ENDED Giveaway: Almondina Cookie Sampler

One of my favorite things about blogging is trying new things! While shopping at Trader Joe's, I had often seen packages of Almondina cookies and wondered about them, so when Almondina contacted me and asked me to do a review I was excited! Cookies are one of life's greatest pleasures, after all!

Check out this sampler package I received!

Inside my package, I found six different flavors of Almondina cookies, and two packs of The Original, for seven packs total!

1. The Original
2. Gingerspice
3. Choconut
4. Cinnaroma
5. Sesame
6. Chocolate Cherry

Almondina cookies are crisp, light, and very flavorful. Although they are crispy, they have a little bit of a chew to them, which was really good. I actually thought they were really good when they got a little stale too!

Some healthy facts about Almondina cookies:

• All natural
• 30 calories per cookie
• No cholesterol, coloring, or preservatives
• No added fat or salt
• Kosher and dairy free

The Almondina company has an interesting history too! World renown symphony conductor Yuval Zaliouk loved his grandmother's secret cookie recipe. Not until the end of her life did she finally pass the recipe on to Yuval's mother. All flavors of the cookies share almonds as a common ingredient, and Yuval's grandmother was named Dina. Almond + Dina = Almondina.

Almondina's mission, "To put a delicious healthful cookie on every table" is becoming realized, as the cookies are now sold in all 50 states and several foreign countries as well. They are sold in the following retail locations: 

• Fairway
• Publix
• Hy Vee
• Giant Eagle
• Brookshire
• Mollie Stone's
• Hannaford
• Jewel
• Whole Foods
• The Fresh Market
• Walmart
• Trader Joe's
• Cost Plus World Market
• TJ Maxx
• Marshalls

Find additional locations by searching the store finder at www.almondina.com.

Here's a close-up of each flavor of Amondina I received:

Now that my family and I have had the chance to sample every flavor in the box, I can tell you that I love them all! I think my very favorite is Chocolate Cherry, but that could change at any moment! As you can see from the photos, each cookies is chock full of sliced almonds. These are great snacks, work to satisfy the sweet tooth, and they're guilt-free.

There are additional flavors I'd love to try too!

• AlmonDuo (with pistachios!)
• Anniversary T (with anise)
• Bran Treats - cookies for breakfast, made with oat bran
• Pumpkin Spice (seasonal)
• Chocolate Dipped (dipped in dark chocolate)
• Delights - totally covered in milk chocolate
• Yogurt dipped Bran Treats

Almondina has generously agreed to give away one sampler package of Almondina cookies, just like the one I received, to one lucky MichiGal reader! Although it's called a sampler, these are full size packages of cookies! Use the Rafflecopter form to enter, and Good Luck! And sorry, but U.S. only.

Disclosure: I received free Almondina products in exchange for this post. All opinions are my own.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Review: WhoNu? Chocolate Sandwich Cookies & How They Measure Up to the Oreo

I very rarely buy packaged cookies from the grocery store. It's not that I don't like them, I do. Although, not nearly as much as I LOVE homemade cookies. And my kids certainly like store bought cookies. I just try not to buy a lot of sweets, and I have a sort of ongoing challenge with myself that if I want something sweet badly enough, then I'll have to work for it and bake something. Plus, I'm on a label reading kick, and one look at a list of ingredients on a box of cookies will surely make anyone's head spin.

Photo from whonucookies.com

But...yesterday I was at Kroger and saw something different. I typically don't spend much time studying the cookie aisle, considering that I hardly ever buy anything from there, but the yellow packaging caught my eye. And the big picture on the box of a cookie that looks an awful lot like an Oreo. Okay, they hooked me and reeled me in with their catchy name and their bright packaging, and their pictures of tasty looking cookies. I was intrigued, and I stopped to investigate further. What I stumbled upon was WhoNu? cookies.




