There is no single snack that represents my childhood better than animal crackers. Just got home from school? Animal crackers. Just got out of gymnastics? Animal crackers. Just got both tonsils removed and cannot consume any food or beverages whatsoever? Animal crackers. (True story).
That being said, I was very excited to try Good Zebra's new line of flavored "spirit animal crackers" that are high in protein and free of refined sugars. I was a little skeptical at first because of my loyalty to the cakey-textured animal crackers you eat out of the giant bear container. If you don't know what I'm talking about, do yourself a favor and go to CVS and get yourself one of these bears. He'll become your new best friend and your diet's worst enemy. I digress....
My skepticism was greeted by pure satisfaction with these crackers. As you can see above, they come in three different flavors: vanilla, lemon, and chai.
The vanilla is the most similar to your basic animal cracker, just with an added touch of sweetness and flavor that brings something new to the table.
Personally, I'm not a huge fan of lemon, but I actually thought this flavor was well done. The lemon provides a refreshing touch without becoming too citrusy, so if you like lemon, you'll definitely enjoy these.
The chai flavor is without a doubt my favorite of the three. They taste almost exactly like gingerbread, minus the molasses flavor that I actually hate in other gingerbread products. This one is perfect for the holidays and definitely gives pumpkin spice a run for its money.
These crackers are both light, yet filling and dense, yet crunchy. They almost have a roasted element to their flavor, and you can kind of see that in how they appear browned. Even better is the fact that an entire one of these bags is only 230 calories, which in my opinion is a pretty good calorie count for animal crackers, especially ones that taste this good.
So if anyone is wondering what to ship me for Christmas, you now know that I will happily accept bags of chai flavored turtles and owls. Ho(o) ho(o) ho(o).
