Go Get Yourself a Gochujang Snickerdoodle Cookie

I like trying different foods. There’s not much I don’t eat. I don’t like artichokes and olives. That’s about it. There’s other things I want to try. I’ve never had bone marrow. I’m interested in offal. I’d try done exotic meats. I’d like to eat durian. But, I’ve never had any of those, and I may not like them, or I could love them. Who knows. I also enjoy combo foods. I’m a fan of salty and sweet. I like combining veggies for salsa. I’ll do a chocolate covered potato chip. Give me some wild food combos, and more likely than not, I bet I’ll be a fan.

One such food I just made, and really love, is a gochujang snickerdoodle cookie. I was looking at interesting recipes online and came across a New York Times article where they mentioned this cookie. I was intrigued. When I looked at the recipe, I had most of the ingredients, and it was simple. The only outlier, gochujang.

For those that may not know, gochujang is a Korean spice. And it’s good. You may have had it without knowing it. Chinese and Japanese restaurants use it a lot. Fast food Asian inspired restaurants use it a lot. I believe my first encounter was at a Panda Express, and I’ve always been a fan. So, when I saw this recipe was calling for gochujang I decided I had to try it. Snickerdoodle cookies are my absolute favorite. A sugar cookie rolled in cinnamon and sugar? Yes please. I can eat way too many of these in one sitting. But, adding a spice that is spicy, that sounded good to me. I like a Mexican hot cocoa. I’ll eat a spiced chocolate bar. I’ve been known to add cayenne to my coffee from time to time. I thought of all those things and decided then that I was going to eat these cookies.

Again, all you do is make your basic sugar cookie. Then, instead of rolling in cinnamon and sugar, you make a mixture of butter, brown sugar and gochujang. Then you set that mixture aside while you make the cookie dough. After adding all the other stuff together, you swirl in the gochujang mixture. It almost looks like an orange cinnamon roll after swirling in the mix. Then you bake the cookies for about 13 minutes and let them totally cool before eating.

When I ate one, I loved it. It’s a sugar cookie with a Korean spice I love. Every bite your greeting with a classic cookie, but then the spice hits you. But it’s not overpowering at all. It’s nice and underlying. It’s a slow heat, which I love. My lips were tingling in the best way possible. I am a fan.

I think people who like food combos and a little spice will enjoy them. Try these out. You won’t be disappointed.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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Tagalongs are the GOAT of Girl Scout Cookies

Girl Scouts of America

The majority of my life I have enjoyed Thin Mint Girl Scout cookies. Whenever we bought them when I was growing up, I would request Thin Mints. As I got older and married, when my wife's coworkers kids would sell cookies, I always wanted Thin Mints. Hell, even with my daughter now being in Girl Scouts, when cookies were brought up, I said I would like Thin Mints. They are great. I love them even more when they are put in the freezer and given time to firm up. I can eat them by the sleeve. I know that is not good, but damn if Thin Mints are not wonderful.

Lately I have had a change of heart. I have tried all the flavors of Girl Scout cookies. I don't even like coconut, but I will eat Samoas if that is what's available. Be it Do Si Do's, Trefoils or Thin Mints, Girl Scout cookies are fantastic. But I believe, after eating far too many this past weekend, that Tagalongs are the best flavor.

For those that may not know, Tagalongs are a chocolate covered hard cookie with peanut butter in the middle. It is kind of like a thumbprint cookie, except the peanut butter is covered up. It is like eating a peanut butter cup with a delicious cookie being added. I was popping them in my mouth after basketball this weekend, and with each cookie I just kept thinking about how great they tasted. I could not get enough. I had to ask my wife to take them away from me. Had I had my way, I would have eaten the whole box. I'm not joking.

To test my new theory, I am doing some real scientific work here folks, I ate some frozen Thin Mints yesterday. My son and I shared a few in the afternoon. And they were awesome. They were super tasty and as great as I have always remembered and we each had five or six of them before I cut us off. But later in the day, again I ate way, way, way too many Girl Scout cookies this weekend, I had some more Tagalongs, and they are better. Full stop. I cannot believe my allegiance has changed so drastically like this, but here we are. I think they are easier to eat, and by easier I mean that I can pop them in my mouth and eat an entire box and not feel bad about it. At all. I love the chocolate and peanut butter combo so much, like most everyone else. My daughter is allergic to peanuts, so I guess that I am being heroic by eating them so she is not tempted. I am a saint I suppose. But in all seriousness, if I were some kind of food critic, I would rank Tagalongs at the very top of the list. I mentioned some other flavors in this piece, but Tagalongs take the cake. Thin Mints are a very, very close second. And even the new flavor, a brownie type cookie with caramel and a chocolate drizzle, is fine, but nowhere close to Tagalongs or Thin Mints. Those are the two best, with Tagalongs taking over the top spot.

