Remember when mom told you “Dangnabit Vern, don’t eat cookies fer breakfast!”? (And Cookie Crisp doesn’t count.) Ah well. Mom’s advice has been pre-empted by these Quaker Breakfast Cookies. Hey, it’s the pilgrim in the blue hat talking. He can’t possibly be wrong.

I received two boxes of these cookies to review the other day. They’ve timed it just about right, since I’ve just started seeing commercials for them. I got a box of Oatmeal Raisin and Apple Cinnamon cookies. There’s 6 cookies in each box, each individually wrapped which is rather nice if you just want to grab and go.

So the price isn’t as great for Cheap Eating - a box at retail runs $3.29, or about 55 cents a cookie. That was in the back of my mind while I started munching on these “nutritious solutions for mid-morning cravings.”

Now I guess we slip into “official review” mode. I’m going to focus on the Oatmeal Raisin variety:

Packaging:

You can’t really go wrong with Mr. Quaker on the box. That conjures up trust among those who remember eating Quaker Oats out of those round cardboard boxes. It makes me feel Amish or something as well.

As mentioned, the individually foil packed cookies are rather nice for the grab-and-go morning rush. I also feel like it keeps each individual cookie more fresh. After all, you’re not going to eat one of these every day… it’s going to last you a few weeks. Right? Though, I wonder if eliminating the individual packaging might shave off a bit of the price tag..

Appearance and Texture:

This looks like what you’d expect from an everyday oatmeal raisin cookie. Each cookie measures almost exactly 3 inches in diameter, which seems fair sized. They look appetizing - nicely browned and speckled with good distribution of raisins and oats. If you try to break one in half, it sort of tears like a soft cookie would and perhaps it’s even softer than that. Almost like playdoh.

One thing that’s nice about the fact that it’s very squishy is that it doesn’t crumble all over the place which probably makes it easy to eat in the car. Not that I’m suggesting you drive and eat. Crazy zero-handed Egg McMuffin drivers…

Chewing a piece feels almost like eating a Fig Newton or a soft granola bar or an extra dough-ey piece of carrot cake. One thing that you’re going to notice is that the mouthfeel is a bit gritty because of the harder pieces of oats mixed in with what’s almost a cookie paste.

The initial chewing and texture doesn’t detract too much though. If I have any beef with this cookie (meat with cookies, gross) it’s the chalky aftertaste that seems to linger. I’m almost certain that R&D at Quaker was aware of this. You can’t possibly miss it.

However, I think they let it slide because it’s unavoidable. I’ve felt that same gluey flour texture from eating similar things, and not only foods that have oats and flour in them. Also, if you have this breakfast cookie with milk or coffee, that weird aftertaste isn’t as noticeable.

Taste:

Pretty excellent there, as far as soft cookies go. I liked that it wasn’t super sweet. The raisins were good and the oats made it feel “healthy”. I found myself eating this cookie as a normal afternoon snack instead of only in the morning; it’s the perfect amount to hold me over until dinner. Overall, it has a brown sugar plus honey sort of taste that’s very nice. It has a bit of a “raw” flour taste to it which doesn’t bother me. But if you’re not used to soft cookies that might bug you a bit.

I would probably eat this for breakfast before eating a danish or a doughnut. It tastes like breakfast, but has less of the sweet. Versus a muffin or bagel, I’d have to think about it. It’d depend what kind of muffin or bagel. I’d eat it over plain toast or Malt-o-Meal any day. That’s right mom, I’m eating a friggin cookie for breakfast because the Man in the Hat said I could.

Price:

The big disclaimer here, of course, is I didn’t buy them. If it’s going to be a snack I eat every day, and it’s going to come out of my pocket, then 55 cents per cookie is way too much. There’s aisles of cheaper soft cookies to be had, and if you’re going to spend the bucks then you can probably get a larger “homemade” type of cookie - those individually wrapped suckers that are 5 inches across.

You’re probably going to find many morning type foods that cost less. But man, it sure is fun to say “I eat cookies for breakfast”…

Conclusions:

Ostensibly, this cookie isn’t meant to replace breakfast, but is more of a “something before lunch” break type of food. So it’s a bit misleading to think you can get away with just eating this for breakfast. Although, 5 cookies into the box, I’ve found that’s entirely possible. I ate 1 a day for breakfast for 5 days and suffered no ill effects (famous last words).

To sum up: I like this cookie quite a bit, but it’s too darn expensive to be an everyday thing. But if you have more of the green, like extra soft cookies and are a stickler for healthy snacks, then you’ll probably enjoy these. It scores in the middle for me.

p.s. - here’s other reviews of the cookies by The Impulsive Buy and News You Can Eat

Price: $3.29 box of 6 cookies
Found At: Submitted for Review
Cheap Eats Score: 5/10