Sunday, July 27, 2014

Product Review - Nairn's Oat Crackers and Cookies


www.withinthekitchen.blogspot.com
Nairn's oat crackers with cream cheese and a variety of toppings:
cucumber, green olives and chives, smoked chili pepper jelly,
Kalamata olives and basil, cranberries.


When Nairn's offered me a chance to review a variety of their line of Scottish oat crackers and cookies I immediately signed up!

I received a big box of seven of Nairn's products:
  • Roughly milled oat crackers
  • Cheese oat crackers
  • Organic oat crackers
  • Sunflower seed oat crackers
  • Stem ginger oat cookies
  • Dark chocolate chip oat cookies
  • Mixed berries biscuits oat cookies

What's in a name?

Don't go in thinking these are North American crackers. If you do, you'll be disappointed as they aren't  as crispy and snappy as a typical cracker. They are really somewhere between a cracker and a biscuit. My son noticed that on their website the crackers are called oatcakes. Now that made more sense. I wonder why they changed the name for the North America market? I wish they had kept the original name as it describes the product better but I'm sure their focus groups didn't agree with me!

Oatcakes are usually associated with Scotland and since I'm part Scottish (my grandmother and great-grandmother came from Dumfries, Scotland) I just had to give them another shot.

Pile it on!

They taste like....wait for it...oats! My favorites are the rough milled and the sunflower seed varieties - love the texture of each. If you want to eat them out of the box then I would recommend the cheese variety as otherwise they may be rather plain tasting. But that also makes them perfect for savory toppings and because these are nice and thick they can handle layers - think strong cheese, tuna, olives, chives, peanut butter, apples, hummus, cream cheese, smoked salmon, pepper jellies etc.

Kids will love them!

Once school starts up again I will be using them in my kids' lunch boxes. They get so tired of sandwiches but love it when I give them separate containers of crackers, spreads, cheeses, veggies, fruit, etc. that they can put together on their own. Nairn's oatcakes will be a perfect and healthier substitute for regular crackers. I think they will fill the kids up a bit more and give them a bit more energy compared to regular saltines.

Don't forget the cookies!

I loved the cookies! Perfect for dunking in tea or coffee. The chocolate cookies were my favorite - the little bits of dark chocolate were perfect little bites to satisfy my sweet tooth without being too sweet. I'm saving the stem ginger ones  to make a crust for a pumpkin cheesecake - I think it will make a great substitute for the graham crackers I normally use.

Overall

Pros:
  • wheat free (NOT gluten free though)
  • easy to grab and go for lunches/snacks  as there are 4 packs of 6 crackers in each box
  • vegetarian friendly
  • low GI
  • stand up to heavier toppings and flavors
  • contain fibre
  • no artificial colors, preservatives or flavors

Cons:
  • wish the packs had only 4 per pack as sometimes 6 is a bit too

I will definitely be buying more of these when my stash runs out!

For more info check out Nairn's sites:
Note: Nairn supplied me with product but all opinions are my own.

1 comment:

  1. I agree that they should have kept the original name, especially in Canada, where they're more familiar than they might be in the States. I enjoyed these very much and thought it was a nice offer from Nairn's to send us samples of their whole Canadian line.

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