Review: Lenny & Larry's The Complete Cookie - White Chocolaty Macadamia

The Complete Cookie from Lenny & Larry's is a giant vegan cookie with added protein,  fiber, and other nutrients. They have a lot of flavors including traditional favorites and some fun, unusual flavors like chocolate donut and apple pie. 

Is it the best cookie ever? No. But for a vegan cookie that's basically a protein bar, it's not bad.

The first ingredient is their protein blend, and you can tell. It has a little bit of a nutrition bar, health food taste. I consider it a delicious vegan protein bar, but wouldn't compare it to other vegan cookies. 

It's really big and dense. I liked it at first, but it was hard to finish. I might like a smaller version more. I see on their website that they also have smaller, crunchy cookies. Those might be better.

As far as the white chocolaty macadamia flavor goes, I thought the white chips and macadamia nut pieces were too small and that there weren't enough of them. When I think of white chocolate macadamia cookies, I picture big pieces of both.

I generally prefer less processed foods with shorter ingredient lists. But the long list here makes more sense because of the added protein and fiber. Plus most vegan baked goods will have extra ingredients in order to replace the eggs. 

Lenny & Larry's The Complete Cookie White Chocolaty Macadamia ingredients: Protein blend (vital wheat gluten, pea protein, rice protein), enriched wheat flour (wheat flour, malted barley flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), vegetable glycerine, chicory root fiber, cane sugar, invert sugar, palm margarine (palm oil, palm fractions, water, salt, emulsifiers [sunflower lecithin, distilled monoglycerides], natural flavor, citric acid, mixed tocopherols [antioxidant], vitamin A, beta-carotene [color]), white chips (sugar, palm kernel and palm oil, natural flavor, sunflower lecithin [emulsifier], salt), oligofructose, macadamia nuts, sunflower lecithin, natural flavor, salt, baking soda, cultured dextrose, xanthan gum, guar gum. 

Review: Lenny & Larry's The Complete Cookie White Chocolaty Macadamia

First impressions: Wow, this is big.

Taste: Some nutritional aftertaste, not too sweet, hint of cinnamon. I would like to have had more white chocolatey pieces. 

Texture: Soft, but a little dense. 

Can you tell it's vegan? Yes. 

Worth buying again? I liked the peanut butter flavor more

Overall: 4/5

What did you think? Leave your own review here!

Review: Hail Merry Cookie Dough Bites

Vegan cookie dough bites! What a great idea! 

I loved eating raw cookie dough as a kid (and adult). Vegan cookie dough makes a lot of sense. You don't have to worry about uncooked eggs, and they won't be baked so it's less important to find the best egg replacer so they rise properly. 

I really wanted to like these. They looked adorable. 

But they didn't taste as good as I hoped they would. They tasted like dry, coconut balls. I didn't finish eating them, and it's a small package. 

All of Hail Merry's products are vegan, gluten free, and grain free. I wonder if a vegan cookie dough with wheat flour might have a closer texture to what I was expecting. Although I'd like to try their other products, and am glad there's a company that caters to people who can't eat those ingredients.

Hail Merry Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bites ingredients: Organic Maple Syrup, Almond Flour, Organic Shredded Coconut, Organic Chocolate Chips (Organic Cane Sugar, Organic Cocoa Liquor, Organic Cocoa Butter), Organic Virgin Coconut Oil, Vanilla, Celtic Sea Salt.

Review: Hail Merry Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bites

First impressions: "Cute! Oh... not very good though."

Taste: I mainly tasted coconut, and wished it had more chocolate.

Texture: Dry

Can you tell it's vegan? Maybe not, but you can tell it's gluten free. 

Worth buying again? I wouldn't buy this again but still want to try their other products. 

Overall: 3/5

Review: Earth Balance European Style Buttery Spread

Earth Balance has several varieties of their vegan buttery spread. I've been using the original for years as my go-to vegan butter substitute. I recently tried the European Style and compared it to the original. I'm not sure what specifically makes it European, but overall I did like this better than the original.

The European Style was very similar to the original Earth Balance but a little thicker, creamier, and slightly more yellow. As you can see, they look almost the same.

I also liked the taste more, but it was a subtle difference. It was closer to a buttery taste. I'd like to compare them for baking too. 

