Walker’s Biscuits – Raspberry & White Chocolate

When the name Walker’s is mentioned the first thing most people will think of those devices that the elderly use to get about when mobility is hampered or the joints aren’t what they used to be. The second thing they think of is the shortbread that has established itself over a very long, history spanning hundreds of years. The mere fact that the brand has been around since the 1900’s and still has as much success as they do speaks volumes to their winning formula. I mean, how many brands can you think of that basically have one product to carry them for that long?

For those who haven’t had shortbread cookies from Walker’s, part of their success is the fact that they don’t skimp on ingredients and go all in on the butter. After all, that’s how you make tasty shortbread. To my knowledge, their recipe hasn’t changed all that much since it’s inception, and people still love to clog their arteries with these delicious morsels.

Walker’s has always been about their main product, the shortbread in it’s many shapes and forms but is also not afraid to try out other formulations and experiments. Today’s cookies are one such experiment, venturing out from the shortbread market into the cookie market. You’d be forgiven for thinking it’s not that big of a stretch, but biscuit and cookie aficionados would tell you otherwise. Butter alone can’t make a bad cookie better, can it? This is one of those experiments that make me wonder if they should stick to shortbread, or if they have a promising chance in cookies too.

These are more like a standard cookie, or biscuit and less like a buttery shortbread. On appearance alone they seem rather normal so far. They seem to have a fair distribution of raspberry bits and white chocolate chunks, which I always like to see. These kind of remind me of those cookies with dried fruit and chocolate, and look sort of like if you dropped a trail mix bag into cookie dough and baked it up.

I was expecting the raspberry to be more of an after thought, kind of like how oatmeal raisin cookies are more about the oatmeal, and the raisins help to shake things up with the texture. The freeze dried raspberries are ever present, both flavour wise and texture wise in these cookies.

These cookies are you typical ones, they are the hard variety that crumbles and leaves a mess everywhere. The cookie itself is pretty soft in that it’s not too brittle and crumbs away easy. The cookie has a lot of white chocolate chunks that give it a nice crunch, as well as the freeze dried raspberries. They are very seedy though, so they have a tendency to get stuck between your teeth and on them if you aren’t careful. If you’ve ever eaten actual raspberries, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about. I love those little red berries, but damn do they get stuck in there if you’re not paying attention.

The flavour is really all about the raspberry. The white chocolate is present but doesn’t add too much in the flavour department, raspberry takes the lead here and makes for a very tasty and pleasant cookie, assuming you like raspberries. These are the kind of cookies I imagine you’d pair with a nice strong tea of some sort.

Overall, I’d say this is a winner and I would definitely get these again. The cookie is definitely greater than the sum of its parts, each of which has a job to do and excels at it. Walker’s as a brand was never really on my radar because I don’t generally enjoy shortbread that much, but knowing that they can pull of cookies as well puts them square in my sights now. If you can get a hold of these where you are, do so.