Rosie? or Rancid? - Vanilla Rose Cookie Thins (Lidl)

I hate flower flavored food, and I already have a ton of stuff I -should- be reviewing. But February means all thing pink, and flowery, and Valentine's Day-y. All things I would use to describe this new product from Lidl. 

I'll be the guinea pig and give this a try so you can see if this it's worthy of your valentine. (Accidental rhyme(ish)?)

Opened, there's a warm, buttery, vanilla aroma that reminds me of Danish butter cookies. You know, the ones that come in those blue sewing kits cookie tins...only this version is covered in dried rose petals and rancid frying oil. I hate it. These smell like they're past their prime, but they're brand new! I am pretty adventurous in eating. There are plenty of posts here where I try gross things like hamburger flavored candy corn without batting an eye, but the smell of these have me scared. Do all flower-based cookies smell like this? 

My tongue, and stomach, might be in trouble.

Inside the bag, the cookies look like a giant, pink-ish-beige, Nilla Wafers. They have smooth, slightly domed, tops, with crispy textured bottoms. 

I took a mousey little test-bite. (After my sense of smell was so rudely assaulted I didn't want to go for the full cookie right off the bat.) Thankfully, they're not bad at all. They just smell bad. 

Texturally, they're crumbly and melt in your mouth like the Danish butter cookies I mentioned earlier. Surprisingly crisp, light, and sugary. I've always preferred thin and crispy cookies, and these explode into crumbs as you chew in the best way possible. Chewy cookie fans, these definitely aren't for you

Flavor-wise, the vanilla is crisp, and slightly toasted. Not creamy like I would have thought. Years ago, I had this vanilla sugar I bought from IKEA's grocery section, if I lightly toasted that in a pan and then used it to make butter cookies, that would be a pretty apt description of these. With just a little bit of rose towards the end. A whisper. Which is just about all the floral flavoring I can handle. 

To me, floral flavors like rose or lavender seem so sophisticated, and I love the idea of them, and their coloring, but every time I try one it leaves me feeling like I ate a cosmetic. These are one of the very few rose-themed items I've tried that I actually enjoy, but that's because it barely had any rose flavoring at all. Even so, if there were a plain vanilla version of these cookies, I would definitely buy that instead of Vanilla Rose. 

Color me surprised, these aren't bad. If you're someone who actually enjoys floral flavors, these will likely disappoint you with how weak the rose flavoring ends up being, but if you're a floral-hater like me, this is a good starter-cookie. 

Fans of this would also like: Sailor Moon Chocolates (they have rose shapes!), Elderflower and Rose Lemonade,  Rose Lemonade,  and that's it. I don't have many rose-themed reviews. 

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