The ingredient list is the same as original Earth Balance, except for a different coloring ingredient. 

Earth Balance European Style Buttery Spread ingredients: Vegetable oil blend (canola, palm, and olive oils), water, salt, pea protein isolate, sunflower lecithin, natural flavor, lactic acid, beta carotene (color). 

Review: Earth Balance European Style Buttery Spread

First impressions: Very similar to original Earth Balance

Taste: Rich and buttery

Texture: Thick and creamy

Can you tell it's vegan? No
Better than other vegan options? Yes, but maybe not enough to pay more for it. It's about the same price but the container is half the size of the other Earth Balance flavors. 

Worth buying again? I would buy it again if it was on sale or I was making something special. 

Overall: 5/5

Review: Coffee Mate Natural Bliss Caramel Almond Milk Creamer

Coffee mate has a new line called natural bliss that includes non-dairy coffee creamers. They have almond milk, coconut milk, and even an oat milk coffee creamer. They also make a plant-based half and half made with half almond milk and half coconut cream.

My boyfriend picked the caramel flavor because he wanted something caramelly for his coffee. He makes his own espresso and usually adds flavored syrup, but was out, so he decided to try this vegan coffee creamer. 

He said he couldn't tell this was vegan, and would have guessed it was a dairy creamer. If you usually use dairy creamer, this would probably be good enough to replace it. If you use something thicker like half and half, this might not be quite thick enough.  

He used this in iced coffee and it still mixed in well, just like dairy creamer or milk would. 

Coffee mate natural bliss caramel almond milk creamer ingredients: Almond Milk (Water, Almonds), Cane Sugar, Coconut Oil, Pea Protein, Natural Flavor, Baking Soda, Sea Salt, Gellan Gum, Guar Gum.

Review: Coffee mate natural bliss caramel almond milk creamer

Taste: Not too sweet, a subtle caramel flavor, hint of cinnamon.

Texture: About the same as dairy creamer, not as thick as half and half.

Can you tell it's vegan? No
Better than other vegan options? Yes, we also tried a popular natural brand and didn't like it as much.

Worth buying again? Yes, we already have.

Overall: 4/5

Review: OCHO Organic Coconut Bar

This vegan chocolate coconut candy bar is exactly what you would expect: simple, chocolate-covered coconut. 

The chocolate is very thick but doesn't taste too bitter because of the coconut. They complement each other well. It's a chewy and satisfying vegan candy bar. 

 

I couldn't tell this was vegan and wondered if Mounds bars are vegan. I looked it up and they are not vegan because they use milk in the chocolate (even though it's dark chocolate). 

OCHO Candy is an organic candy company. All of their products are organic and gluten free, but not all are vegan. 

OCHO Organic Coconut Bar ingredients: Organic dark chocolate (organic cacao beans, organic evaporated cane sugar, organic cocoa butter, sunflower lecithin), organic tapioca syrup, organic coconut, organic sugar (organic cane sugar, organic tapioca starch), water, sea salt, organic soy lecithin, organic vanilla extract. 

Review: OCHO Organic Coconut Bar

First impressions: Reminds me of Mounds.

Taste: The dark chocolate is balanced by the coconut so it doesn't taste as bitter. 

Texture: Thick chocolate coating, chewy coconut inside. 

Can you tell it's vegan? No

Worth buying again? Yes, and I would try their other products too. 

Overall: 5/5

Review: free2b Rice Chocolate Sun Cups

Most vegan candy uses dark chocolate, which is naturally vegan. But as someone who loves milk chocolate, I appreciate when companies make a vegan milk chocolate. This is especially true as I search for vegan peanut butter cups. To me, milk chocolate and peanut butter go better together than dark chocolate. 

These vegan sunflower seed butter cups from free2b use rice chocolate, which seems closer to a semisweet than milk chocolate, but it still not as intense or bitter as dark chocolate. It wasn't quite as satisfying to me either though. 

The free2b brand is free from 12 common allergens, so that's probably why they used rice instead of nuts. They also use 67% Fair Trade ingredients. All of their products are vegan, gluten free, and allergen friendly. It's nice to be able to recognize a brand and know that anything you pick will be vegan. 

