Ben's Cookies, and How They Melt In Your Mouth

Wow, it's been raining in Riyadh! For days! When it rains in Saudi Arabia, it's a big phenomenon because it's something unusual. I've been in Riyadh for five years and I haven't seen this much rain in this Kingdom. Reminds me of the earthquake we felt a few weeks back, which my father felt for the first time in his 20+ years of stay here. It's kind of scary how nature is getting too unpredictable these days. However, this entry is not meant to scare you. Or predict the end of the world.

Even if it's quite weird, I meant the rain, it provides a gentle reprieve from the summer heat. It's quite cold this morning even if the sun shone and I love the breeze outside. The drizzles from time to time are nice too. (I miss rainy days in the Philippines! It's my favorite season in our province.) The rain makes us lazy! Don't you just want to hide under your comforters and sleep all day? Or grab a book, a cup of coffee, a cookie, and a --- did someone say cookie? COOKIE?

Reminds me of a pack of Ben's Cookies that I got a few months back in the Jarir Bookstore building in Khurais Road on our way to visit a friend. I've been intrigued by Ben's Cookies that I grabbed the chance to try them. I saw it first in the food court of Sahara Mall.

Yeah, well, it's a tower of cookies!

Ben's Cookies was founded in 1984 in England by Helge Rubinstein and has opened 11 stores in the UK and three stores in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Their cookies are baked fresh every day and are made from the finest ingredients. What attracted me first was their size; they're big. Each cookie is priced at SR 7. And with their promo of buy 5 get 2 free, I think I got a pretty much good deal since I get to taste seven flavors in one go for SR35 only.

Can you identify the flavors?

T-B: Milk chocolate chunk, milk chocolate praline, oatmeal and raisin, coconut, white chocolate chunk,  double chocolate chunk, peanut butter

The cookies have a good consistency; slightly crunchy outside and soft inside with gooey chocolate chunks in most of the flavors. The melted chocolate chunks are velvety and lends just the right amount of sweetness to the dough. The cookies are delicious especially when they just came out of the oven. The warm chocolate dribbles in my chin, like lava bursting from a volcano mound. The Milk Chocolate Chunk is my favorite but I like their Coconut cookie too. It's soft, almost like a small, round packed bread filled with coconut shavings, and is not cloying.

My favorite of the bunch -- milk chocolate chunk!

I didn't like the Peanut Butter because they didn't seem to have incorporated the creamy peanut paste in the cookie but just threw in a handful of peanuts. The oatmeal and raisin was a bit tough to chew on; even hard on the edges. It might just be that specific batch but on my next visit, I stayed away from this type of cookie. Most of the cookies, though, are seemingly laden with too much butter that in some cookies, it's all I can taste. Nevertheless, among all the commercial cookies in Riyadh, ones with local branches and are franchised from abroad, Ben's Cookies is the best for me. (It's different when compared to homebakers.) Wish they open more branches which are more accessible to the Riyadhizens in the city center.

I'm already imagining myself reading a book and reaching for a cookie! Pleasant weather, please stay! Oh, and I didn't know why I ended up just taking photos of the cookies in tower form. There's even no solo or bite shots of the cookies! I guess they all melted in my mouth immediately. Burp! :P ~ Sundrenched

Ben's Cookies
Food Court, Sahara Mall
T: +966-1-4520460
Sharq Plaza (Panda), Exit 15
T: +966-1-4714508
Jarir Bookstore, Khurais Road
T: +966-1-208486
FB: www.facebook.com/BensCookies
Twitter: @bens_cookies
W: www.benscookies.com

Choosing All Kinds of Cookies

We have to be honest. We only got to know All Kinds of Cookies because of their offer to send us a "gift" for our fourth anniversary celebration. We didn't find them in Facebook or in Twitter or any social media site before. Which is quite odd, really, because after we tasted their cookies, All Kinds of Cookies should be known Riyadh-wide! Or Kingdom-wide if they open branches! ;) 

All Kinds of Cookies is a home-based business that makes a variety of cookies that cannot be easily found in local coffee shops and bake shops. It is owned by Sarah Shuwaier and Amber Rasz, two American women who married Saudis and now consider Riyadh as their home. Sarah is the baker and Amber is the one in-charge of their online sites. 

