Wendyl wants to know: Kids can party happily with naturally sweet treat

We don't normally buy biscuits that are so obviously targeted at children, but then the granddaughters are on their way for Christmas so my husband popped these into the trolley when I wasn't looking.

On the surface they look like great fun, with dubious instructions for making a stage out of the plastic container to which you glue strips of the biscuit packet and sing along with the biscuits as the Popstar Party band performs.

I plan to provide our granddaughters with glue and scissors and see if they're interested, but I think they may only have eyes for the biscuits.

Cookie Bear Snap'n'Play Popstar Party - $3 for 160g

Ingredients (in order of greatest quantity first)

Wheat flour

This is normal flour you would use in baking.

Sugar

Not an enormous amount of sugar. Per 13.5g biscuit (which is four of the little characters which you break off into separate biscuits) you will get 3.8g, which is just under a teaspoon of sugar.

Vegetable fats (antioxidant 307b, soy)

Not sure what vegetable oils are used but it comes with tocopherols (307b), which are natural fat-soluble antioxidants also known as Vitamin E and soy.

Emulsifiers (492, soy lecithin)

These are sorbitan tristearate (492) and soy lecithin, which is a natural substand.

Food acid (citric acid)

This is citric acid, a natural substance found in citrus fruit.

Milk solids

This will probably be in here for flavouring and is what you get when you take the water out of milk.

Natural flavours

These biscuits have a strawberry flavour which traditionally attracts artificial flavouring, so it is lovely to see that Griffins have gone to the trouble of getting a natural flavour in here.

Invert syrup

This is a liquid form of sugar probably used in the pink icing.

Glucose syrup

Another liquid form of syrup, probably in the icing.

Salt

You will get 38mg of sodium per 13.5g biscuit.

Emulsifier (soy lecithin)

This will be in the icing.

Raising agents (450, baking soda)

These are diphosphates (450) which are salts of phosphoric acid and baking soda.

Natural colour (carmine)

This is a very traditional natural pink colour used for many years in baking. Unfortunately it does involve the squashing of insects.

My recommendations

These are absolutely fine for a treat for the kids. They have no artificial colours or flavours and the kids will have fun snapping the characters apart. Ours, rather disappointingly, were already broken, so Griffins may want to review its packaging.

Highlights

• No artificial flavours or colours.
• just under a teaspoon of sugar per 13.5g biscuit.
• Dubious but entirely possible craft project.

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