Mary MacLeod's Shortbread

May 8, 2016

Another Groupon purchase - $12 for a dozen cookies. So I decided to give them another shot. 

One of each - original, chocolate, double chocolate, whole wheat, cranberry almond, butterscotch, coconut ball, mint chocolate, orange chocolate

This time around I found the cookies were super crumbly and the flavouring seemed a lot more subtle. I didn't like them as much because they were just so delicate that they literally crumbled before you could get a good bite in. 

If i had to pick a favourite, then I would pick the orange chocolate, which had a more pronounced flavour and it wasn't as crumbly.

August 10, 2012

I adore cookies and one of my favourite cookie stores is Monsieur Felix and Mr. Norton.

I first saw the Mary Macleod brand of shortbread cookies at Holts Gourmet and I got curious about the brand. So, I did a little research and found out that Mary Macleod's Shortbread is a well established business serving customers (in Toronto and all over Canada) since 1981. 

A local brand! I couldn't wait to try out another famous cookie company based in Canada.

Dozen cookies $17

Clockwise from the Top: Dutch Chocolate, Traditional Shortbread, Chocolate Chunk Shortbread, Orange Chocolate, Mint Chocolate, Cranberry Almond Shortbread, Toasted Coconut. Middle: Hazelnut Shortbread

I didn't rank the cookies in order of the taste because I don't consider myself that knowledgeable about shortbread cookies. My preference is for harder shortbread cookies; so, I created a "Crumbly scale" just to rank how the cookies crumbled relative to each other. 

Crumbly scale: 

1 = dissolved immediately to 10 = rock solid

(numbers are in brackets)

Clockwise from the bottom:

a) Dutch chocolate: I really liked what the smooth and bitter dark chocolate flavour brought to the shortbread cookie. It was rich and decadent. (8)

b) Traditional: I loved it! Recipe was classic and delicious. (9)

c) Chocolate chunk: Fantastic! After eating it, I know why this is her most popular cookie. It has great flavour with the mixture of chocolate into the shortbread batter. (7)

d) Cranberry almond: The cranberries in the batter made it a unique and memorable cookie. Unfortunately it was a little too crumbly for me. (5)

e) Hazelnut: Really good, great hazelnut taste with the chocolate chunk dough (5)

f) Toasted coconut: I thought this was a great spin on the shortbread cookie and it worked out nicely in my opinion. (8) 

g) Mint chocolate: It even smelled like mint chocolate! After I took a bite, the mint left a lingering aftertaste. I didn't think the chocolate was as nicely done as the Dutch chocolate. (6)

h) Orange chocolate: Orange scented, but I wasn't a big fan of it for the same reasons as the mint. (6) 

i) Whole wheat Walnut

Great nutty taste, but it was super crumbly and it broke apart really easily (2)

Overall: Mary Macleod's offers a huge variety of shortbread cookies, all of which are such a treat! My favourites here are the Chocolate Chunk and the Traditional - yum.

Website: http://www.marymacleod.ca/website/