Friday, June 20, 2014

Flavorful At A Price: Seth Greenberg’s Cinnamon Cappuccino Brownie Crunch Is Good!


The Good: Good ingredients, Flavorful!
The Bad: Packaging does not protect the Brownie Crunch, Not especially nutritious, Comparatively pricy
The Basics: My first experience with Seth Greenberg’s Authentic New York Brownie Crunch is the company’s Cinnamon Cappuccino Brownie Crunch, which is a good treat, albeit a little more expensive than other, comparable products.


Since I developed a relationship with the company Sheila G’s, the maker of Brownie Brittle like the Salted Caramel Brownie Brittle (reviewed here!), I have been interested in the concept of Brownie Brittle. I don’t know where the “industry” came up with the concept of overcooked sheets of brownies that are essentially a cross between a cookie and a crackers, but there’s apparently a big enough market that Sheila G’s has a competitor. The competitor is Seth Greenberg’s Authentic New York Brownie Crunch and my first experience with it is their Cinnamon Cappuccino Brownie Crunch. Seth Greenberg’s Authentic New York Brownie Crunch comes in a number of more exotic flavors than its competitors and the Cinnamon Cappuccino flavor is a good example of that.

And the Seth Greenberg’s Cinnamon Cappuccino Brownie Crunch is good, but not absolutely incredible to justify its price.

Basics

Redefining the nature of traditional brownies, Cinnamon Cappuccino Brownie Crunch are 3/16" thick and, when unbroken, they are 3” long by 3” wide rectangular “chips” (or cookies). Each piece of Cinnamon Cappuccino Brownie Crunch is fairly rough on both sides, like the bottom of a brownie that has been very much overcooked to solidify with the bubbles from the batter. Cinnamon Cappuccino Brownie Crunch comes in a 4 oz. bag. According to the nutrition facts, a serving of Cinnamon Cappuccino Brownie Crunch is one ounce, 28 grams and there are four servings per container. Measuring out this bag, we found that meant four pieces of Brownie Crunch per serving. Our bag, bought on the discount rack at my local grocery store, had only two completely intact, unbroken, pieces.

For those who have never had Brownie Crunch before, Brownie Crunch are flat, hard chips that are similar to bagel chips. Moisture - or saliva - dissolves Brownie Crunch on the tongue. They are more like a thin cookie than a soft, chewy brownie and bought in the store, most of the pieces of Brownie Crunch were broken up bits. The Cinnamon Cappuccino Brownie Bites have the little chocolate chips (cappuccino flavored chips) embedded in the tops of the Brownie Crunch. They actually look like they are melted onto the tops. Some of the pieces have as few as two chocolate chips in them, some as many as twelve!

Ease Of Preparation

Unlike making brownies from scratch, Brownie Crunch is easy to prepare. Simply open the resealable bag and remove four pieces and consume. There is no other preparation needed; this is a ready-to-eat product. As one who absolutely loves the end of cereal (cereal crumbs), I found a certain delight in taking the two tablespoons of crumbs at the bottom of the bag, adding milk to it and eating it like cereal crumbs! The novelty of that, however, does not justify the expense of the Brownie Crunch.

Taste

Cinnamon Cappuccino Brownie Crunch smells delightful, but oddly fruity. I have some Orange chocolate Brownie Crunch somewhere in the house, but the Cinnamon Cappuccino smells remarkably like it has undertones of orange to it. The primary flavor is recognizable cinnamon, though and that might be the only real presence of cinnamon in this product’s flavor palate.

On the taste front, the Cinnamon Cappuccino Brownie Crunch is a powerfully dry flavor. This flavor of Brownie Crunch has almost no chocolate flavor to it. Instead, it has a dry, spicy flavor that is not overly sweet. Instead, it tastes vaguely cocoa-ish and exceedingly dry. The chips in the Cinnamon Cappuccino Brownie Crunch add little bursts of sweetness to the dry flavor.

As for the aftertaste, the Cinnamon Cappuccino Brownie Crunch leaves a slight chocolate aftertaste in the mouth. That aftertaste endures for about six minutes after one finishes the last piece of Brownie Crunch.

Nutrition

Cinnamon Cappuccino Brownie Crunch is a baked sweet, so one ought not to be living off it. The Cinnamon Cappuccino Brownie Crunch pieces are made primarily of sugar, flour, and water. There are, surprisingly, no unidentifiable ingredients in this food product and nothing that seems at all artificial (in fact, this is one of the few mass-produced product I have reviewed where the ingredients list reads more like a recipe than a chemical equation!). The bag of Cinnamon Cappuccino Brownie Crunch carries an allergy warning for wheat, eggs, nuts, tree nuts and milk.

Cinnamon Cappuccino Brownie Crunch has 120 calories per serving, 20 of which are from fat, though it is tough to stick with the somewhat nebulous serving size of 28 grams. The 2 grams of fat represent 3% of the recommended daily value of fat and 8% of the daily recommended saturated fat; there are no trans fats in this Brownie Crunch. As well, there are 40 milligrams of sodium and 18 grams of sugars (23 total grams of carbohydrates). There is are two grams of protein and 10% of one’s RDA of Iron in a serving of Cinnamon Cappuccino Brownie Crunch, but there are no other real nutrients in these.

These are not nutritious, but have nothing bad in them, so they make for a healthier sweet snack, though they are not Vegan compliant.

Storage/Clean-up

The Cinnamon Cappuccino Brownie Crunch stores just fine in its bag, breakage aside, and as long as they are kept in a cool, dry (preferably dark) place it ought to last for a few months. The bag I bought a couple of days ago bore a December 14, 2014 expiration date.

Unless one really crunches down sloppily on these, cleanup ought not to be an issue. The Cinnamon Cappuccino Brownie Crunch generates quite a few crumbs, but they are pretty easy to clean up.

Overall

Seth Greenberg’s Cinnamon Cappuccino Brownie Crunch is good, but ought to be paired with milk in order to enjoy it the most. Coffee lovers are not likely to find this sweet that is supposed to have some coffee flavor to it remarkable as the cinnamon flavor or the spiced aspect to it dominates the flavor palate. If these had just been called “cinnamon chip” Brownie Crunch, they might have been above average. Instead, they do not live up to the promise of their title. Even so, they aren’t bad and they are worth trying at the very least!

For other sweet snacks, please be sure to visit my reviews of:
Marathon Crunchy Honey Graham Snack Bar
Nature Valley Limited Edition Pumpkin Pie Granola Thins
Quaker Vanilla Creme Brulee Popped rice snacks

6/10

For other food or drink reviews, please visit my Food And Drink Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2014 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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