Aldi Soft Gingerbread (Winternacht) Review
They’ll knock your socks off. Even if you don’t have socks.
Oh my. I was not expecting much from these weird little brown cookies, but they blew my socks off. And I was already barefoot, so that’s pretty impressive.
It’s the flavor. Good lord. The flavor! It’s a strong, magical, spiced flavor. Cinnamon and citrus and other inexplicably delicious tastes, all wrapped up in an unassuming little baked circle of joy. I sound ridiculous, but I don’t care. I devoured all six of these cookies in just two days, they were THAT good. Surprisingly, the ingredients include figs, apricots, orange, apples, hazelnuts, walnuts, almonds, and cashews. Whew! Almost a little fruitcake, but better. Spicier. Fluffier. More self-contained.
The package contains two types of German Lebkuchen cookies — iced gingerbread, and chocolate covered gingerbread. They come in a cute little cardboard crib-shaped tray. Gingerbread babies.
I personally liked the iced version better than the chocolate version. The iced cookie has a more intense spice flavor. The cinnamon is powerful. My brain neurons were jolted to a new level of consciousness with the first spicy bite.
I liked the chocolate-coated version in different ways. The cocoa taste added another layer of sophistication to the gingerbread flavor profile, and the smooth chocolate texture was a satisfying contrast to the fluffiness inside. Although the chocolate layer is thin, it has a deep dark chocolate taste and a pleasing cocoa buttery richness.
The cookie itself is soft and pillowy. An almost cake-like dome. There’s a slightly stiff shell on the outside, which yields to the tender interior. On the iced version, the shell is a sugary glaze, which cracks under pressure, like thin ice on a pond.
A truly odd aspect of these treats is that they are gingerbread “on wafers.” That’s what the label says. There’s a strange (and not particularly delicious) crispy disc behind the soft gingerbread. I have no idea what purpose this wafer serves. I honestly thought it was a thin piece of cardboard at first, and I clawed at it anxiously, trying to peel it off the cookie. Then I reluctantly convinced myself it was probably edible. I ate it cautiously, but I kept checking to make sure it WASN’T cardboard. Part of me remains unconvinced, because it had a dry, stale, papery taste that seemed only vaguely edible. If I had a way to remove these offending “wafers” from the gingerbread before consuming, I would. In my mind, the wafers contribute nothing positive to the taste experience, and they detract significantly. Fortunately, the rest of the cookie was so absurdly good, I scarfed them up anyway, papery wafers and all.
According to this article on the history of Lebkuchen, the soft gingerbread was historically baked on leftover communion wafers, so this is probably the origin of the wafers in this modern version. And now I feel like a filthy heathen for hating these wafers so much.
Although there is a cornucopia of nuts and fruit inside the cookies, the concentration is low. I only encountered two or three little fragments of citrus peel or nuts per bite. The figs and apricots are shy, don’t make their presence known in discernable chunks, but rather as a subtle back flavor. If you don’t typically relish the texture of orange peel, you probably won’t mind it here — the citrus peel is tender, but in very small pieces.
Something that surprised me is the absence of brown sugar or molasses in these cookies. I would have expected otherwise from the deep flavor and color.
Ingredients in Aldi Winternacht Soft Gingerbread Cookies
These aren’t entirely meritorious ingredients, but they’re not horrible, either. I am personally wondering what exactly “flavour” means? That seems a bit vague.
Here are the ingredients:
- Sugar
- Unbleached Wheat Flour
- Glucose Fructose Syrup
- Dark Chocolate (Sugar, Chocolate Liquor, Cocoa Butter, Butterfat, Sunflower Lecithin)
- Tree Nuts (Hazelnuts, Walnuts, Almonds, Cashews, Apricot Kernels)
- Candied Orange Peel (Orange Peel, Glucose Fructose Syrup, Sugar, Citric Acid)
- Glycerin
- Sorbitol
- Wheat Semolina
- Apricots
- Spices
- Apple Extract
- Liquid Whole Eggs
- Food Starch
- Figs
- Sodium Bicarbonate
- Dextrose
- Liquid Egg White
- Butterfat
- Gum Arabic
- Glucose Syrup
- Salt
- Apple Pulp
- Invert Sugar
- Pectins
- Citric Acid
- Potassium Citrate
- Flavor
- Pea Protein
- Rice Flour
- Whole Milk Powder
These Lebkuchen cookies are imported from Germany. The chocolate is identified as Fair Trade.
Nutrition Facts in Aldi Winternacht Soft Gingerbread Cookies
There are 6 servings per package of one 33 gram cookie each. Good luck with that! I devoured two servings as soon as I ripped the package open. Each cookie has 120 calories, so these are definitely not health food. There are 12 grams of sugar and only 2.5 grams of fat. Because these cookies have very little fat content, they are not particularly filling. I definitely could have done with more butter and nuts and even citrus fruit bits — to slow down the absorption of sugar in my body. However, low fat content is traditional in Lebkuchen soft gingerbread, so this is authentic.
Price and Shelf-life of Aldi Winternacht Soft Gingerbread Cookies
Sadly, you only get six little cookies per 7.05 ounce package. At $3 for the package, each cookie costs 50 cents. These are a bit more spendy than other Aldi products. But cheaper than similar imported German soft gingerbread from other retailers. The sell-by date on my package was smudged completely away, so I can’t tell you how long these remain shelf-stable. But I don’t expect them to last long enough at my house for this to matter!
Would I buy these again? You bet. In fact, I better buy bigger pants, too. And some socks.
More Reviews of Seasonal Desserts You Might Like (or Hate)
Check out these other seasonal dessert reviews I’ve recently written:
- The Fresh Market Pumpkin Cheesecake
- Costco Pumpkin Spice Loaf Cake
- Aldi Pumpkin Spice Whipped Cheesecake
- Costco Pumpkin Pie
Author’s note: I have no affiliation with Aldi, and I was not compensated in any way for this review. Send socks.