As far as comparing the sunflower seed butter to peanut butter, these tasted a little more bland to me. Although I didn't notice as much of a difference with the Trader Joe's Sunflower Seed Butter Cups. Interestingly, they have the same ingredients other than the rice chocolate instead of dark chocolate. 

One thing I did like a lot about these is the name. "Sun cups" sounds better and is much easier to say than, "sunflower seed butter cups." 

free2b Rice Chocolate Sun Cups ingredients: rice chocolate (sugar, cocoa butter, unsweetened chocolate, rice syrup powder), sunflower seeds, powdered sugar (evaporated cane juice, tapioca starch), cocoa butter, sea salt. 

Review: free2b Rice Chocolate Sun Cups

First impressions: Not amazing but not bad.

Taste: Not as bitter as dark chocolate, but doesn't taste quite like milk chocolate either.  The sunflower seed butter is a little bland compared to Trader Joe's Sunflower Seed Butter Cups. 

Texture: A little softer than I expected. 

Can you tell it's vegan? Maybe
Better than other vegan options? I like the Trader Joe's version better. 

Worth buying again? I probably won't buy these again, but would try their other products. 

Overall: 4/5

Review: NadaMoo Cookies & Creme

NadaMoo has by far the best texture of any non dairy ice cream I've ever tried. It looks just like traditional ice cream. The texture is both creamy and fluffy, and the scoops have the classic wavy line pattern. 

For the cookies and creme flavor, I was expecting more tiny cookie pieces throughout. Instead there are bigger cookie pieces and lots of vanilla space. 

UPDATE: When I tried this again in August 2020 there were more tiny cookie pieces. Maybe they changed that or it could vary by batch.

I’d like to try some of their other flavors because the texture is so on point. NadaMoo has almost 20 flavors, and they're all vegan and gluten free. 

I bought 3 different pints of ice cream when I got this, and this one was the lightest pint when I picked it up. Maybe there is more air whipped in and that's why the texture is so light and fluffy. 

NadaMoo Cookies & Creme ingredients: 

Organic coconut milk, water, organic agave nectar, chocolate cookies (cane sugar, butter alternative (oil blend [palm fruit, canola, and olive oils], water, salt, natural flavor, sunflower lecithin, lactic acid [non-dairy], annatto extract [color]), sweet brown rice flour, tapioca flour, arrowroot flour, sorghum flour, xanthan gum, cocoa pwder [alakalized], natural flavor, salt), organic inulin, organic tapioca syrup solids, organic guar gum, sea salt, organic locust bean gum, natural flavor. 

Review: NadaMoo Cookies & Creme

First impressions: "Woah it looks just like non-vegan ice cream!"

Taste: Not as rich as some other ice creams. The cookies were more subtle compared to other brands.

Texture: Seems identical to traditional ice cream. Creamy but still light and fluffy.

Can you tell it's vegan? No
Better than other vegan options? Yes, I think this might be the best vegan ice cream brand I've ever had. Although there are a few strong contenders. 

Worth buying again? Yes, I can't wait to try their other flavors!

Overall: 5/5

Review: So Delicious Salted Caramel Cluster

A classic conundrum that many vegan adjacents are familiar with, is craving caramel and chocolate but wanting to choose a vegan option. Luckily, I found a solution. So Delicious Salted Caramel Cluster is on a level of deliciousness I didn't think was possible for vegan ice cream.

If you've had a rough day or just want to treat yourself to something decadent, I highly recommend grabbing a spoon and diving in to the chocolate chips and caramel swirls in this non-dairy ice cream. 

I was blown away by how much the caramel tasted like "real" buttery caramel. It was so rich and satisfying. It's made with tapioca syrup, molasses, and cocoa butter. 

This is the first cashew milk ice cream I've tried. It was creamy and not too dense like some other vegan ice creams can be. The texture was not quite as close to dairy ice cream when compared to NadaMoo (a very high bar), but it's still a delectable vehicle for the caramel and chocolate. I'll have to try other flavors to see how the ice cream itself compares to other plant-based ice creams. 