Sarah started baking out of boredom and eventually, it became a passion. She started making them for family and friends until she was bugged endless by these loved ones, who can't get enough of her cookies, to finally sell them. She uses the freshest and finest ingredients available locally to bake these goodies (hooray for no preservatives!). With the help of Amber, Sarah started selling online. Their Facebook page features their menu and prices and customers can just message them or comment for inquiries. Customers then can either pick up their orders from well-known landmarks or can have their orders delivered within the greater Riyadh area. So far, their cookies are a hit!

What better way to celebrate our fourth anniversary online.

And we couldn't blame them. We're hooked with their cookies too! The huge cookie cake they gave us for our anniversary was a thing of beauty. It was huuuge and covered in white icing with pink icing laced to form The Pink Tarha words in the middle. It was heavy too, a good sign that it is full of yummy goodness.

Will you look at that!

Yes, please!

Even though sinking a knife into the middle of the cookie broke our hearts, we had to do it to get to the depth of the cookie. The edges crumbled with a soft nudge while the middle remained firm; the knife slicing its way effortlessly within the smooth, moist layer. The buttery dough hid a generous cache of chocolate chips. Each bite from our cookie slices ala pizza was rewarded with a couple of chocolate chips. We were amazed on how the middle remained moist despite of the sheer size and despite sitting in our pantry for a few days (it's so huge for the four of us we needed family and friends to help us devour it in a matter of days).

Molasses | Oatmeal&Raisins | Chewy Brownies

Yummy!

After the huge cookie, we also got to try the smaller ones in different flavors.

Chewy Brownies: my fave!

Keep calm my heart.

Being a fan of chewy cookies, I couldn't help but pine for the chewy brownie cookies. What more can be chewier than a cookie named chewy, right?! ;) It made me weak in the knees. The crispy outer layer gave way to a melting center. It was a tad bit too sweet but if served fresh from the oven, is definitely comforting. More of these, please!

Eyecandy's choice: oatmeal and raisin cookie

Mmmmmmm.

The famous oatmeal and raisin cookie is also present. It's pleasantly gritty; the texture alternating from crispy to smooth to course to dry to chewy. This is Eyecandy's favorite of the bunch.

Molasses cookie, Shoegarfreeruby's pick

My sugar coated cookie (and fingers)

I was hesitant to try the molasses cookie. As a kid, my grand aunts would bring these packed cookies from the States during the holidays and their rich, spicy flavor of cinnamon, ginger, and molasses didn't exactly sit well with my palate. The All Kinds of Cookies version of molasses cookies though is now one of my favorite kind of cookie! (And Shoegarfreeruby's too!) The moist cookie, simple as it seem with its dark color and sugar coated top, is deeply fragrant. The flavor is subtle; the spiciness is barely there. It's quite addicting! 

There are more flavors of cookies to choose from. The choices are myriad you'd need an hour to choose. So we asked Sarah and Amber what their favorites are to help you choose. Sarah's personal favorite is the soft, chewy chocolate chip with walnuts while Amber, who had a hard time picking (because really, how can one possibly pick a favorite cookie?), settled with molasses, chocolate chip, and Snickers. I'm dying to try the mocha chocolate chip, Oreo truffles, s'mores, and chocolate mint flavors. Ahhhh, the perils of wanting too many!



They also have quick breads, biscotti, and gourmet popcorn! 

All Kinds of Cookies deliver to the greater Riyadh area with a small fee for orders under SR150. They have a weekly offer so better LIKE their Facebook page and stay tuned. For this week, they're offering a 9-inch cookie cake for 50 riyals only! Whatta TREAT! Go get 'em now! 

Visit their other page too. Titled Camel Couture, this page is Sarah's and Amber's way of giving back to the community. They offer different kinds of classes that plans to bring people together for the love of "creating." I love this idea. I have a belief that 2013 is the year of the "creatives"! Let's go, ladies! ;) ~ Sundrenched