Kyoto Fukudaruma Cookies

In the eyes of many people who are not me, I have failed on many fronts as a foreigner in Japan. One of my many failures is not having gone to Kyoto during my long stay in the country. Apparently, this means I have failed to appreciate the culture and am simply existing in my gaijin bubble. Never mind that I have penetrated the deepest and most intimate recesses of Tokyo so often that I could be arrested for my perversity. Never mind that I know more about sumo than even an old curmudgeon who spends his days in Ryogoku chowing down on chanko nabe (sumo stew). Never mind that I can tell you the name of most of the food makers in Japan because I've sampled such a broad range of snacks. I haven't been to Kyoto!

One might ask why I haven't been to Kyoto, Japan's former capital. Well, the reasons are relatively simple. First, it's expensive to take a Shinkansen and I'd have to stay in a hotel overnight. Day trips to surrounding environs don't set me back nearly as much as travel outside the area and contrary to popular belief, foreigners who work in Japan aren't rolling in dough. The other reasons really relate to the fact that no one has told me something about the area which would lure me there. The food is traditional Japanese cuisine, particularly kaiseki (multi-course meals of traditional dishes that are beautifully presented) which sounds nice enough, but my husband doesn't like such food and I'm often so-so on it. Of course, one of my many character flaws is that I don't enjoy seafood and am indifferent to fish. The sweets, I've been told, are lots and lots of green tea delicacies, and I've mentioned before that I'm just "okay" with green tea. So, there's not much on the food front. 

There are, however, temples! Yes, temples are so rare across Japan that I may actually walk as long as 20 minutes sometimes without seeing one. I realize the Kyoto temples are different. They're older, bigger, and exist in Kyoto. I enjoy a glance at a good temple, don't get me wrong, but I'm not going to pop for a Shinkansen ticket to see more of them. All in all, if someone covered my costs, I'd be delighted to go to Kyoto, but it just doesn't seem like it's a place that would light my fire. Yes, I'm a big "fail".

Fortunately for me, my Japanese friends are far greater successes than I and occasionally go to Kyoto. They're the reason I know so much about the lures (for others, clearly, I'm immune to the "bait"). One of those friends was kind enough to bring me back a bag of Kyoto Fukudaruma cookies as a souvenir. This delighted me no end because I could tell by looking at them that they are kin to soba boro cookies, which I absolutely love.

Like soba borrow, they have a burnt sugar taste which resembles dark caramel with a side of buckwheat. They are light and crispy. The main difference between soba boro and these fukudaruma (which means, "luck doll", by the way) is that these little fellows have what looks like a mustache and are smaller and harder. They mainly are a little denser in texture and slightly less intense in taste. They were so good, it was hard not to eat them by the handful like popcorn.

While I can't say that fukudaruma cookies are good enough to lure me to Kyoto, I can say that they are delicious and that I'd buy them again if they showed up somewhere near me. If you like crispy cookies with an earthy grain and dark sugar taste, you should pick them up as well.

Heiwa Soba Boro (buckwheat cookies)

Back home, buckwheat is something I have mainly experienced in pancakes. It's one of those flavors that takes on more appeal as you get older because it has a heartier, earthier flavor than baked goods made with white flour. I first experienced these cookies when I was working in a Japanese office. Occasionally, office ladies would give them out as a treat at tea time, or they'd keep a stash in their desk which they'd offer a few of to me or others who happened to glance at them when cookie was heading to mouth. An errant look in the wrong direction and they'd feel obliged to surrender one to onlookers.

I picked up this bag for a mere 99 yen ($1.16) at Okashi no Machioka. The maker, Heiwa Seika, seems to deal only in these types of cookies in various sizes and packaging. You can find them almost anywhere in Japan though for a similar price, and perhaps from a different manufacturer. With many traditional and "grandma's snacks" like these though, there is almost no variation between the taste and quality of the products. If these interest you after reading this review, pretty much anything that resembles these will taste the same.

These cookies smell like the whole grains they are made with. There's also a hint of a "burnt" smell but not the type you'd associate with blackened foods. It's more like something roasted to the limit. It's a nice smell, but not the classic buttery bakery smell that you might expect from a western-style cookie.

The texture of these is dictated to a great extent by the copious amount of egg used in them as well as the sugar. They are light and crispy in a pseudo-meringue type of style. They are airy but not in an insubstantial way. The texture is like the love child of a meringue cookie and a biscotti - super crunchy, but easy to bite into. The flavor is of burnt sugar with a slightly caramel sense (without the buttery notes) and of the whole grain buckwheat the whole wheat flour. They are rather lightly sweet.

The bag I bought had 56 cookies, and I counted them so that I could do calorie counts very precisely. Each is about 4 cm (1.6 in.) in diameter and 11 calories. The ingredients list is short, whole wheat flour, sugar, eggs,  buckwheat flour, and leavening agent. Most of the flavor is coming from the way in which the cookies are cooked and how it affects the sugar.

These are a unique but very tasty cookie. They may not be suitable to everyone's tastes, but I love them. For me, the texture plays a much greater part in my enjoyment of all foods and as a lover of meringue cookies and earthier flavors, these really strike a favorable chord with me. If you love very refined tasting treats full of white sugar and flour, these probably won't do much for you, but I really liked them and will definitely be getting them again and again. Note that they also have a very long shelf life so they'll keep for quite awhile and are good for on-the-go snacking or taking home as souvenirs.