Please read to the very bottom for a SPECIAL OFFER to all my readers and fellow twitter-ers!
Sung Park, one of the partners of Kelley's Kookies contacted me and asked if they could send me one of their gift boxes for review. Since Kelley's Kookies was already on my list of placed to try, I accepted. Even though I was given the gift box for free I told Sung that I will still give my readers an honest review, GOOD or BAD. Instead of having the gift box shipped to me, I picked it up at their Arcadia, Ca location which is located inside the Santa Anita Mall so I can give my readers the full experience.
The store, just like their gift boxes, is crisp and clean. No frills, no gimmicks. It just looks simple, clean and elegant. The gift box that was given to me included chocolate dipped macadamia shortbread, meltaways, sugar cookies and macadamia chocolate chip. With so many flavors to choose from I also purchased their regular shortbread cookies, lemon shortbread cookies and raspberry dream cookies.
Shortbread - My thoughts on this cookie would pretty much determine how my experience with Kelley's Kookies was going to go. If they got this wrong then I was sure that it would be downhill from here. The first thing I had to do when I picked up the shortbread cookie was smell it. Wow! Just the smell alone was enough to get my mouth salivating. I loved that it smelled like.......sweet browned butter. When I bit into the cookie, it was crisp, yet crumbly and after I bit off a piece it just melted in my mouth. I honestly could’ve eaten the entire pack in one sitting. I was already off to a great start.
Lemon Shortbread - I’m not keen on any kind of lemon desserts so I wasn’t even going to try this, but Ed really wanted them. When I noticed that they weren't too big of a cookie I decided to give it try. These weren’t bad at all. One became two, then three. The cookie wasn’t overwhelmed with lemon flavor, just a hint. It was as though the cookie itself was the shortbread cookie but the powdered sugar that it was tossed in had the lemon flavor.
Raspberry Dream - Their raspberry-fig filling is sandwich in between buttery shortbread cookies. I was a little worried that I wouldn’t be able to taste the fig because the flavor of raspberries is really tart. It really worked though. The figs really mellowed the tartness of the raspberry flavor so it didn’t taste overly sweet but more of a smokey sweet taste.
Sugar and Macadamia Chocolate Chip Cookies - These cookies were just okay for me. They didn't blow my mind, or leave me longing for more. Not that there was anything wrong with the taste of the cookies, it's just these cookies were made crispy. I personally prefer cookies like these to be soft and chewy.
Meltaways - These are walnut shortbread cookies tossed in powdered sugar. This cookie really did melt in my mouth. It’s a delicate cookie so one bite and it crumbled in my mouth. I like how the cookie itself was buttery and not sweet and that all the sweetness came from the powdered sugar.
Chocolate Dipped Macadamia Nut Shortbread - I really liked this cookie. It’s only half dipped so I got to taste the cookie with and without the chocolate. I couldn’t really taste the macadamia nuts, but I could tell that it had a different taste than the regular shortbread. It wasn’t as sweet or buttery. But the texture was still perfect. When you bite the chocolate dipped side, it was heaven! The smooth milk chocolate combined with the cookie was divine. Because the cookie itself wasn’t too sweet, the chocolate gave it that little kick of sweetness.
Overall, I had a great experience with Kelley's Kookies! They definitely took the shortbread cookie to new heights and have raised my expectations on not only shortbread cookies but cookies in general. It gets a little mundane to eat the same chocolate chip, or white chocolate chip cookie from the mall and with Kelley's Kookies you can break out of that boring routine. Besides their Arcadia location, you can find stores in Stanton and in Los Angeles in the Westside Pavillion. You can also go on http://www.kelleyskookies.com/ to see stores that carry their products. If those locations are too far of a drive, they do have an online service and their cookie creations can be delivered to your house.
And now for the SPECIAL OFFER. To all my readers and fellow twitter-ers, if you spend $10 or more and mention that you read my review on their cookies, they will give you a free gift with purchase.
