Maryland Choc Chip, Oatmeal & Honey

Product name: Maryland Choc Chip, Oatmeal & Honey
Purchase details: £1.00 for a 200g packet or two for £1.00 (Poundworld)
Calories: 51 per biscuit
Country of origin: UK

I must confess that I only bought these Maryland Choc Chip, Oatmeal & Honey cookies to make use of the multibuy offer when I was buying some other biscuits! Initially, I didn’t think they looked that exciting, but on noticing the magical word ‘new’ in the corner of the golden wrapper, I realised I couldn’t remember having had any cookies with honey in them before.

The packaging contained inviting images of oats and honey which, unusually, looked more enticing than the photos of the biscuits themselves which looked like standard chocolate chip cookies. However, the treat was described as being ‘choc full of yumminess’ and contained 6% oatmeal and 3% honey, in addition to the 16% chocolate chips.

The cookies were made by Burton’s Foods and contained no artificial flavours or colours, no GM ingredients and no hydrogenated fats and oils. They were quite dark in appearance, inside and out, compared to other cookies, particularly when considering another Maryland offering – Strawberry & White Choc.

I quickly realised that the scent was a cross between that of a standard cookie and flapjack. The latter seemed to be caused by the honey and oats and I was kicking myself for not having thought of the connection earlier!

Despite the quantity of chocolate chips varying in each biscuit, their taste was pretty strong in every bite and it was far and away the main flavour element. There was also a baked aspect to the taste which wasn’t usual for this type of cookie. However, neither the oats nor honey seemed particularly noticeable in themselves as additional flavours, at first. I did then find, though, that the honey released a delicate and almost floral sweetness which created a nice contrast with the comparatively bitter chocolate. I found that dipping the biscuits in tea also released more of the honey’s juices, although I preferred to eat them au natural.

These really crunchy cookies didn’t provide an obviously ground-breaking experience but they were different enough for me to choose them over standard chocolate chip cookies in future. Apart from anything else, the flapjack-like element meant they tasted a little more homemade than most mass-produced biscuits.

Appearance: 7.5/10
Aroma: 7.5/10
Taste: 7/10
Texture: 7.5/10
Overall score: 7.38/10

McVitie's Hobnobs: Choc chip cookies

Product name: McVitie’s Hobnobs: Choc chip cookies
Purchase details: £0.49 for a 150g pack of 14 biscuits (Home Bargains)
Calories: 54 per cookie
Country of origin: UK 

‘Nobbly oaty’ Hobnobs are a favourite of mine but they’re so dangerously addictive that I don’t trust myself with them so rarely buy them! When I saw these Choc chip cookies a while back, though, I thought it would be rude not to try them.

Described as ‘oaty biscuits with plain and milk chocolate chips’, this packet contained 14 biscuits, and came presented in a bright red wrapper containing a photo of an attractive-looking cookie. In reality, I was surprise by just how pale the biscuits were – they were the shade of porridge, rather than the golden colour I’m used to, so I though they looked like poorly Hobnobs (although they look healthier on the photographs)! They did have a bit more colour to them in places, though, and this was particularly the case inside. I also liked the way they managed to look like cookies whilst still having the knobbly appearance of a Hobnob, complete with visible oat flakes and two shades of chocolate chips.

I can’t say these cookies smelt particularly special, but they did have a standard biscuit smell with a hint of chocolate. Containing 25% rolled oats, I was pleased that, whilst being very cookie-like (more so than I had anticipated), the biscuits did have the recognisable Hobnob taste.

I thought having two types of chocolate chip was a nice touch and these added a pleasant sweetness and a good amount of flavour to the product. The cookies contained 12% plain chocolate and 12% milk chocolate which I considered to be very good going! Whilst the biscuits’ texture was very crunchy, these chips added a cool softness and, since the chips were also larger than is often the case in cookies, they also added enough moisture to prevent the cookies being too dry.

I’ve always agreed with Peter Kay’s opinion that Hobnobs are amazing for dunking so, although it’s not something I often do, I had to give this a go with these Choc chip cookies. The result was pretty ‘wow’! They absorbed so much liquid without falling apart and still managed to maintain some crunch. Furthermore, a butteriness was released from the biscuit and the chocolate melted nicely, so there was no way I was going back – the rest of the packet got dunked too! For me, this was made even better by the fact that, although there was some biscuit residue left at the bottom of my mug, that is where it stayed and so I didn’t have any nasty, crumby mouthfuls of tea. 

I really enjoyed this Hobnobs/cookies hybrid and was relieved that, whilst they still tasted good, they weren’t as addictive as original Hobnobs. McVitie’s definitely know what they’re doing when it comes to making biscuits that go with a nice cuppa.

Appearance: 6/10
Aroma: 6/10
Taste: 7/10
Texture: 7.5/10
Overall score: 6.63/10