Sugar free cookies make up a fairly small portion of the cookie market. That’s why it’s always a pleasure to stumble upon a fine cookie like Joseph’s Sugar-Free Pecan Shortbread Cookies. This sugar-free version of a cookie classic is a crisp, great tasting snack. Though smaller than your garden variety packaged cookie, the one thing that’s not small is the taste.
We noticed several interesting things about the packaging of Joseph’s cookies. The bag is without the normal “tray of cookies”. Probably because the cookies are not large enough to stand up in trays, but The Glucoholic has always found these trays to be an annoyance when trying to reseal and store cookies, and a royal waste of plastic. The bag also tells the story of Joseph and his quest to create cookies that diabetics can eat. Almost hidden on the side of the bag are instructions for making the cookies more soft, which surprisingly enough reduces to “wrap it in wet paper towels and put it in the microwave for 15 seconds.” Of course we had to try this out. The process does not produce hot cookie sheet softness, but the cookies were softer than right out of the bag. Try it for yourself!
Joseph’s Sugar-Free Pecan Shortbread Cookies are sweetened entirely with Maltitol. This sugar alcohol is notorious for causing intestinal distress, so do not exceed the recommended serving size of four cookies. One problem with Maltitol is that it is so similar to sugar in every way that people have a tendency to go crazy and eat a lot of the products that contain it, fueled by the feeling that “it’s not sugar so it’s all right.” This will lead to lonely nights. For diabetics, consumption should be controlled because about half of its carbohydrates will be processed and can lead to unexpected spikes in blood sugar when consumed in large quantities.
As mentioned, serving size is four cookies. This provides around 95 calories, 5 grams of fat, 40mg of sodium, 11 grams of digestible carbohydrate, and one gram of protein. The cookies contain wheat and pecans, and the allergy warning mentions production on equipment that has been exposed to peanuts, pecans, almonds, and walnuts.