So Delicious Dairy Free Salted Caramel Cluster Cashewmilk Frozen Dessert ingredients: Cashewmilk (filtered water, cashews), cane sugar, caramel sauce (organic tapioca syrup, water, pea protein, organic molasses, natural flavor, organic cocoa butter, sodium citrate, salt, pectin), chocolate chips (cane sugar, coconut oil, cocoa, chocolate liquor, natural vanilla flavor), organic coconut oil, organic tapioca syrup, roasted cashews (cashews, canola oil), pea protein, sea salt, guar gum, natural flavor, locust bean gum. 

Review: So Delicious Salted Caramel Cluster

First impressions: "Omg." "Wow." "The caramel is delicious."

Taste: Rich, decadent, very sweet

Texture: Not too dense, but maybe a little too soft for my preference

Can you tell it's vegan? Probably not, but the texture might give it away for serious ice cream aficionados

Worth buying again? Definitely!

Overall: 5/5

I'm not the only one who gave this vegan caramel ice cream 5 stars. Read more reviews on their website. 

Review: Gardein Seven-Grain Crispy Tenders

Gardein has a ton of vegan products, so I tried these seven-grain crispy tenders next. Similar to the Gardein fishless filets, I probably would have liked these more if I was blindfolded. They tasted good, but the seeing the squishy texture of faux meat was too distracting for me. 

These were much smaller than I expected, about half the size of their fishless filets. But this is a good thing in my opinion, because it helps the texture. I prefer most faux meat to be small and thin in order to have a higher breading to meat ratio and keep the texture as crispy as possible. I think that's why the Boca chick'n patties are still my favorite plant-based chicken alternative.

Speaking of the breading, I didn't realize these where seven grain when I bought them. It surprised me at first, and you can see some oats and seeds in the breading. It reminded me of seven-grain bread with the seeds pressed into the top. But it still tasted like regular breading, and I didn't notice a difference in the breading texture. It was still crispy and crunchy. 

Gardein Seven-Grain Crispy Tenders ingredients: Water, Enriched Wheat Flour (Wheat Flour, Niacin, Ferrous Sulfate, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid). Soy Protein Isolate, Canola Oil, Vital Wheat Gluten, Rice Flour, Ancient Grain Flour (Khorasan Wheat, Amaranth, Millet, Quinoa), Methylcellulose, Oat Bran, Oats, Yeast Extract, Salt, Organic Yeast Extract, Sea Salt, Potato Starch, Organic Distilled Vinegar, Organic Cane Sugar, Sugar, Natural Flavors, Soybean Oil, Spices, Yeast, Color Added. Leavening (Sodium Bicarbonate, Cream Of Tartar). Onion Powder, Garlic Powder, Organic Soy Sauce Powder, Extractive of Paprika (Color). Pea Protein, Turmeric Extractives

Review: Gardein Seven Grain Crispy Tenders
Taste: These tasted pretty good. I would give them a 5 for flavor but 3 for texture. 
Texture: The outside is crunchy but the inside is a little too mushy for me. It helps that they're smaller pieces though, compared to the Gardein fishless filets which were too big in my opinion. 
Can you tell it's vegan? Yes, like most faux meat, the texture gives it away. 
Better than other vegan versions? I liked the Boca chick'n nuggets more. 
Worth buying again? I would eat them again if someone else was serving them, but probably wouldn't buy them again on my own.
Overall: 4 out of 5

Review: Melt Organic Rich & Creamy Plant-Based Butter

I've been using Earth Balance buttery spread as a vegan butter replacement for years. I thought it might be time to give one of their competitors a chance, so I tried some Melt Organic Rich & Creamy Butter Made From Plants. 

I was off to a rough start from the beginning because I found their packaging to be difficult to open. This doesn't affect the product, but it might have prevented me from buying it more often if I had liked it. 

When it comes to taste, I thought this was ok. It wasn't as buttery tasting to me compared to Earth Balance, and has a more mild flavor overall. Some friends have told me they don't like Earth Balance, so those people might like the more subtle flavor of Melt Organic. 

One major difference is the texture. It was much creamier than Earth Balance and spread very easily, even when cold. It was almost too creamy for butter and reminded me of cream cheese. 

Something unusual happened when I used it to make garlic bread. I put the butter on first and then toasted it, and the butter got bubbly. There were a bunch of tiny bubbles on my toast and it looked like soap. You can kind of see them in the picture below. I don't remember butter doing this.

