Stella D’oro Cookies Offer a Sweet Taste of Italy

Have you ever had a hankering for a good cookie? I mean a really good cookie? Sure, there are many on the market, and to each his or her own. But there is something extra special about Stella D’oro’s line of cookies. Stella D’oro, a manufacturer out of Brooklyn, New York offers Italian cookies as well as other tasty baked treats like biscotti, bread sticks, and breakfast biscuits.

My father introduced me to Stella D’oro cookies many years ago, when he first began bringing home Stella D’oro sesame-seed cookies; I checked the company’s web site and the company apparently no longer makes these tasty, crumbly, sweet cookies (which had but a hint of almond and the warm flavor of sesame seeds)—which explains why we have not been able to find them in stores over the past few years(!). But we have not despaired, because the company still produces a number of other snacks that are unbeatable and certainly do a beautiful job complementing a good cup of coffee.

I have taken to a number of Stella D’oro products, but one that I find myself having to monitor my consumption with the most is their biscotti. There is an Italian-American bakery nearby that my family has frequented for decades and the Stella D’oro biscotti tastes nearly as good and fresh as the biscotti we have purchased from the local establishment. Now, that is saying a lot for Stella D’oro, because don’t forget I am comparing here a packaged cookie bought at the grocery store compared to a fresh-baked item at a bakery.

Another snack I enjoy is Stella D’oro’s toast. It currently comes in four flavors, but my favorite is the almond toast. The toast is crunchy but I don’t find it particularly hard, but the almond flavor is rather abundant. The toasts comes in compact slices that taste great with a good cup of coffee. The Stella D’oro product in the house are the company’s swiss fudge cookies. These are sweet, star-shaped, semi-crumbly cookies about 2 inches in diameter and topped with a soft and delicious gob of chocolate fudge. For a serving of three cookies, the food label states there are 170 calories, 80 coming from fat. There is no trans fat, but there are grams of total fat and 4.5 grams of saturated fat.

And that is where the only “downside” comes with the Stella D’oro snacks: on the food label. Most of their products, I have found, are particularly high in fat and saturated fat. In fact I have come across a few which get into the 20-25% daily recommended value in the case of saturated fat. However, this is one food product that I think is well worth its cost against the “fat budget.” Besides, what is wrong with a little fat when eaten in healthy moderation? Any Stella D’oro product I have ever tried beats the flavor, quality, and freshness of most other cookie products I have consumed.

Stella D’oro products are plentiful here in West Central Florida grocery stores, where there is a relatively large number of Italian-Americans (which in part includes me, paisanos!). However, one could reasonably assume that stores in most other regions with high populations would carry Stella D’oro cookies as well. According to the company’s website, Stella D’oro (which means “star of gold”) dates back to 1930 and is “America’s No.1 favorite for dunking,” so one must assume that a company as well established and popular as this must have products available throughout much of the nation. Most Stella D’oro products sell for $2.50-$5, depending upon the item.

Resources:

http://www.stelladoro.com
http://www.stelladoro.com/sd_history.html