About.com Rating



Despite having only 100 calories and 6 grams of fat per serving, the lack of flavor and unpleasant smell make the Voortman Sugar Free Shortbread Cookies a product you can avoid without regret.

Highlights

Pros:

• Nice texture and consistency
• No sugar alternative aftertaste
• Less calories and carbs than Murray Sugar Free Shortbread

Cons:

• Has an unpleasant, Play-Doh-like smell
• May create a laxative effect in some
• Has almost no flavor


Description:

• Sugar alcohol sweetened shortbread cookies
• About 100 calories, 6 grams of fat, 12 grams of total carbs, and 4 grams of sugar alcohol per serving (1 cookie)
• About $2.40 per 8 ounce bag (12 cookies)

Product Review

Recently, I reviewed Murray Sugar Free Shortbread Cookies and was not very impressed. I was hoping to find a rich, buttery shortbread that would crumble on my lips as I ate it. Instead, I found a somewhat bland cookie that was not very memorable. In the hopes of hitting a home run on the next shortbread, I am today looking at Voortman Sugar Free Shortbread Cookies. Voortman has a large sugar free line and I was happy with their peanut butter wafers, so I had some decent expectations for this product.

When I first opened the Voortman Sugar Free Shortbread Cookies, I was overcome by a very unpleasant smell. I let the bag air out, put my nose to an individual cookie, and a sweet Play-Doh-like scent was still given off by the product. While some people might have fond childhood memories of Play-Doh, I certainly do not want my food smelling like it.

Looking at the shortbread cookies, I thought the swirling shortbread looked appetizing with its golden yellow color. The individual cookies were larger than what I expected from the packaging at about 3.5-4 inches in diameter. They are significantly bigger than the Murray shortbread cookies, however, the serving size for the Voortman cookies is one while Murray's serving size is eight.

In my mouth, the Voortman Sugar Free Shortbread Cookies were good texture-wise with a nice crumbly consistency. However, the butter flavor one hopes for was almost non-existent and the lack thereof certainly did not encourage eating more. While I was disappointed by Murray's lack of flavor, I continually asked myself if Voortman's cookies tasted like anything at all.

Ultimately, I cannot recommend Voortman Sugar Free Shortbread Cookies. While they are lower in calories and carbs than their Murray counterpart, Murray's shortbread cookies are a better product. Voortman shortbread has less flavor and an unpleasant scent that make Murray's shortbread far more appealing. Not that I would want Murray's shortbread either, but between the two, I would definitely pick Murray's shortbread cookies.