Boots: John Cookie Dough Brownie

Brownie Basics

Boots the pharmacy, yes, but they do also do food. It was a pretty good place to get a pretty good lunch deal back when I worked near a Boots. They do a selection of small cakes, including this cookie dough brownie.

Brownie Backstory

Here is a rough sketch of the full thought process that led me to eating this brownie.

“Ok, I’m out to get some lunch. The big go-live today is going reasonably well so far, and anyway I can’t do much until the guy in Houston presses the Allow button so that we can progress. Where shall I get lunch from? I’ll walk to EAT. I’ll walk into EAT. Eh, I don’t really fancy anything from here. Maybe a chicken burrito from Wahaca? Eh. Ok, I’ll wander around for a bit more. Am I sure nothing in the office canteen appealed to me? Do I want to walk all the way to Waterloo station for Pret or Burger King or something? Oh no, I’ve accidentally reached that stage of hunger where you’re too hungry to decide what to eat and so you stay hungry. Eh. Screw it, I’m going to go to Pieminister and have a pie. Mmmm, delicious pie. Oh look, it’s Bad Brownie again. Maybe I’ll get a cookie dough brownie and blog about it. Perhaps later.”

“Ok, it’s later, the big go-live is done and I’ve gone home earlyish, and now I’ve cycled all the way to Earlsfield to buy some new shoes. It’s not particularly late, I’ll wander through the shopping centre. Ooh, I never did get a brownie earlier. I wonder if there’s any options here. Waitrose? Eh. Nero? Eh. Ooh, Hotel Chocolat, not fooling me again! I know there’s a Costa at the end of here, but I’m saving Costa for a special occasion, probably my fiftieth post (watch this space). I wonder if Muffin Break is still open? I haven’t even seen it, maybe it closed down?”

“Oh hang on, there’s a Boots and it’s still open. Boots does some little cake things in their food section right? I wonder if any of them are brownies? That’s not somewhere I would have thought to look for a brownie usually. This could be a pretty good one!”

“Oh wow, perfect timing! There’s a stack of cookie dough brownies in the fridge each reduced down to 50p! What a coincidence that that’s the one that I was thinking of getting from Bad Brownie too! Well, brownie success: now to get this back to my flat and write a blog post about it!”

“Well, I’m back in my flat now, and reckon I’ve just about got time to eat this brownie before I go out for an evening run! I wonder what I will make of it?”

Brownie Points

Taste: Whenever I took a mouthful of this brownie it was like my mouth couldn’t decide whether it was eating something salty or sweet. It was…weird. The cookie dough tasted alright, but the brownie had a rather artificial flavour. 4/10

Texture: Hmmm, I can tell that the brownie under here is pretty poor brownie (it goes ‘crunch’ in my mouth). However, they’ve sort of cheated here by making this thing half cookie dough. Truth be told, that improves the overall texture, partially rescuing it. 5/10

Presentation: I’m not gonna rehash my previous complaints about brownies with too much plastic in the presentation: suffice to say, this brownie has the same issue. On top of that, I think they were going for a hand-made look on the top of the cookie dough, but what they’ve ended up with is a brownie that looks like it’s had lots of other grubby fingers on it. 1/5

Value: I got this reduced because it was the end of the day, but it seems unfair to take this into account. I reckon it’s still pretty good value for what it is though. It is small, but it is cheap. 6/10

Fudge Factor: I do like cookie dough on a brownie, and it seems like an unexpected choice for a small brownie bar you get in a pharmacy, so that’s worth something. Good job, Boots. 2/5

Overall Total: 18

Should I Buy And Eat This Brownie?

Well, it’s not bad, so I won’t steer you away if you’re e.g. getting a Boots meal deal and are having the rumblies that only brownie can satisfy. But overall, I’d say: get a brownie somewhere else, or get a different cake from Boots.

Closing Thought

On the one hand, I did eat this and then go run my first ever 10K. On the other hand, I don’t think the brownie can take all the credit for that.