Friday, June 4, 2010

Review: Pepperidge Farm

In the spirit of full disclosure, I received two packages of cookies and one package of Golfish to review.  I reveived no compensation, and all opinions expressed are my own.

Growing up, I had a couple of images of Pepperidge Farm.  The first - as it probably is for most people - is the traditional cheddar Goldfish.  The other was the cookies they make, in particular the Milano cookie.

Like many kids, I had Goldfish for snack on a fairly regular basis.  Not only did they taste good, but they were fun to play with.  It was a great way for my mom to keep us quiet when she needed a little break.  Every once in awhile, we'd also get to have the pretzel Goldfish - but those were only for a special treat.


Goldfish have branched out now with new flavors, and they're so fun.  There is now a Vanilla flavored Goldfish.  Silly me, I was expecting it to be a more vanilla-type flavored cracker.  I'm not quite sure why I thought that, and looking back, I'm not sure what it would be like.  Needless to say, when I bit into my first Vanilla Goldfish, I wasn't expecting it to be a cookie.

Fortunately, it's a pretty decent cookie.  They are still shaped like your traditional goldfish, but it's more of a graham type cookie (ummm yes, Michelle, just like it says so clearly on the package!).  It really reminds me of another cookie - in terms of both flavor and texture - that I used to get every once in awhile when I was a child, the Salerno Butter Cookies.

On the plus side, I remember needing to eat two or three of those cookies to feel satisfied, because mentally eating one cookie just didn't do it.  With the Goldfish Vanilla Grahams, I can have maybe ten of them and feel like I had a good enough snack.  My waistline thanks you, Pepperidge Farm!

Even better?  They make these cookies with whole grains and real vanilla, which makes me feel better about eating them.  You know me - no HFCS or trans fats come into my house.  This makes the grade on both counts - and there are no artificial preservatives.

And the cookies?

Yep, cookies.  Generally, I make my own cookies, but it's nice to sometimes have something in the pantry for just in case when I - ahem - need a treat.  And that happens some days.  I received both the lemon cookies and the sugar cookies.  They also come in oatmeal, shortbread, and gingerman flavors.


When I took my first bite of the sugar cookie, I was somewhat disappointed.  I'm one of the people who likes my cookie to be soft and chewy - especially for chocolate chip and sugar cookies.  This was definitely crispy and crunchy.  Thinking about it though, I realized that a soft cookie wouldn't work too well in the Pepperidge Farm packaging.  The taste was great, but the texture isn't my favorite - but that's me, and I know lots of people who like their cookies crispy.


The lemon cookies were also crispy (and in a very fun fluted shape on top), but lemon cookies being crispy works for me much better.  More importantly, the flavor was great.  Sometimes you have lemon baked goods that have lemon that just tastes fake or overly sweet and syrupy.  These cookies were not like that in the least.  They had a distinct lemon flavor, but it wasn't overpowering, and they weren't too sweet.  I was pleasantly surprised - and these did not last too long in the pantry.

Again, for me, a serving of these cookies was a mere two.  Their serving size was a suggested four for the lemon and three for the sugar.  With 160 and 140 calories respectively, I felt pretty good about my calorie intake of this special treat.

You can find both of these new products - the flavored Goldfish and the cookies - at major supermarkets, grocery stores, and mass merchandisers nationwide.  Oh, and did I mention that both of these are part of the Campbell's Labels for Education program?  Even better - three more points towards the preschool's goal!

For more info, check out the Pepperidge Farm website or follow them on Twitter.

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