Country Ma'am Strawberyy Parfait カントリーマアム いちごパフェー

When I saw this pack of Country Ma'am cookies at Daiso for ¥105 yen I just knew I had to have them. I am a fan of strawberry flavour but more than that the image on the packet was so pretty and looked delicious. I love Japanese parfait. It's one thing I love about Japan, they do desserts so well.

So here is a share pack of Country Ma'am that has 5 individually wrapped cookies inside. 

It's not the prettiest cookie I've ever seen but it does smell very nice. There is a strong smell of strawberry even when I'm nowhere near the cookie. Something that baffles me with Country Ma'am is that no matter what the flavour, every cookie has choc chips inside. Sometimes it doesn't go well but other times like with strawberry parfait flavour it is a match.

When I was little I had a Strawberry Shortcake doll and the stand out feature of the doll was it's pink curly hair and the scent of strawberries. When I smell this cookie it makes me think of that doll, the scent is pretty much the same. 

To smell it is nice, but to taste it, I get a real sense of chemical/artificial strawberry taste. It is really tart and has an unpleasant taste at the back of my throat. The outside is crunchy but the inside is like uncooked dough so it is like eating glue. The only thing that really saves this cookie is the chocolate and white choc chips in the middle. In fact, after eating this I had a burning feeling in my mouth and started to get a headache. I am not sure what chemicals they put in here but I wouldn't recommend anyone trying it.

As pretty as the packet is, this is one awful cookie. I'm disappointed as all my reviews so far about Country Ma'am have been positive but this one is not anything like a real strawberry nor a parfait.
Do yourself a favour and steer clear of this one!

Country Ma'am N.Y. Cheesecake カントリーマアム N.Y. チーズケーキ

I've never been to New York so I wasn't familiar with what makes a New York Cheesecake different to other cheesecakes around the world. Wikipedia tells me that a NY cheesecake relies on heavy cream or sour cream, and that it is rich and has a dense, smooth and creamy consistency.

This is a share pack of 5 individually wrapped cookies, which I bought in Daiso for ¥105 (roughly $1). 

The cookie is mostly white on the outside with a "baked" look, as if it has been slightly browned in the oven. It smells like yoghurt and cheese, actually quite a nice smell. It is soft on the outside and crumbles easily when bitten. The inside is quite soft, almost as if it was uncooked dough.

The taste is very much like cheese but more like an unbaked cheesecake. There are white choc chips in the centre which add a touch of sweetness to the whole thing. I think it needs the white chocolate to add contrast, otherwise the flavour of the biscuit would be too rich. 

This cookie really is quite rich and the flavour is strong so I'm not sure I could eat any more than one at a time. The only thing I don't like is that it is so crumbly. When I bit into it most of the cookie fell away, and I had crumbs everywhere.

If you don't mind the crumbs, then I would recommend you try this cookie. It's really quite a nice flavour and something different to the usual Country Ma'am fare. I would definitely buy it again.

Country Ma'am Vanilla & Fragrant Matcha カントリーマアム バニラ＆香り抹茶

Today I have a share pack of cookies by Fujiya called "Country Ma'am". In the past I have reviewed a black sugar version and a kinako version. Today I am reviewing a pack with 20 individually wrapped cookies inside. 10 are Vanilla flavour and the other 10 are fragrant Matcha (green tea) flavour.

I bought this bag of cookies from Ichimaru Supermarket in Tokachi for ¥258. It's quite a big bag and 20 cookies seems like a lot but actually each cookie is quite small - about 3.5cm in diameter.

The vanilla cookie is referred to as a "Chocochip Cookie Vanilla" on the wrap, but on the actual bag is only called vanilla. However, I think most people would think of this as a "choc chip" cookie as the most predominant smell is chocolate. The outside is crispy and the inside is soft and there is a slightly burnt and sweet caramel flavour. The milk chocolate chips give a hint of chocolate but only when you bite into them directly. Otherwise there is a vague caramel/vanilla flavour present. While it's still nice to eat, it's over rather quickly and it's not the strong vanilla flavour I was expecting.