While the chocolate sandwich cookies are what caught my eye, my Kroger did sell one or two other varieties. WhoNu? cookies come in several flavors:

• Chocolate Sandwich
• 2X Stuffed Chocolate Sandwich
• Vanilla Wafer
• Original Chocolate Chip
• Soft & Chewy Chocolate Chip
• Vanilla Sandwich

The package says "Who Knew nutrition could be so delicious?" Oh really? Let's see just how nutritious these cookies are, as compared to the classic Oreo.

WhoNu Chocolate Sandwich Cookie                                     Oreo                                                         
Serving: 3 cookies                                                                      Serving: 3 cookies
Calories per serving: 150                                                            Calories per serving: 160
Total fat: 6 g                                                                               Total fat: 7 g
Saturated fat: 1.5 g                                                                     Saturated fat: 2 g
Trans fat: 0g                                                                                Trans fat: 0g
Cholesterol: 0 mg                                                                       Cholesterol: 0 mg
Sodium: 140 mg                                                                          Sodium: 160 mg
Total Carbohydrates: 24 g                                                            Total Carbohydrates: 25 g
Dietary Fiber: 3 g                                                                        Dietary Fiber: 1 g
Sugars: 13 g                                                                                Sugars: 14 g
Protein: 1 g                                                                                  Protein: 1 g
Vitamin A: 20%                                                                          Vitamin A: 0%
Vitamin C: 25%                                                                           Vitamin C: 0%
Calcium: 30%                                                                              Calcium: 2%
Iron: 20%                                                                                     Iron: 10%
Vitamin D: 30%                                                                           Vitamin D: Not listed 
Vitamin E: 25%                                                                            Vitamin E: Not listed 
Thiamin: 10%                                                                               Thiamin: Not listed 
Riboflavin: 10%                                                                            Riboflavin: Not listed 
Niacin: 10%                                                                                 Niacin: Not listed 
Vitamin B6: 10%                                                                          Vitamin B6: Not listed 
Vitamin B12: 20%                                                                        Vitamin B12: Not listed 
Biotin: 10%                                                                                  Biotin: Not listed 
Pantothenic Acid: 10%                                                                 Pantothenic Acid: Not listed 
Iodine: 10%                                                                                 Iodine: Not listed
Zinc: 10%                                                                                    Zinc: Not listed
Copper: 10%                                                                               Copper: Not listed
Manganese: 10%                                                                         Manganese: Not listed

As you can see, there is not all that much difference until you get to the vitamins and minerals portion of the nutrition information. Comparing the ingredients, two things stuck me: The WhoNu cookies list wheat flour as the second ingredient, while the Oreos list enriched flour as the second ingredient. Also, the WhoNu cookies do not contain high fructose corn syrup, while the Oreos do contain high fructose corn syrup. I try to avoid high fructose corn syrup and enriched flour, so this was a big plus for me. The WhoNu package also boasts "no hydrogenated oils", but I'm not sure if Oreos do contain them or not?

The bottom line is the taste, of course! WhoNu offers a "Love the Taste Guarantee." If you don't love the taste, you can submit your receipt and your UPC from the package for a refund. My taste testers and I are all in agreement: the taste is GOOD and not all that different from Oreos. I cannot remember how much WhoNu cookies cost exactly (what kind of reviewer am I??), but I do know it was comparable to Oreos. And I would not have bought them if they were expensive (plus there was a "use now" coupon on the package), so I'm going with somewhere in the under $3-ish range.

My final thoughts: I don't exactly think this is a miracle cookie or the most healthy choice I could make for a snack for myself or my kids. However, I do appreciate the vitamins and minerals that have been added to the WhoNu cookies, the extra fiber, the exclusion of high fructose corn syrup, and the use of wheat flour as opposed to enriched flour. Buying Oreos is a rare treat around here, or something purchased (again, rarely) for a recipe. Next time, I'll choose WhoNu? Chocolate Sandwich Cookies. They are comparable in price and taste to Oreos, but the nutrition considerations make the difference for me.

What do you think? Have you tried WhoNu? Cookies? Do you think they compare well to Oreos, or have you tried a different flavor?

FYI: This is NOT a sponsored post. Nobody gave me free cookies.