It tasted fine, but the bubbles threw me off a bit and made me not want to keep eating it. 

Melt Organic Rich & Creamy Ingredients: Expeller-pressed Organic oil blend (Coconut, Sustainable Ethical Palm Fruit, Canola, Hi-Oleic Sunflower, Flaxseed), Water, Sea Salt, Sunflower Lecithin, Natural Flavor, Tocopherols, Organic Annatto Extract Color. 

Review: Melt Organic Rich & Creamy Plant-Based Butter
First impressions: The packaging was hard to open. 
Taste: This has a very mild taste, but some people might notice a hint of a synthetic aftertaste. 
Texture: The texture was very smooth and creamy, almost closer to cream cheese than butter.
Can you tell it's vegan? You can tell something is different. 
Worth buying again? I probably won't finish the container I have. 
Overall: 3/5

Review: Earth Balance Vegan Cheddar Flavor Squares

I'm already a fan of Earth Balance Buttery Spread as a vegan butter replacement, so I thought I'd try their Vegan Cheddar Flavor Squares. It looks like they also make Vegan White Cheddar Flavor Puffs. I'll have to try those next!

The cheddar flavor squares are surprisingly cheesy tasting! I was blown away and couldn't stop eating them. 

While I could tell that these plant-based crackers were not Cheez-Its, I could not tell that they were vegan. If it were a blind taste test, I would probably guess that they're off-brand Cheez-Its, but would not guess that they're vegan. The cheese taste is just too real. 

Cheese is one of the most notoriously difficult foods to replicate in a vegan version. I guess it makes sense that the first vegan cheese I like would be in a cracker, because a cracker texture is easier to imitate than cheese by itself. 

The cheddar flavor of these vegan cheesy crackers comes from a seasoning blend that includes yeast extract, which adds a savory, salty taste (not the same as nutritional yeast).

Earth Balance Vegan Cheddar Flavor Squares ingredients: Unbleached pastry flour, enriched wheat flour (flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), water, canola oil, corn starch, seasoning (maltodextrin, yeast extract, gum acacia, natural flavor), palm oil, sunflower lecithin, salt, baking soda, monocalcium phosphate, ammonium bicarbonate, sugar, paprika oleoresin color, yeast extract, annatto extract (water, annatto), lactic acid, dehydrated toasted onion, garlic powder. 


Review: Earth Balance Vegan Cheddar Flavor Squares
First impressions: Wow, these really tastes like cheese!
Taste: They actually taste more like cheese than real Cheez-Its. Not as salty. 
Texture: Reminds me of Cheese Nips or off-brand Cheez-Its. Not quite as crunchy as Cheez-Its, but pretty close. 
Can you tell it's vegan? No
Worth buying again? Yes, I will definitely buy these again. 
Good enough to replace the non-vegan version? Yes, but more expensive. 
Overall: 5/5

Review: Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate Sunflower Seed Butter Cups

Usually what makes chocolate not vegan is the milk in milk chocolate, and most dark chocolate is vegan. These sunflower seed butter cups are also allergen friendly on another level by replacing the peanut butter with sunflower seed butter.

I hadn't tried sunflower seed butter at all before and wasn't sure what to expect. But it tastes a lot like peanut butter. Overall these were very similar to Reese's peanut butter cups. The sunflower seed butter was a little creamier than a peanut butter cup, but that could also be because it's less processed. I would definitely eat these again.

I'm not the biggest fan of dark chocolate, but the sunflower seed butter helped balance it out so it didn't taste as bitter.

Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate Sunflower Seed Butter Cups ingredients: Dark chocolate (cocoa mass, cane sugar, cocoa butter), sunflower seeds, powdered sugar (cane sugar, tapioca starch), cocoa butter, sea salt.

Review: Trader Joe's Sunflower Seed Butter Cups  
Taste: Tastes like a peanut butter cup. The sunflower balances the dark chocolate so it's not as bitter as dark chocolate by itself. 
Texture: A little creamier than Reese's peanut butter cups and the chocolate is a little bit thicker. Otherwise very similar.
Can you tell it's vegan? No
Better than other vegan versions? I haven't tried any other vegan peanut butter cups but this will be hard to beat. 
Worth buying again? Yes
Overall: 5/5