Don’t expect a taste sensation. Your jaw will be moving, your tastebuds will be pausing and you’ll be thinking, ‘It looks like a cookie, it crunches like a cookie but it tastes like…a toothpick’. So it’s good for the 4pm slump when you’ll eat just about anything. I think that if you’re banned from all or most forms of sugar and desperate for a round doughy looking thing… this cookie might not be bad. But it should come with a warning that says ‘No sugar rush’. Soraya Abdulatief 24.com
At this time of the day even dry ‘pap’ would have tasted good. But after this cookie you should be careful what you wish for… I suggest they add a couple of kilojoules and a spoon of sugar. It might be better than Provitas but only just. Susan Erasmus, Deputy Editor of Health24
There seems to be a serious problem with the taste. It is as if there is not enough sugar salt in the cookie. After I dipped it in my tea there was a fat layer on the surface… of the tea, also not a good sign. It’s a nice idea but healthy wise it doesn’t cut it. Carine van Rooyen
Editor: Diet, Food & Natural Health
Thank goodness my Wild Berry and Almond cookie had a berry in it. Cookies should have some sugar in them and this cookie needs the sweetness. Also, watch out for the ridiculously high fat content per biscuit (over 20% of this cookie is fat which obviously is not what people are looking for in ‘sugar free’ snacks). However they are not awful, but I’m certain you could bake or buy something better with the same, if not better, nutritional value.
Cathryn Reece, Interactive Content Producer News24
A little bit dry and flavourless, but it might be ok if you wash it down with a cup of tea. The Wild Berry and Almond cookie was much better than the Choc Chip one, which was rather bitter. I guess if you’re a health nut they would be considered sweet. Francine Higham, Content Manager on Women24
I tried the Choc Chip and Pecan cookie. For someone who likes things to be really sweet, it’s a little lacking in the sweetness department. Also, I prefer whole chocolate chips and pecan nuts as opposed to crushed bits. I liked the oaty bits which made it feel healthier, more crunchy and chewy. The size was great, just the perfect snack… not too small and not too big. I could indulge in one and not feel guilty. I would give it a 6/10. Leezl Kaschula 24.com
With some healthy treats you really can’t tell the difference, Coke Light for instance, and sugar free chewing gum, but in the case of Mantelli’s sugar free cookies you can – you really, really can. They’ve got everything else right – the crumbly texture, the buttery richness – but the damn things just isn’t sweet enough to make it worth eating. Like healthy ice-cream, healthy cookies are just not meant to be. Alistair Fairweather Movies & TV Editor 24.com
The cookie is a little dry but the almond and apricot one has a lovely apricot flavour and I like the apricot bits, but I can’t really taste any almond. I don’t think it’s worth R5, but I like the fact that its sugar free – so I would probably buy it when I get the munchies at three o clock. Catherine Stone, Traffic Co-ordinator Images24.com
The Choc Chip and Pecan cookie seems to be an acquired taste. The cookie is dry and the chocolate chips leave a burnt-coffee taste in the mouth. As far as sugar free food goes, at least there’s flavour in this cookie even if it is bitter. Adèle Fransman, Online Content Producer: Magazines
Make up your own mind
Martelli’s Surgarless Cookies are available in three flavours: Chop Chip and Pecan, Apricot and Almond and Wild Berry and Almond. According to Martelli’s they contain no artificial sweetener and no added preservatives. The range is available at Pick ‘n Pay, Checkers and Shoprite stores at R5 per unit.