Marks and Spencer have launched the sweet treat of the moment – a chocolate cookie filled with cornflakes.
On Instagram and TikTok, hundreds of thousands of clips featuring influencers nibbling at its chewy corners are racking up millions of views.
Some London stores have reported hordes of cookie-loving customers queuing before opening time to get their hands on the freshest batch.
Made with caramel pieces, treacle, cornflakes and chocolate chunks, it’s safe to assume this is hardly a healthy food. But just how bad is it?
Not too terrible, says dietitian Nichola Ludlam-Raine. ‘The M&S cookie actually contains less saturated fat than some other chocolate cookies.
‘The ingredients list isn’t particularly alarming either. It seems to be slightly less ultraprocessed than other, similar foods.’
Indeed, gram for gram, one cookie is lower in calories and fat than Chocolate Hobnobs. There’s also less sugar, fat and calories than the bog standard M&S Milk Chocolate Cookie.
So, will eating more than one of the viral cornflake cookies make you fat? And how do they compare to other, similarly delectable American-style treats? Here, we reveal all.
The M&S Chocolate and Cornflake Cookie costs £3.40 for a pack of five
What’s in the viral M&S Chocolate and Cornflake Cookie?
The recipe is pretty standard for a chewy, American-style cookie – albeit with a couple of added extras.
Flour, butter, dried cream, bicarbonate of soda, vegetable oil and salt form the base of the batter – as well as three types of sugar (brown sugar, caster sugar and black treacle).
And of course two types of chocolate buttons (dark and milk), as well as the caramel flakes, which are mostly sugar and butter.
The only ingredient that may not be synonymous with home bakers is ‘natural flavouring’, which is listed at the very end, suggesting a very small amount.
The flavouring, which is derived from natural sources like fruits or vegetables, is likely used to enhance the caramel, chocolate or buttery flavour.
‘Just because something contains an emulsifier, a flavouring or raising agent doesn’t automatically mean it’s unhealthy or harmful,’ says Ms Ludlam-Raine.
Nutrition wise, one Chocolate and Cornflake Cookie contains 336 calories, 6.9g saturated fat, 29.1g sugar and 0.6g of salt. There’s barely any bowel-friendly fibre, but there’s 3.5g of protein (about the same as half an egg).
Saturated fat is the type that should be limited to 20g daily for women and 30g for men, as too much can damage the arteries and increase heart disease risk.
Here, there’s a relatively small amount for a sweet treat – about a third of a woman’s daily limit and a quarter of a man’s which, providing you’re eating low fat meals for the rest of the day, is unlikely to take you over the maximum.
The sugar count, though, is very high – nearly the entirety of the NHS’ daily limit of seven teaspoons.
In fact, one M&S Chocolate & Cornflake Cookie contains about the same amount of sugar as three Original Glazed Krispy Kreme doughnuts.
How does it compare to other popular cookies and biscuits?
Gram for gram, McVitie’s Milk Chocolate Hobnobs contain around 30 more calories, a gram and a half more of saturated fat, and a sugar difference of about half a teaspoon.
However, it’s worth noting that, due to the weight difference of one Hobnob vs one cookie, you’d have to eat four biscuits to get the same amount of food.
Some UK polls suggest that the average person can eat between four and seven biscuits in one sitting.
Ms Ludlam-Raine says, despite the indulgent appearance, M&S’ speciality cookie is far from the worst offending cookie on the market.
For instance, take the supermarket’s plain milk chocolate variety, which contains five extra calories, two grams of extra saturated fat and slightly more sugar.
And compared to the milk chocolate offering from Ben’s and Millie’s cookies, M&S’ cornflake also fares relatively well.
It has a slightly lower calorie count and less saturated fat, as well as a touch less salt than the Ben’s cookie.
While there’s only half a teaspoon more sugar in the cornflakes cookie than in a Millie’s treat, with Ben’s version, the difference is a sizeable two teaspoons.
The health verdict of M&S’ Chocolate and Cornflake Cookie sits ‘somewhere in between’ Ben’s and Millie’s, say experts. Pictured: A stack of Ben’s milk chocolate cookies
It’s worth saying, however, that a Millie’s milk chocolate cookie is about 10g lighter than M&S’ offering, while Ben’s is 10g heavier.
As for Sainsbury’s popular freshly baked treats; there’s little difference in calories and saturated fat when comparing the cookies (both milk chocolate and salted caramel versions) based on weight.
However, the M&S version has twice the salt of a Sainsbury’s Milk Chocolate Cookie and two teaspoons more sugar.
Per cookie, Sainsbury’s is certainly a healthier choice – at less than 100 calories, a fifth of a woman’s saturated fat intake for the day and about three teaspoons of sugar.
It might not be as satisfying as the cornflake cookie, which is 74 per cent bigger, however.
If you want to opt for Sainsbury’s Salted Caramel and Milk Chocolate Cookie instead of M&S’, you’ll only save about 32 calories, a teaspoon of sugar and virtually no saturated fat.
Ultimately, Ms Ludlam-Raine says, if you want to try the viral cookie, do it – there are far more fattening foods you could eat.
‘One cookie isn’t going to make or break your health, just as one salad won’t transform it,’ she says. ‘It’s our overall dietary pattern that matters most.’