Nestle Toll House Lumps of Coal Cookies Review

Once upon a time, back in the 16th century (a long ass time ago) in the far away land of Holland, it was Christmas eve. Children readied their clogs to place by the fireplace. They knew that if they were good, they would find their clogs filled with cookies or toys. But, if they had been misbehaving, they would get a lump of coal.

However, the actual origin of “lumps of coal” gifted to bad children is up for debate. It’s one of those stories with several possible beginnings. It could have begun in Italy, where La Befana (a gift-giving witch) gave coal to bad kids on her search for baby Jesus. Because that makes total sense. Or, in England where pans of burning coal were the only source of heat. Rich kids got toys and presents. Poor kids would get coal to keep warm. It was God’s punishment to the poor families, apparently. Personally, I’m prone to the clogs/Holland story because there’s no witch and no mean God.

So, fast forward to modern day, where “lumps of coal” is more of a joke than a legitimate threat. Because really – where the hell would someone even get lumps of coal? Maybe Kingsford started the charcoal business because of bad children, and not barbecues. Makes more sense than a witch that delivers presents or a God that punishes the poor.

Nestle Toll House decided to jump on the silliness of the season with their new Lumps of Coal Cookies. It’s gimmicky and kitchy, but it’s cute and chocolate. These cookies are described as “Chocolate cookie dough with chocolate morsels.” And bonus- they have salt on them. Like, large salt crystals all over them. That’s going to be amazing with the chocolate!

About five minutes into baking, my kitchen was flooded with the scent of chocolate. Sweet, milky, decadent chocolate. I took them out and let them cool a minute. These are a deep brown, so I totally get the “coal” aspect. In fact, they are more on the black side of the color spectrum. The salt really makes them look like briquettes of charcoal, too.

One bite and I’m in love. You won’t get anything extraordinary in these cookies. They are chocolate cookies with chocolate chips in them. It’s a great chocolatey flavor that’s exactly what you would expect from Nestle. But the salt really brings out the cocoa flavor and gives them a bit of a kick. Think about salted caramel … the salt really brings out the flavors in the caramel. The same thing happens with these cookies. They are moist and pretty delicious as far as store-bought dough cookies go. These are lumps of coal I wouldn’t mind finding in my stocking, that’s for sure. Plus, being bad is much more fun.