The fragrant matcha cookie is green in colour and crispy on the outside. When biting into it I inhaled a strong scent of matcha. The flavour is very much green tea but there is a surprise inside : chocolate chips! Again the chocolate chips don't add much unless directly bitten on. This is a very strong flavoured cookie so if you like matcha then you would enjoy this cookie. There is a slight vanilla flavour right at the end that is not unpleasant but seems mismatched with matcha.

I'm not a big fan of the vanilla cookies, they are just "ok" but I really like the matcha flavour cookies. This bag of 20 cookies was great value because I shared them out with friends as part of a "Japanese snacks gift bag" when I got home. They are individually wrapped so they are the perfect kind of snack you can hand out to friends who like to try Japanese foods.

It's also a good pantry filler because you can keep a few in your bag or in my case nappy bag, and take them with you when you go out for a quick snack or when my toddler asks for a snack in the supermarket I can ply him with a cookie. :)

You can visit the Fujiya Website for more interesting Country Ma'am flavours.

Country Ma'am Hokkaido Kinako Cookies 北海道きなこ

Kinako is only just a recent discovery for my tastebuds, but it's one I surprisingly enjoy. Kinako is soybean flour which is made by toasting soybeans and grinding them into flour.

I picked up this bag in Seria for 100 yen or around $1. It contains 5 individually wrapped cookies, each about 3.5cm in diameter.


They are a golden brown colour, mainly due to the fact that theire is caramel colour included in the ingredients.

Breaking the cookie in half it is crispy on the outside and soft and moist on the inside. There are noticeable white chocolate chips in the middle, I had four chips in mine.

The flavour is unlike other kinako I have tasted. The first taste offers up a slightly burnt flavour, not unlike burnt caramel. Its only at the very end that I get to the slight peanut like flavour that kinako often has. The white chocolate chips don't really add alot to this cookie, mainly because the burnt caramel flavour is the major player here and the white chocolate are mere bits that only provide a burst of flavour if I bite directly on it. It doesn't enhance the flavour though, just detracts from the main theme.


I would have preferred this without the white chocolate chips. They weren't really sweet but they just took away from it flavour wise. If the chips weren't there I could have concentrated more on the actual flavour of the kinako.

I've never tasted Hokkaido kinako before, so I wasn't sure if it was true to the flavour, but asking Yasu who is from Hokkaido, he said it's very much Hokkaido kinako, so obviously it's just me who really prefers the regular non-Hokkaido kinako.

These were ok, but I wouldn't buy them again. Yasu said they were just okay, which doesn't inspire much confidence in me. They're ok for a buck, and the good thing is if you don't like them they're individually wrapped so you can give them away to unassuming people. :)

Country Ma'am Mango Pudding Chocochip Cookies カントリーマアムマンゴープリン

I bought these on a last minute shopping trip to Seria in Hokkaido. I bought them primarily as souvenirs; in my family food seems to go down much better as a gift than a scroll.

105 yen seemed like a good price for a pack of 5 individually wrapped cookies. I bought too many though, and have now ended up with a few left over, hence this review.



I'm not a diehard mango fan, but I do like the flavour. I love white chocolate though, so the two combined, in my mind, seemed like a good match.

The flavour is actually mango pudding, and the bag states that apple mangoes were used. The cross-section of the cookie on the image shows 2 rather large white choco chips.

The cookies themselves are small and round, about 3cm diameter. There is a sweet smell of mango, and the colour is a light orange. I found one small white choco chip in my cookie, but maybe I got the runt of the litter.


The cookie is soft in the middle with what tastes and feels like mango puree. The flavour is light, not too sweet, and the texture of the cookie is a little bit hard on the outside but soft and smooth in the middle.

The chocolate chips really don't add much to the flavour, the mango is the star here. I don't mind that though. I thought this cookie was really well done. It's a nice little treat to serve with afternoon tea, or as a small snack after dinner. It's got a hint of sweetness that is just right. I really like the lightness of the mango flavour, and I'm sure this is very close to the real mango pudding.

Luckily I have two more packets of these to chow down on, but I would definitely buy them again, if I'm not sick of them in 14 cookies time.