Wacky Snacks: Chic Choc

Photo by Edwin Goei

​Name: Chic Choc

Origin: Korea

Found at: Freshia, Tustin

Cost: $2.50

Ingredients:

Wheat Flour, Chocolate Chips (Cocoa Mass, Cocoa Butter, Glucose), Butter, Margarine, Brown Sugar, Sugar, Coconut Powder, Sugar, Whole Egg, Milk Powder, Sweet Potato Powder, Invert Sugar, Leavening (Sodium Bicarbonate, Ammonium Bicarbonate), Soy Lecithin, Artificial Flavors (Vanilla, Vanillin), Salt, Cinnamon Powder.

Walgreens

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Why I Bought It:
The familiar white on blue lettering worked on me. Obviously, this chocolate chip cookie by food conglomerate Lotte aspires to have Chic Choc become to Korea what Chips Ahoy is to America. "Aspire" is the wrong word, though, because I like these better than Chips Ahoy.

Also, though Lotte hasn't yet introduced a cartoon character mascot like Nabisco has, I have a feeling one is on the way. Whatever it turns out to be -- probably something with dewy anime eyes and Pokemon-like powers -- it will certainly be better than the geeky guy in the labcoat who's currently on the back of the box.

Photo by Edwin Goei

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Labcoats might work to sell cookies in Korea, but as market share has shown, elves who live in trees do much better here.

Tasting Notes:
Delicious and milky. Not as sweet or dry as a Chips Ahoy, but crispier and more crumbly. After one chew, it turns to chocolatey-dough pudding in the mouth. Put this out for the neighborhood kids and they'd never know it contains coconut, cinnamon and sweet potato powder as ingredients (unless they're allergic).

And there's this: each cookie is individually wrapped, which, depending on who you are and what your point of view is, can be good or bad.

If you're an environmentalist, you'd find the extra packaging is unnecessarily wasteful. If you're a parent packing their kid's lunch, you'd think them a timesaver. But if you're a chronic overeater, it's a toss-up. You might consider it good because there's some semblance of portion-control; or you might think it bad because the spent wrappers are damning evidence of your gluttony.