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 Okinawa Black Sugar カントリーマアム沖縄黒みつ

This is another random selection from Seria, and the last of the food souvenirs I brought back from Japan. Phew!

As with the other Country Ma'am cookies I brought back, these were 100 yen or $1. Despite the size of the bag they only have 5 individually wrapped cookies.



I really like black sugar from Okinawa so I had high expectations of these.

The cookie is much smaller than I expected, kind of a bit shrivelled up if you ask me. It's quite dark brown, and crumbly.



The smell from the bag is quite strong, you can tell what it is without even looking at the label, it smells exactly like black sugar. I actually think these are abit less than the standard size, but the flavour more than makes up for this.

The flavour packs a punch. Wham. Bam! It's right there in your face, very strong black sugar. The chocolate chips in these (2 of them) are a nice sideshow to the black sugar and it gives it an injection of sweetness that is lacking with the strength of the sugar.

I quite like these and they go really well with a cup of Japanese tea. It's a really "Japan" kind of flavour, something that I always like, so if you like that of 和味 (note this is not a word, but my own creation "wa aji", signifying a really Japanese flavour) then you will definitely like these!!

I would buy these again, but chances are I won't have the opportunity to as I'm sure they have already come out with new flavours. :)

Ishiya Shiroi Koibito 白い恋人

Shiroi Koibito is a premium sandwich cookie made in Hokkaido. It's usually given as a present to co-workers, friends and family on return from Hokkaido.

These days with the invention of the internet, you can simply go to their online shop if you live in Japan and get it delivered to you, rather than going all the way to Hokkaido. It is also available at airports nationwide, I saw it in Nagoya airport along with the Shiroi Koibito drink which I will expand upon at the bottom.

I've never actually bought it anywhere other than Hokkaido, I think it tastes better that way. I know when I'm in Hokkaido I'm home, so for me this is the taste of home.

The boxes come in a manner of different sizes, this here is the smallest one, retailing at 740 yen or around $7.50 for 12 individually wrapped pieces.


When I came home from Japan I bought a suitcase full of unique candies including Shiroi Koibito, and from the 100 yen store I bought some paper bags. I then filled up the bags with the candy and one each of the Shiroi Koibito. They were very much a hit and for weeks on end we had Yasu's co-workers asking us where they could get some more of this whitey goodness! They didn't realise we still had one small box stashed away in our cupboard for ourselves, and we weren't willing to share!

Anyway, so back to the cookie itself. It has French on the box that says
"Chocolate blanc et langue de chat". Googling that I found that it means "Chocolate and white cats tongue". The actual name of the cookie means "white lover". I guess Hokkaido could be known as my white lover anytime!

The cookie is 5cm x 5cm in diameter, is slightly rounded with the white filling poking out the corners. The cookie is golden and has a slightly more golden colour around the edges.


It's quite crumbly and breaking it in half means that a thousand crumbs fall off the edges. The filling is a thin layer of white creamy chocolate that just melts in my mouth, and is beautiful white chocolate in a demure way.

The cookie itself, despite using shortening has a really nice texture and has a slight taste of coconut. It's not oily or dry, its just right.

They use cocoa butter, cocoa powder and milk from Akayama (the maker's home town) to come up with a cookie I can't ever resist, no matter how many times I have it.

Yasu is quite the slave to Shiroi Koibito, and I have to hide it in the cupboard otherwise he would eat the whole box in one sitting and wouldn't save any for me!! Despite the fact that he's from Hokkaido and had it countless times when he lived there.

Ishiya have realised that when you do something you should do it well, and they have. It's been a stayer in the market for 30 years and still going strong.

As an aside, they have a website with a video showing how Shiroi Koibito is made, and they also have Shiroi Koibito Park, where for 600 yen entry you can make your own version of Shiroi Koibito. There is a chocolate tower and a lounge where you can indulge in all your favourite Ishiya delights, a chance to watch SK being made, do some shopping and relax in the restaurant. Each box also comes with a discount voucher for the park. If anyone here is planning on going and they want the voucher you are welcome to email me (adults get 100 yen off and children 50 yen).

Ishiya also make a Shiroi Koibito chocolate drink, which I picked up at Nagoya airport, funnily enough I couldn't find it where I was staying in Hokkaido. The drink was just as great as the biscuit, but in another dimension, it was also creamy and had that definite taste. You can buy a box of 2 for 420 yen.

This photo was borrowed from Ishiya website

Okay, so when it comes to Shiroi Koibito I have one thing to say, these are my favourite and I'm not into sharing! So go get your own! ;)

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.

Tirol Assorted

I thought I better finish off reveiwing the bag of assorted Tirol chocolates I have so here goes.

White & Cookie Crunch
Smells very creamy and looks like it's filled to the brim with cookie. The white chocolate is sweet but not overly so as the cookie is the main flavour that shines through. Lots of crunch on this chocolate, really nice

Milk (with rare cream)
I expected it to be white chocolate to be honest, so was surprised when I opened it and there was milk chocolate. Biting into it I realised the milk is in the centre, as a creamy filling. The chocolate is a little bit bitter, like dark chocolate, but is offset by the creamy rare milk centre, which is like a paste. Quite nice, and the two flavours match each other perfectly.


BIS Milk Choc
This comes in two wrapper colours, pink, and blue. They are both the same chocolates inside however. The "BIS" is short for biscuit. The chocolate coating is slightly darker than regular milk chocolate and has that cocoa flavour. The biscuit inside is just a plain biscuit. There is more chocolate here than biscuit and right at the end, the last bite there is a sweet and bitter flavour from the chocolate. I'm not really a fan, maybe because it's just too plain.


Tirol Chocolate aka Coffee Nougat
Yasu told me that this one, and milk, were the only flavours available when he was a kid. Back when they sold them for 5 Yen each. I thought this would be just a chocolate square because the wrapper says "Chocolate" but I was wrong. It has a coffee toffee-like substance which according to the back of the pack is coffee nougat in the centre! It's quite nice, the coffee is the main flavour in this one.


Out of all of these I would have to say that the White Cookie & Crunch, and Milk were my favourites. I was not really a fan of the BIS. The coffee is ok, but I don't like it in toffee form.