New Dove Cookies are a delicious indulgence

0 Comments | Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Aug 24, 2005 | by Bonnie Tandy Leblang

Dove Cookies. Chocolate Walnut Oasis, Beyond Chocolate Chunk, Chocolate Walnut Rendezvous, Milk Chocolate Moment, Mint Chocolate Serenade and Toffee Chocolate Tango. $2.99 per 5.3- to 6-ounce box of 8 to 15 cookies.

Bonnie: Dove chocolate is the focus of these new Dove Cookies. Half are 3-inch, round chocolate chip cookies dipped on one side in milk chocolate; the other half are small butter cookies with a one- sided coating plus another, thicker half-coating on top.

Obviously these are an indulgence, not food for someone on a weight-loss or heart-health diet. One serving, a single large cookie or three small cookies, contains 100 to 160 calories with up to 5 grams of saturated fat with 9 grams of total fat. That's a huge amount of saturated fat for a cookie and a quarter of the government's recommended daily limit.

Not worried? Then I'd recommend trying the delicious Mint Chocolate Serenade or Toffee Chocolate Tango.

Carolyn: Indulgent Pepperidge Farm, LU and Hershey's Cookies have recently been selling like hotcakes (actually better). These Dove Cookies are an amalgam of all three. Some are a straightforward affixing of candy to cookie, like LU's Little Schoolboy; most are big and bumpy, like Pepperidge Farm; the exceptions are smaller and dipped in chocolate, like Hershey's. These Dove Cookies share the addictive deliciousness of Pepperidge Farm cookies and the messiness of Hershey's Cookies. And like Hershey's, Dove Cookies' chocolate coating melts both on its tray and all over your hands, making these totally impractical for on-the-go snacking. It also makes me wonder why Dove introduced these in the summer.

One big advantage to Dove over both Pepperidge Farm and Hershey's is how they're packaged: in boxes containing two individually wrapped cookie sleeves, thus creating the (admittedly slim) possibility of eating only half a box of cookies at one sitting instead of the whole thing.

Hot Pockets and Lean Pockets Subs. Pepperoni Pizza, Philly Steak & Cheese, Meatballs & Mozzarella, and Hot Pockets Ham on Cheese. $2.99 per 10- or 11-ounce box containing two frozen subs.

Bonnie: I like the concept of these new Hot and Lean Pocket sandwiches. Just place them in their microwaveable sleeve and cook a few minutes to produce a sub sandwich with a warm, soft -- yes, soft -- roll. That's quite an impressive technological feat. But that's all that impressed me about these. The fillings taste horrid, and both the Lean and regular lines are way too salty.

The Lean Pocket Subs do have about half the fat and 100 fewer calories than the regular Hot Pockets. Both lines have a surprisingly high 4 to 5 grams of fiber, from methylcellose, a chemical soluble fiber that's been added to the dough. I wish they had used the more natural, naturally fiber-rich, whole-grain bread dough instead.

Carolyn: Hot Pocket meals are traditionally enclosed in a pastrylike crust. But the meat and cheese in these are set in something that tastes a lot like fresh-out-of-the-oven bread.

I also find that impressive, especially when I think back on the number of rocks I've created by putting bread into a microwave for just a few too many seconds.

It's too bad the fillings aren't better. The cheese is bland, and the meat (except for the ham in the superior Ham on Cheese) tastes like it contains fillers. In short, it's cafeteria quality.

The good news for dieters is that the Lean Pockets don't taste significantly worse than the regular versions. So if you're worried more about fat and calories than about what Bonnie and I just wrote, get the Lean.

Mott's Plus for Kids' Health. Apple Punch, Apple Grape and Mott's Plus Light. $2.49 per 64-ounce plastic bottle.

Bonnie: Mott's recently introduced two 100 percent juices to serve your kids. Each is fortified with 100 percent of the daily allowance for vitamin C, 10 percent of vitamin A and 10 percent of calcium. As a comparison, Mott's regular apple juice contains 20 percent vitamin C, no vitamin A and 2 percent calcium. You can therefore feel good about serving this juice to your kids. Just don't serve too much. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends only 4 to 6 ounces of fruit juice a day for kids 1 to 6, and no more than 8 to 12 ounces for kids 7 to 18.

I can't recommend the simultaneously released Mott's Plus Light. It contains only 50 percent fruit juice and is sweetened with Sucralose, the artificial sweetener that many folks erroneously believe is sugar. It's not, but is instead chemically made from by replacing hydrogen atoms with chlorine ones on the sugar molecule.

Carolyn: I've always heard that grape and apple juice aren't as good for you as orange juice because they lack the vitamin C of citrus. Mott's has fixed this via artificial fortification. It's also added other juices to apple juice to change the flavor and, in the case of the Apple Punch, also the consistency. It's murky rather than clear, creating the aura that it is good for you (which it probably is) and natural (which it is not).

Being an adult, it should surprise no one that I prefer Mott's Plus for Adult Dieters (my name for Mott's Plus Light). While it's true what Bonnie says about this containing only 50 percent juice, it also has half the calories and almost as many vitamins as Mott's Plus for Kids' Health and tastes just like apple juice.