Well, the results are in, and after polling a large group of no less than 7 people (with myself being the 7th) ages 5-35, I have the official results of the Vanilla Creme Cookie Challenge. Pictured to the left are the contestants in the VCCC. From top to bottom they are: Vienna Fingers, Golden Oreos, and SnackWell’s Vanilla Creme.

The Test:

Testers were instructed to taste a bit of each cookie and select their favorite.

Errata:

I prefer my Vanilla Creme cookies served cold. Both the Vienna Fingers and the Golden Oreos were chilled, but the SnackWell’s never made it into the fridge. This difference in temperature may have affected results, but I don’t really know for certain if it did.

The Results:

I expected to walk away from this test with a clear winner – which in one way I did, but in another, it was a split decision. Namely, because the testers decided that there were two factors when it comes to selecting their favorites. So I’m breaking out the results into Favorite Vanilla Cookie Flavor and Favorite Vanilla Cookie for Snacking – the idea being that certain cookies could not be eaten in mass quantities.

Comparison Table:

The Winners:

Favorite Vanilla Cookie Flavor – GOLDEN OREOS
This was a clear winner, with 6/7 tasters saying in terms of a good tasting cookie, the Golden Oreo was the best by far.

Favorite Vanilla Cookie for Snacking -  SNACKWELL’S
These results weren’t as clear-cut but SnackWell’s came out as the winner. First, two of the subjects didn’t let me know which was their favorite cookie for snacking (they were 4-6 yrs old…so I’m not sure they’d really know what I meant.) The final breakdown was 3 for SnackWell’s, 1 for Golden Oreos, and 1 for Vienna Fingers.

On July 1, I embarked on one of the most difficult challenges I’ve ever faced – eating NO CHOCOLATE for three months. No See’s Candies, no white chocolate mochas, no cookies n’ cream ice cream, no chocolate. PERIOD.  Why? I’ll admit it…I’m a junk-food lover, and to try and get a grip, I’m abstaining from the junky foods I love the most – with chocolate ranking in my top 3 favorite junk foods.

So eating no chocolate brings up many interesting dilemmas – what would I drink in the mornings (vanilla chai) and how will I get that little sugar pick-me-up that so many of us often need after staring at the computer for 8 hours straight?

My solution: Vanilla Cookies.  It started with Golden Oreos and progressed from brand to brand from there. After sampling several different kinds of cookies, and deciding on which are my own personal favorites – I decided to take an official informal poll to see which cookie reigns supreme. Stay tuned for tomorrow’s post, where I will announce the winner of the Un-Official WCatDD VCCC (Vanilla Creme Cookie Challenge).

Review:

This is one of the staple Dream Dinners that I always buy when it’s on the menu. If you’re looking for authentic Japanese flavor – this is not the way to go. This is 100% American Asian cuisine – which means strong flavors & thick sauce.  (True Asian cuisine has subtle flavors and usually a thinner sauce.)  From what I remember of the ingredients, it’s soy sauce based, with rice vinegar, diced green onions, and other goodies added in. This used to come with an extra bag of sesame seeds to top the dish with – but either they’ve eliminated it separately or I forgot to add them. Either way, this is a good dish that will appeal to anyone who likes take-out Chinese food.

Chicken Yakitori is very easy and quick to make, simply heat up chicken, then throw in sauce and let it simmer. As with a lot of the dishes that come with rice, the entree has a shorter cooking time than the rice, so start the rice first, wait 10 minutes or so, and then start cooking the Yakitori.  I realized too late that I really needed a side dish – like sugar snap peas – to help add some texture to the dish.

Tips:

The sauce is super tasty*, so make extra when you’re assembling it at the store so you can mix it in with your rice.

*The sauce is super tasty on the condition that you don’t let it sit too long on the stove simmering, like I did…in which case it became a little too sour.  If this happens to you, just stir in a little bit of water until the flavor dilutes to your taste preference.

Star Rating:

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