I gotta be honest. After my last review, I have PTSD: Post Traumatic Strawberry Disorder.
Those Starburst strawberry ice cream jellybeans were so bad that I haven’t been able to enjoy my once-favorite fruit for weeks. I even bought some fresh strawberries to wash the taste out of my mouth, but I was still feeling angry and confused so I just let them rot in the fridge. I found myself taking long walks alone in the pouring rain, pensive and pondering, with unanswerable questions like “How could I have been so wrong about strawberries? ” and “Why didn’t I bring an umbrella?”.
I’m determined to break out of this strawberry funk. So I found these: Nestle Toll House Strawberry Shortcake Cookies.
Even in my fragile state, I feel optimistic about these cookies. Toll House has historically crushed it with both their one-off flavors and their fruit-based editions. Last year’s Harvest Apple cookies are still a standout for me. These sound intriguing: strawberry filling, white chocolate chips, and traditional cookie dough. Simple and straightforward, but still creative enough to potentially be a home run.
Opening the package, the smell is exactly what you’d hope for. The sweet strawberry filling is the main scent, and they nail it with the jammy fruity aroma. These smell exactly like what strawberry shortcake should smell like. I am cautiously excited, and have not yet experienced any jellybean-related flashbacks.
Popping them in the oven for 13 minutes didn’t fill my house with the aroma of freshly baked strawberry shortcake, which was a minor bummer, but they held their shape well and the pockets of jam peeking out are super enticing.
Despite my fears that Nestle Toll House Strawberry Shortcake Cookies would give me a strawberry flavored panic attack, they actually did the opposite: they were awesome and made me happy. The jam is so spot on; it’s flavorful but lighter and sweeter than a typical strawberry jam, which helps to capture the shortcake aspect of things. The white chocolate adds a little texture (more so when they’ve cooled), and it’s a pale but fine comparison for whipped topping.
I appreciate what they were going for, and other than providing tiny single-serving pods of Cool Whip in the package, I don’t think they could’ve captured that shortcake flavor more fully. (Side thought: patent “Cool Whip pocket pods” idea immediately.) The real star is the mix of jam and buttery cookie dough, though, and it’s outstanding. Strawberry shortcake is definitely an odd cookie flavor, but I don’t think it could be executed better than what Toll House has done here.
In short, Nestle Toll House Strawberry Shortcake Cookies have saved me from the strawberry dark side.
Badassness of That Strawberry Rose Rating: 9 out of 10
How Much I Miss Harvest Apple Cookies Rating: 8 out of 10
Overall Rating: 8.5 out of 10
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Alright, its time to cut back over to savory snacks. You’ve got enough sweet snacks in the last few weeks of archives to give diabetes to a sizable tribe of people. More chips! More goldfish flavors! More unfortunate hot pockets and popcorns! All those non-corn/potato based chips hitting the shelves, what of those?
Haha, feedback noted Kate! A lot of times I cover the salty/savory on Instagram instead of here. For whatever reason the blog traffic suggests people are far more interested in the sweets. It’s also a lot harder to find the creative in Garden Tomato & Asiago. I’ll be using a new short review format that might suit those products.