Cookie Review: Chips Ahoy! Chewy Gooey Caramel

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Chocolate and caramel, what's not to love?

Cons: Inconsistent amounts of caramel in the cookies

The Bottom Line:

Adding two flavors

In one delicious cookie

Equals a great taste

Chocolate and Caramel Married in a Delicious Cookie

Yes, I do love chocolate.  But I also love caramel, something not as many people seem to go crazy for.  And when the two are combined, I'm often drooling just thinking about it.  Naturally, this meant I had to give Chips Ahoy! Chewy Gooey Caramel cookies a try.

From the outside, these look like regular Chewy Chips Ahoy! cookies - you know, a standard chocolate chip cookie.  The middle seems to rise a bit, and that's where the caramel comes in.  Inside that rise is a layer of caramel that is soft without being liquid.  It doesn't take too much effort to eat one of these cookies without making a mess.

And the taste?  Well, it's almost a perfect fusion of chocolate and caramel.  At times, the caramel seems to be overwhelmed by the rest of the cookie.  Part of that is based on how much caramel you get in the cookie, which isn't always consistent.  In the better cookies, it's outstanding.  In the lesser cookies, it's still very good.

After I bought these, I remembered drying the Gooey Fudge variety a while ago and being disappointed.  I think the difference here comes from the fact that the fudge in those cookies had the same basic taste as the chocolate chips, so you couldn't tell the difference.  This time, the caramel provides a complimentary flavor that is excellent.

Calories?  Do you really want to know that two cookies are 140 calories, 50 of them from fat?  I didn't think so.  (And they aren't exactly big cookies, either.)  No real nutrients, but what would you expect from cookies?  The list of ingredients is the standard flower, sugar, chocolate, and butter you expect along with the standard processed food ingredients I can't pronounce.

But I pretty much know what I'm getting when I buy a package of cookies health wise.  What I care about is how they taste.  And the Chips Ahoy! Chewy Gooey Caramel are worth the added calories when you want a fusion of chocolate and caramel.