friendly packaging.

Mr Seven nailed it when he commented "No matter where you bite it totally bursts with dark chocolate". I asked if he intended to use the word "bursts" and he assured me he did because he had never before eaten a biscuit where there was a piece of chocolate in every single bite. The rest of us had to agree with him - the biscuits are small but they pack an awful lot of chocolate into one bite, even if you only take polite little nibbles.

There were five of us sharing the pack; having counted out the contents, we found that there were eleven biscuits in total: two each, and an extra one for me to eat while I was writing up my review. Two was about right because they are reasonably filling; despite the honey-comb like texture of the inside, the wholegrain oats provide a satisfying sensation of fullness. So two is plenty for a serving (unless, like Mr Seven, you are growing fast and always have room for more!)

My daughter loved the packaging. She always likes food that comes in a resealable bag as it travels well without the danger of spills or going soft. This one comes with a sturdy ziplock fastener that will withstand the occasional rough treatment. She also loved the individual touches like the cat cartoon and comments, the cute little quotes, and the stick figures and star decorations which look as though a child has added them. In fact, she was prompted to read the entire package details because they were so intriguing! And finally, she liked the reference to the pack being assembled by "two Mums" because this would lead consumers to think that this might be something healthy that could be included in children's school lunch boxes.

Among the ingredients is date puree. This was an interesting one because Mr Seven, the fussy eater of the family, does not like dates. We did not show him the packet before offering him a biscuit; and, as I said, he loved them and did not appear to notice! After he had finished his assigned two, we told him they contained date puree. In fact, I could taste the dates, so I was surprised that he had not noticed. He just brushed the comment off by saying that dates were ok cooked like this!

The other ingredients are solid natural ingredients which, as the manufacturers say, can be found in people's kitchen cupboards. There are no artificial additives, and some of the sugar is unrefined (but they are working on this). Altogether it is as good as a product that could be made at home but without the time and organisation needed. My family all gave it the thumbs up!