Low Fat Biscuits: Tried and Tasted

Rarely associated with the health food aisle, biscuits fill the shelf between Feel-Good Treats and Pick-Me-Up Snacks. You may have noticed some reduced fat, reduced calorie biscuits that claim full flavour. Eager for the truth, the WLR taste team turned their interrogation lamp on healthy option biscuits. Find out what happened when the cookies crumbled.

Table 1: Low Fat Biscuits Compared
Product Fox's Officially Low Fat Apple Crumble Cookies McVitie's Light Milk Chocolate Digestives Waitrose Reduced Fat Stem Ginger Cookies
  Fox's Low Fat Cookies McVitie's Light Waitrose, Reduced Fat Cookies
Ranking 1 2 3
Summary Officially low fat; officially the best thing here. A good balance of sweetness; moist, yet not too soggy and a flavour that doesn't outstay its welcome. All this with one of the lowest calories per 100g and a good sized cookie that really satisfies. Neither the biscuit nor the chocolate suggest this is a reduced fat version. An excellent reason to make all your biscuit breaks low fat. Doesn't come back with the salty aftertaste that a lot of digestives have. Very impressive. Chewy ginger pieces create a nice texture and smooth flavour. Very low in fat. A big, salty kick of an aftertaste though.
Serving Size Per Biscuit Per Biscuit Per Biscuit
Calories (kcal) per serving 85 78 75
Fat (g) per serving 0.6 2.9 2.7
Table 2: Low Fat Biscuits Compared
Product Maryland Reduced Fat Choc Chip Cookies Tesco Reduced Fat Digestives Marks & Spencer COU Apricot, Raisin & Honey Cookies
  Maryland, Reduced Fat Cookies Tesco, Reduced Fat Marks & Spencer, COU
Ranking 4 5 6
Summary Another one that doesn't seem to have had its flavour taken out with the fat. A great little cookie but nothing amazing here. May be too bland or small for some. It's easy to overlook the comforting average-ness of a good digestive and that's what could be happening here. Hard to tell it was low fat; hard to be offended or astounded by the taste. Only a tiny amount of fat per biscuit. An interesting and varied texture with a soft cakey base; crunchy, sugary pieces and chewy fruit. Unfortunately the flavour was not as inspirational. Quite bland but with a lingering aftertaste and much too sweet for some.
Serving Size Per Cookie Per Biscuit Per Cookie
Calories (kcal) per serving 51 75 85
Fat (g) per serving 1.9 2.6 0.5
Table 3: Low Fat Biscuits Compared
Product McVities Light HobNobs Weight Watchers Oat Digestive Biscuits Highlights Chocolate Cookie Crunch
  McVitie's Light Hobnobs Weight Watchers Biscuits Highlights Cookies
Ranking 7 8 9
Summary Not too hard, not too salty, not too bad. However, this was quite dry with not much flavour and will always be second place to regular HobNobs. Seems the most homemade of the pack. Manages to be quite flavourless but also very sweet. Dry, a slightly weird aftertaste and not particularly low in calories or fat. Not particularly chocolatey. A bit like "eating air" for some of the team and with an unusual aftertaste. Very crumbly; your carpet will love them.
Serving Size Per Biscuit Per 2 Biscuits Per Cookie
Calories (kcal) per serving 62 101 70
Fat (g) per serving 2.3 4.1 2.6

Conclusion

A fairly impressive test with a wide range of flavours and textures attempted in a low fat style. In the end the Fox's cookies just stood out from the rest of the pack.

Along the way we've seen success and failure in converting classic biscuits to being low fat; while bold and original flavours have also received mixed reactions.

No-one was expecting a tempting, luxurious biscuit for virtually no calories but there are a couple of options here for some occasional, tasty snacks that are relatively healthy.

Why not also take a look at our healthy chocolate biscuits.

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