Apparently the history of how the ANZAC Biscuits came about is a fuzzy one. One story tells of the biscuits being made by Australian and New Zealand women for the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) soldiers during World War I. They were reputedly called “Soldiers’ Biscuits” at first, and then renamed “ANZAC Biscuits” after the Gallipoli landing.

Word has it, Anzac biscuits are now an institution as recognised around the world as being as Australian as Vegemite, kangaroos, great outdoor barbeques and Kylie Minogue. (She is after all yummy Australian, right?)

The wrapper is quite handsome, wrapped in the colors of Australia and featuring a nice photo of three pieces cookies baked to golden brown perfection. A note at the bottom left corner of the wrapper reminds the buyer that a percentage of its sales goes to supporting veterans who have served in Australia’s armed forces. You can’t mistake the Austalian-ness of this one.

The biscuits are about 6cm in diameter, in a very beautiful deep brown colour with surface that reminds me of rock biscuits — hard and bumpy. The truth is, I bought this expecting something similar to rock biscuits, texture and taste-wise. In actual fact, they are not as hard and taste of a deliciously well-rounded combination of oats, golden syrup and coconut. I’d normally steer away from biscuits with coconuts, but these bikkies are surprisingly pleasant-tasting. Another plus point is, because of the rich coconut taste, two or three biscuits are more enough to satisfy me, a good thing as each cookie is 62 calories.

Photo: Unibic

Nice one, mate

There are many things in life that just go hand in hand -nuts and chocolate; Hollywood and botox; cats and toxoplasmosis. Of all these, only nuts and chocolate would qualify as a match made in Snack Heaven, unless of course, you have nut allergy, in which case, it would be your hell.

Pepero is an almond and chocolate dipped biscuit stick from the Korean company, Lotte. You see, Leibniz Minis Choco has already proven that chocolates and cookies are the best thing since sliced bread. Chocolate, cookies and nuts? Probably the best thing since Leibniz Minis Choco?

Although boxes of Pepero are always displayed beside Japanese cousin Pocky, I’ve never been compelled to give one a try. So why this change now? Well, there was a little white sticker at the front of a the box that read $1.20. I had to do a triple take – the cheapest fancy Pocky is $2.40.

The design of the box feels a bit old, not helped by the unsavoury shade of green. Inside this box is a matte foil, again in the same verdant shade. We know that pictures on boxes are usually poor approximation of what to expect inside but these gnarled chocolate and almond dipped sticks are true to its packaging.

The biscuit sticks are a touch thicker than Pocky’s. I had two boxes of Pepero Almond and the second box has slightly bitter biscuit sticks, like they were left in the oven a few minutes too long. The chocolate and almond are consistently…okay. There’s a good balance of not too sweet chocolate and crunchy, very nicely-roasted almonds. But is it better than Pocky? Maybe. If you don’t like your chocolate too sweet, you might like Pepero better than Pocky.

All in all, this is a good, cheap snack. The only complaint I have is that there are only 10 sticks in a box. Compare this to the 25 sticks in a chocolate Pocky and suddenly you realise why these tasty sticks are so cheap. Grrr!

A good alternative to Pocky, Pepero will appeal to those who prefer their chocolate not too sweet.

Let me be honest — I bought this because of the cute, colorful box.

I absolutely looove opening boxes with this type of perforation. They produce the manliest of tearing sounds. Mmmmm….

Er… ok, back to the review. See the chocolate-coloured outer shell? I used my two front teeth to bite into this because based on years of eating similarly-shaped snacks, I’d assumed that this would have an easy-to-bite, crumbly texture.

How wrong was I. The shell was much, much harder to break, as compared to say, Pepperidge Farm Goldfish or Hello Panda Chocolate Biscuits — causing a slight shock to the system. Yes it sounds all too dramatic, but such is the excitingly dangerous life of a snack-tester.

The shell was very dry and brightly crunchy, and didn’t taste very chocolate-y. Though the texture did provide a contrast to the creamy banana filling, I’d prefer it slightly softer.

For the cream filling – if you have tried a banana milkshake before, a bad one that is, you pretty much know how this taste and smell like.

The pieces came in at least four different shapes – A fish-shaped one with straight tail and another with a concave tail, an octopus with four arms and another one with three. These shapes serve no other purpose than to entertain people like me.

I felt sick of the stuff after my fifth piece. I wasn’t sure whether it was due to the fact that I’d eaten too much MiniSnacks earlier.

Update: I tried eating this again on empty stomach but didn’t manage to finish more than two pieces.

Photos: Snacktimes

If toxic banana flavour suits you fine, then this is the snack for you.