Is there a suitable replacement for Keebler Fudge Stripes?
Not sure which country, kitchen, grandmother, or clan
invented shortbread. Whoever did create the combination of shortening,flour, sugar, and vanilla made the world a better place. It doesn’t matter if I
am sampling Walker’s shortbread, Salerno butter cookies or those incredible
Lorna Doone squares (mysteriously shaped like giant pats of butter); they all
taste incredible. Just when shortbread couldn’t get any better, the cookie was
upgraded with “fudge stripes”. The first fudge stripe cookie I was acquainted
with was the Keebler brand introduced to me when I was a young lad. Four
decades later they are still tasty, but like all name brand treats be it cookies,
ice creams, pastries, etc; current economic trends have only left us with
higher prices, lower quantity per package, and flashy advertising to make up
for these cutbacks. The Keebler Elvin
magic and whimsical packaging is not enough to maintain brand loyalty as I pursue
fudge stripe cookie equivalents elsewhere.
I have tried the Meijer label fudge stripe and it is almost
as good as Keebler, though at a price lower by fifty cents. While I still pick
up a package of Keebler when they go on sale, I considered the Meijer brand to
be my mainstay fudge stripe option, until I learned Aldi sells the Benton Fudge
Stripe Shortbread cookie.
Price of Cookies
The attention grabber of these cookies was the low price of
$1.29 for a thirteen ounce package. The Meijer brand usually hovers around $1.49
and the Keebler holds at $1.99. Some
sales at Aldi will position the Benton fudge stripes as low as ninety five
cents a bag.
Physical Characteristics
The cookies are sold in plastic packaging with yellow/orange
tones, much like Keebler. No presence of cartoonish elves but simply the
picture of the cookies on the label which very much resemble the real thing
inside. The actual cookies seemed a tad wider than the Keebler competition and
the chocolate (or fudge) carries the dark brown tone that real chocolate is
supposed to have. I always worry that a low price fudge treat will have that subpar
faux chocolate that comes across as dusty or muted in color. Nope. These look
like the real deal.
Taste Test
Now it was time for tasting. The cookie starts and ends with
a good crispy bite and a well blended mix of rich fudge and butter cookie
undercoat. If caramel was present it would resemble something close to a thin Twix
bar. I would put this cookie in blind test up against the Keebler and I think
it would win.
Verdict
I give the Benton’s Original Fudge Striped Cookie a passing
grade with flying colors. Considering this item is frequently on sale and
sometimes half the price of Keebler, this is a no brainer.
