NEW YORK — Good Housekeeping hosts a yearly Healthy Snack Awards highlighting the best nutritious and tasty snacks, and the 2022 winners are in.
The publication had registered dieticians and culinary pros from its Institute Nutrition Lab look into the nutrition facts, ingredients and flavor profiles of hundreds of snacks. To select the final winners of each award, Good Housekeeping enlisted almost 2,000 taste testers to evaluate over 5,300 samples and analyze 49,495 data points.
The awards focus on snacks that meet their specific criteria: made with real and recognizable ingredients, prioritize fiber-filled and protein-rich sources, free from trans fat and partially hydrogenated oils, 300 calories or less per serving, 10g of added sugar or less per serving, and 300mg sodium or less per serving.
Natural and healthy cookies were recognized In the Crave-Worthy Cookies’ category. The awards were distributed into five subcategories: Best Mini Cookies, Best Graham Cracker Sandwich, Best Chocolate Chip Cookies, Best Grain Free Cookies and Best Cookie Thins.
The Best Grain Free Cookie was awarded to REAL Cookies for its Lemon Blueberry Cookies, with testers enjoying the “fresh flavor” and finding them filling. The plant-based cookie brand’s flavors are all gluten-, grain- and dairy-free as well as vegan, kosher and paleo-friendly.
“By creating a nutritious and satisfying snack option, we hope to spread awareness in our families and in our communities about the importance of putting clean, wholesome foods into our bodies,” said Marla Felton, co-founder of REAL Cookies.
The winner of Best Chocolate Chip Cookie was Maxine’s Heavenly for its Chocolate Chip crispy cookies, with high-quality ingredients and taste standing out to judges. Based in Los Angeles, the cookie manufacturer produces homemade-style cookies made with oat flour and naturally sweetened with organic coconut sugar.
“We believe that natural, clean-ingredient cookies should taste good, if not better, than conventional products,” said Robert Petrarca, co-founder and CEO of Maxine’s Heavenly.
Other winners in the cookies category include Once Again’s Sunflower Butter Graham Cracker Sandwiches for Best Graham Cracker Sandwich, Siete’s Grain Free Mexican Shortbread Cookies for Best Mini Cookies and Simple Mills’ Honey Cinnamon Sweet Thins for Best Cookie Thins.
Additional baked goods took home awards with innovative cracker and chip varieties. Some of those winners include Hippeas’ Organic Sea Salt and Lime Chickpea Tortilla Chips for Best Tortilla Chips, Top Seedz’ 6 Seed Crackers for Best Seed Crackers, Whisps’ Garlic and Herb Cheese Crisps and Nuts for Best Cheese Crisps, and Patagonia Provisions’ Breadfruit Crackers for Best Sustainable Cracker.
Visit Good Housekeeping’s website for the full list of winners.
