100 Calorie Snacks

I feel strongly that vegetables have no place in desserts, be it zucchini bread or banana cupcakes. Therefore, I delegated the tasting of these Hostess 100 calorie pack carrot cakes to my husband, who declared them “the bomb-diggity.” (I tried to get him to elaborate, but that’s how he rolls.) Anyway, the cakes come three to a pack and are covered in cream cheese icing with a creamy filling. If they’re as good as the Hostess chocolate cupcakes, then they’re a definite must-eat.

Here’s a late-’80s flashback for you: Snackwells. They were really hard to get, ladies chased delivery trucks and so on. And still I remember thinking they weren’t all that good. Well, today you can eat two Nabisco Devil’s Food for 100 calories, but they still don’t taste all that good. The texture is a little dry, and the taste is just kind of “off,” artificial, even chemical tasting. I noticed they have a new flavor, a Black Forest variety of cookie cake, but I’m not sure I want to take the chance. Like hair bands and leg warmers, many things about the ’80s are best forgotten.

Straight from the rain forest and into your mouth, these toucans are tasty. We previously reviewed Trader Joe’s cheese toucans. The chocolate graham variety similarly don’t disappoint. The chocolate flavor is not overwhelming, and the toucans are very crunchy, perhaps even a little dry. They make for a great pick-me-up during the work day, or a kids’ snack.

Warning: Cute Food Alert. If you like cute food, you’ll squeal with delight at these tiny-but-tasty cupcakes from Hostess. And when we say tiny, we mean tiny. It’s like they got zapped with a shrink ray and ended up one and one-half inches wide. They come three to a pack, and getting them out is a bit messy, but worth the effort. They’re as moist and delicious as they are cute.

I knew the Chocolate Caramel Chex mix was going to be good, having previously consumed an entire regular-sized bag of its naughty big cousin, the Chocolate Turtle Chex Mix. Sure enough, maker General Mills gets a lot of different flavors and textures into these little 100 calorie packs. They’re great for when you want something sweeter than chips or crackers, but not all-out candy.

Yes, Target is in the 100 calorie market. Packaged under the Target store brand, Archer Farms, these 100 calorie packs of baked chocolate chip snacks offer generous portions but the taste and texture are not as satisfying as real cookies. My 3-year-old, who isn’t allowed many cookies, enjoyed them. But next time I’ll opt for a smaller serving of more cookie-like cookies. I am looking forward to seeing what Target comes up with next in its new 100 calorie line, however.