Nibbling on a Whim
In the trend of shrinking snack foods down to pop-in-your-mouth material, Pepperidge Farm has a new contender.
The venerable cookie maker recently released Whims, miniature cookies that are designed to be easy to reach and fast to eat. The snacks come in “crispy waves” or “crunchy clusters,” and they’re served in containers designed to fit into your car’s cup holder so you can keep them within popping distance. But if the Whims are sitting next to a sweetened drink of any kind you might be on a sugar high for days.
Food panel members weren’t that impressed with the super-sweet snacks. Many tasters said the cookies were yummy enough, but others thought the cookie crumbles were too sweet. Some liked the innovative idea but most said they’d just rather have a cookie.
The White Chocolate Pecan crunchy clusters received the highest score of the cookie snacks tasted by the panel, three and a half stars. That’s between fair and good on our scale of one to five stars. Two others, Toffee and Chocolate, both scored three stars.
“I was surprised to kind of like these at first, but after awhile they get a little too sweet and you feel like you’re on sugar overload. Nice and light though, (with a) good taste…. I could see where they’d get kind of addictive,” said panelist Matt Quesnell.
“It shouldn’t count at a cookie. It’s far too thin and tiny, but for what it is I like it,” taster Laura Hollman said of the Toffee crispy waves.
Larry Inman, the panel’s cookie lover, probably wouldn’t slow his cart near the new Whims in the grocery store. “I’d rather have the whole cookie,” he said.
Skip Hubbard wouldn’t turn the snacks down if they were offered. “Great toffee flavor and lots of it,” he said. “Yummy little treats.”
But Andy Hoye was skeptical that Whims will have much of a shelf life with all the competition on the market for snack foods.
“Very sugary and dry,” said Andy Hoye. “I bet (Pepperidge Farm) scraps this weak effort.”
Whims come in six different varieties: Chocolate Chip, Mint Chocolate Chip and Toffee crispy waves and Chocolate Chocolate, Chocolate Cashew and White Chocolate Pecan crunchy clusters.
Pepperidge Farms Whims White Chocolate Pecan
Price: $3.99 for 5.4 ounces
Nutrition per serving (9 cookie clusters): 150 calories, 7 grams fat (2.5 grams saturated, 42 percent fat calories), 2 grams protein, 20 grams carbohydrate, less than 5 milligrams cholesterol, less than 1 gram dietary fiber, 65 milligrams sodium.
Taste: • • • 1/2
Value: • •
Comments: “Nice flavor and crunch. I wouldn’t quite call them cookies; perhaps cookie ball might be more descriptive.” – Skip Hubbard
“Too crunchy, too sugary and too much like a bowl of cereal.” – Larry Inman
“Pretty sweet, but very good.” – Nancy Robinson
“Sweet and dry. Try something else. Pepperidge Farm has found a new low.” – Andy Hoye
Pepperidge Farms Whims Chocolate Chocolate Chip
Price: $3.99 for 5.4 ounces
Nutrition per serving (9 cookie clusters) : 150 calories, 7 grams fat (2.5 grams saturated, 42 percent fat calories), 1 gram protein, 21 grams carbohydrate, less than 5 milligrams cholesterol, no dietary fiber, 70 milligrams sodium.
Taste: • • •
Value: • •
Comments: “Chocolate chip, very good. Crunchy. These were great.” – Nancy Robinson
“I don’t think it merits the ‘chocolate, chocolate’ name. I’d expect two times the chocolate.” – Laura Hollman
“I thought these were pretty good. Crunchy without being too tough and they have a good chocolate taste that balances pretty well. Thumbs up.” – Matt Quesnell
Pepperidge Farms Whims Toffee
Price: $3.99 for 5.4 ounces
Nutrition per serving (17 cookie waves): 150 calories, 6 grams fat (2 grams saturated, 36 percent fat calories), 2 grams protein, 21 grams carbohydrate, less than 5 milligrams cholesterol, less than 1 gram dietary fiber, 90 milligrams sodium.
Taste: • • •
Value: • •
Comments: “Very artificial tasting; flavor is mostly in the form of aftertaste.” Larry Inman
“For what it is, I like it. A bit sweet.” – Laura Hollman
“Great toffee flavor and lots of it. Yummy little treats.” – Skip Hubbard