My love for cookies, especially soft-baked ones, dates back to my early twenties when I moved to Hyderabad for work after graduating. It was my first job and allowed me to occasionally try new foods that were too expensive for my budget as a student. Whenever I visited a shopping mall, the aroma from the small bakeries there would always catch my attention. In Hyderabad, I tried cookies from various outlets but none of them really stood out.
During a short work trip to Ireland, the local bakeries amazed me. The cookies I had been searching for were finally right in front of me. Every day, I would try something new from the local Tesco store and planned on buying the cookies on the last day of my stay since they had a short shelf life. Unfortunately, when I went to pick up the cookies before my flight to home, they were sold out.
A week or two later, one of my colleagues traveled to Ireland for work and I asked him if he could bring me those cookies. He kindly brought back two types of cookies from Tesco! Honestly speaking, those cookies were incredibly delicious… There might have been even better ones in Ireland; we passed by many during our visit to Dublin but didn’t have time to explore them further.
Many years have passed since then, but my search for indulgent cookies didn’t end. It was rather halted because I live in a town that doesn’t have these things. One day, while scrolling through Instagram reels, I came across an advertisement from Ditch The Guilt. On any other day, I would just scroll past the ads and not bother because most of them are scams. But this time, I liked the big fat red velvet cookies with a thick layer of frosting in between in the ad. After all, I had never tried red velvet cookies before.
I went to the website and there was a 50% off sale on most of the products. So, I ordered Dutch Choco Truffle Cookies and Red Velvet Cookies from “Ditch The Guilt”. They cost me 200 Rs (original price 400 Rs) plus a delivery charge of 49 Rs. The main selling point for the brand “Ditch The Guilt” is that they offer guilt-free indulgence with their cookies. The cookies are eggless and contain no added sugar.
Even though I don’t care too much about nutritional facts since I rarely eat these kinds of treats – taste matters more than anything – having fewer calories is still an added bonus.
I had never ordered from Instagram ads before, so I wasn’t very confident about the legitimacy of the seller. My doubts were fading away when I received multiple emails and WhatsApp messages after placing the order. They also provided me with a link to track the delivery status. Two days later, I discovered that my address was incorrect, which made me anxious again. I contacted Ditch The Guilt’s support number and they promptly corrected the address details as per my request. A week after placing my order, my cookies were delivered.
Packaging: The cookies came in two vacuum-sealed plastic bags, but there were no packing nuts or other measures to protect them from the outside.
Dutch Choco Truffle Cookies: For 100 Rs. (Original price 200 Rs.), they gave 10 small cookies, and they looked nothing like the images on the website – both in size and color. Although not explicitly stated, I assumed from the ad images that the cookies would be soft-baked. In reality, they were very dry and crumbly. However, there was no doubt that the cookies had no added sugar. In my opinion, the quality is justified for the price. My only disappointment is the misleading advertisement. I won’t comment on the nutritional values of these cookies since I don’t have much knowledge about it. Overall, I would rate these cookies 2.5/5.
Red Velvet Cookies: I bought 7 Red Velvet Cookie sandwiches for 100 Rs. (originally priced at 200 Rs.). The size was much smaller and the color lighter than in the image. These cookies also fell apart as soon as I tried to grab one. Although crumbly, they were less dry than the other ones. With the frosting, they tasted decent to me. I would rate them a 3 out of 5.
Overall, I don’t completely regret buying from Ditch The Guilt. They should improve the packaging to prevent the cookies from crumbling and still need to work on the recipes. Although I am not a baker myself, developing a healthy and delicious cookie recipe is not an easy task. Managing a small business is also challenging. Ditch The Guilt offers cookies at a more affordable price compared to other similar brands. If you like supporting small businesses and helping them grow, visit their official website. They also sell interesting varieties of chocolate.
[Note: This review is not sponsored and reflects my personal opinion only.]
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