Maryland Big & Chunky (white choc chunk brownie)

Product name: Maryland Big & Chunky (white choc chunk brownie)
Calories: 127 for a 25g cookie
Country of origin: UK 

I was recently given a goodie bag as a thank you gift and, amongst other things, it contained this white choc chunk brownie Maryland Big & Chunky cookie.  

As a ‘snack pack’, I know that this individually wrapped biscuit was from a larger multipack, but it was still very well presented in a pretty, metallic purple wrapper that contained a photograph of the cookie. 

Made by Burton’s Biscuits Company, I was pleased to see that the cookie contained both white chocolate (15%) and milk chocolate (13%) ‘chunks’ rather than the slightly less satisfying ‘chips’. Although these appeared to be relatively sparse (there were far fewer than the packaging suggested!), the white chunks in particular, were visibly mixed into the cocoa-coloured biscuit. The chocolate cookie looked quite hard and dry but, on breaking it in two, there was a slight flexibility there, and it was slightly darker on the inside which suggested it might have been a bit more moist than it initially appeared. 

I noticed a chocolatey aroma on opening the wrapper and, up close, the quality of this reminded me of ginger. It wasn’t the most amazing scent in the world but it had something about it that caught in the back of the throat. 

The biscuit was generally crunchy but, as suspected, it was slightly softer in the middle. I think this was to make it seem a bit like a brownie but it wasn’t nearly soft enough for this and, unfortunately, it gave the impression of being a bit stale instead. I also found the milk chocolate chunks to be quite soft and crumbly but, thankfully, the white chocolate seemed to have a bit more substance to it and improved the overall texture considerably.

The cookie itself had quite a bitter chocolate taste which the white chocolate broke up a bit. It was pretty pleasant and chocolatey but there just wasn’t nearly enough white chocolate in there for my liking. However, I definitely found this Big & Chunky product to be more interesting than basic cookies – it just wasn’t as good as other biscuits on the market. 

Appearance: 7.5/10
Aroma: 7/10
Taste: 7/10
Texture: 7/10
Overall score: 7.13/10