Awesome organic snack company Late July generously provided me up with a wonderful sampling of their great snacks to review here on the blog! The selection I was sent included their cute new mini sandwich cookies which each feature adorable imprints of an endangered animals on their surface. The animals feature include: Leatherback Sea Turtles, Red Wolves, Chimpanzees, Sumatran Rhinos, Pygmy Rabbits, Black-footed Ferrets and Giant Pandas. However, the imprints of endangered animals aren't just for cuteness points... 10% of profits from the sale of these cookies will be donated to the Jane Goodall Institute! The Jane Goodall institute supports not only wildlife through conservation efforts, but provides environmental and humanitarian education to youth. It's great that by purchasing of these cookies, both consumers and Late July are giving something back.
The mini sandwich cookies come in two flavors: Milk Chocolate Between Vanilla Cookies and White Chocolate Between Chocolate Cookies. I gave both flavors to a family member who I shall dub "Picky Eater" for the purposes of this review because, well.. this is a very picky eater. Despite of the pickiness, Picky Eater really liked these... whew! * Wipes sweat from brow*.
The cookies have a great, fresh taste that is supported by a nice, generous cookie crunch. The milk chocolate filling + vanilla cookies were the clear favorite because both the chocolate filling and vanilla cookies each imparted a wonderful, distinct flavor to the overall sandwich cookie. The white chocolate filling + chocolate cookies had less distinctly separate flavors with the white chocolate filling and the chocolate cookie flavors blending together more smoothly. In contributing to the overall flavor, the taste of the white chocolate filling was less distinct than that of the chocolate filling, but both varieties tasted and looked great.
Some of the other products that were sampled by "Picky Eater" included:
- Cheddar Cheese Sandwich Crackers & Mini Cheddar Cheese Sandwich Crackers: These consist of delicious crispy, buttery tasting crackers with a layer of real organic white cheddar sandwiched in between. The flavor is cleaner than conventional sandwich cookies and even look cleaner with their pretty, lightly colored cheese filling (aka not bright orange). This was Picky Eater's favorite Late July snack & Picky Eater wants some more!
- Cheddar Cheese Bite Size Crackers: Picky Eater thought these were just "okay". Overall Picky Eater found the taste to be a little too mild. This is probably because these cheese crackers have a lower sodium content than the other cheese cracker brands that Picky Eater is used to. Another family member who I shall dub "Eater of Mature Taste" (no, not me!) actually really liked these. Eater of Mature Taste loved that these weren't as salty as other cheese crackers: this made the cheese flavor more distinct than in other brands. Eater of Mature Taste polished off Picky Eater's bag of these crackers with no hesitation and loved them!
- Peanut Butter Sandwich Crackers: These were wonderful! The crackers were lightly sprinkled with coarse granules of salt which imparted a nice texture and flavor. The crackers had a buttery flavor) though they contain no dairy) and a light, crispy texture. The peanut butter was smooth and creamy and had an excellent lightly roasted flavor. I loved these because they weren't rich and overly creamy, but tasted very light and delicate. My personal favorite of the bunch. I liked these so much that I didn't even share with Picky Eater, though undoubtedly Picky Eater would have loved these too! These are something I would definitely purchase again.
- Dark Chocolate (Intense And Decadent) Sandwich Cookies: These sandwich cookies had a deep, wonderful cocoa flavor. The over chocolate flavor was sweet, deep and slightly complex (with just a tinge of bitter from the cocoa). Both the cookies and the cream filling had a similar "intense" chocolate flavor, but the texture of each of the components were polar opposites, providing a great sandwich cookie experience. I loved how crispy the cookies were (more dense than other brands of sandwich cookies) and how creamy the filling was, really nice!
- Vanilla Bean With Green Tea Sandwich Cookies: I'm a big green tea fan and even if you aren't, the flavor of these cookies won't be a problem. The green tea flavor is very mild (described as a "hint of sweet organic green tea") and isn't as prevalent as in something as say, green tea ice cream. In fact, if I didn't know there was green tea in here, I might have not even suspected that it was an ingredient. The main flavor of the filling comes from the vanilla which is sweet and pure tasting, while the green tea adds a nice, subtle dimension and complexity. Eater of Mature Taste sampled these as well and really liked them. These would be really nice to serve to guests with some coffee or tea.
**I was provided with samples of the products mentioned in this review from Late July for review purposes and allowed to post my thoughts at my discretion. I did not receive any monetary compensation for this post. All opinions expressed here are mine.**
This made me hungry :)
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