I never thought this day would come. I was so loyal to Thin Mints. But this weekend has changed me, as far as cookies go. Not only do I think Tagalongs are the best Girl Scout cookies, I think they are the best mass produced cookies in the land. There are better cookies at restaurants and stores that focus on making cookies. But in a world of Oreos and Hydrox and Keebler, Tagalongs take the cake. They're the absolute best.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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Aldi's Maple Leaf Cookies are the Winner of Fall Sweet Treats

With it being officially fall, and due to my dislike of the pumpkin spice latte, I do try to find fall like snacks to have around the house. I’m not big on ginger, so that’s not an option. I despise candy corn so there’s no way I’d buy any of that. I try to keep the candy to a minimum prior to Halloween because I’d just end up eating it all. As for drinks, hot chocolate is about as sweet as I’ll go, and some might say that is a winter drink. Hell, I’d agree. But I did find, well was told about, a very tasty fall treat.

I do the grocery shopping as I’ve mentioned before, and I do the majority if it at Aldi. Aldi is a lower priced store than say a Schnucks or Kroeger or whatever your local big chain grocery store may be called. They also have great produce, solid protein and, what I will be talking about today, great cookies. Aldi does a thing where they put out random items, usually seasonal, and all us shoppers buy them quick. I was at Aldi two weeks ago and my wife texted about some cookies a co worker mentioned to her. She didn’t know the name, but she said they were shaped like a leaf and she was pretty sure they had maple in the title. I found them pretty easily. They are Benton’s Brand Maple Leaf Cookies. The maple cookies are simple enough. They do look like a leaf, a maple leaf, and they have a maple cream in the middle. It’s like a leaf shaped Oreo, only bigger and not chocolate. It’s a sandwich cookie. I bought them for my wife not expecting to eat any. She came home, tried them and told me I had to try one immediately. I did, and oh boy are these cookies fantastic. Now you have to have a very sweet tooth like me to enjoy these. They are extremely sweet. But they are so tasty too. The leaf cookie is crunchy and adds a perfect texture. They aren’t crunchy like a hard cookie, say a ginger snap or a Vanilla Wafer. They’re more so like a short bread. I love a good short bread cookie. So to have the “bread” of this sandwich cookie taste like short bread, that’s a big time win. But the maple cream, that is what takes this cookie over the top. It looks like the Oreo filling, but there’s more and it’s sweeter. It has maple syrup in the cream. There’s also granulated sugar. And whatever else they need to add to make this cream so goddamn good. I love it so very much. I will take the cookies apart, get the cream all on one side and make multiple double stuff cookies to eat. I’ll also eat the cream and cookie separately. That cream is so tasty. It is also what gives this cookie the “fall” flavor for me. Fall flavors are sweet and make you feel good inside.

This cookie delivers tenfold on that. It’s so sweet. I love eating them. And I’m pretty sure they’re my new favorite cookie. Probably my new favorite fall treat. I know of some other stores that sell something similar, which I think is great. I’d rather have a box of these cookies than one sip of a pumpkin spice latte. These cookies are the best. Go find them anywhere you can. They’re so good.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

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SeedSing is funded by a group of awesome people. Join them by donating to SeedSing.

The Advent Calendar of Good, and Bad, Holiday Eats: Day 10 - Icebox Cookies

The pre-Christmas Day season of Advent is upon us. Here at SeedSing we love the chocolaty goodness of getting a piece of candy once a day until we get to open our presents. As our gift to you we will present a treat associated with the holiday season. Many will be awesome, some will be terrible. Enjoy.

Opened doors: One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine

Day 10: Icebox cookies

Cookies are the best. Ones filled with chocolate chips, ones acting as the bread in a frosting sandwich, even ones made of oatmeal, good cookies have almost no equal sitting on the top of the desert hierarchy. Cookies are not owned by a season, yet Christmas has some of the best cookie traditions.

Icebox cookies are one of the basic recipes out there. Flour, sugar, egg, and butter (lots of butter) are the main parts in any icebox cookie concoction. The holiday spin on icebox cookies comes with the cutouts. Snowflakes, trees, and any other winter holiday shape is what makes icebox cookies special to Christmas. Once the raw dough is cut into its festive shape, it is cooked, ,and then decorated with a generous helping of red and/or green sprinkles/frosting. Once completed, a simple and delicious treat is available for all holiday revelers. God bless us everyone.

December is far and away the best month for sweet treats. Many of these treats are not unique to the month, but the holiday adds some enhancements to our indulgences. Icebox cookies are welcome anytime of the year. When those cookies are in the shapes of pine trees, snowflakes, and menorahs (I have that one) and the same cookies are covered in red green sugar connections, we have a holiday treat worthy of the best of the year. Plus, if the cookies come out too overdone, you can always put some string through them and hang the ruined treat on the tree. One will never lose with a holiday icebox cookie.

RD

RD is the Head Editor for SeedSing. One should always enjoy their snowflake shaped cookie with a great interpretation of "A Christmas Carol". We recommend a more modern take on Dickens' tale like a Dr. Who interpretation.

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