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“Simple is the best.” If there was one phrase to describe Japan, that would be it. Japan’s emphasis on simplicity drives its well-known minimalistic design that even Steve Jobs was drawn to. This philosophy of ‘perfection in simplicity’ can be found everywhere, from Japanese aesthetics, Japanese culture, and of course Japanese snacks and food. Today, we take a look at Yoku Moku, a Japanese cookie that is so simple yet so delicious.
Yoku Moku was established by Noriichi Fujinawa right after World War II. Noriichi was a baker, and even though ingredients were hard to find immediately after the war, he found a way to make cookies. When he saw his cookies bringing joy to those who were deeply affected by the war, he dedicated his life to making the best cookies in the world.
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Noriichi said, “Cookies are important to our lives. Sweets have a strange power to make people smile. That is all the more reason to for us to keep making better products. Imagining the happy faces of our customers when they eat our cookies motivates us.”
So where does the name Yoku Moku come from? On his travels to find the best cookie recipes, Noriichi stopped by a small town in northern Sweden called Jokkmokk. The town was located in the harsh arctic environment, but he found the people to be warm-hearted and was inspired by their simple way of life. And thus, the name “Yoku Moku” was born.
Packaging:
The cookies are immaculately packaged. All of their cookies come in a nice tin box and individually wrapped to be able to easily distinguish between all the different types of cookies in the box. As you can see, these cookies are from the holiday season (I know… I forgot that I had these until a few weeks ago) and the packaging design is very fun and playful. They change their designs fairly frequently too, which is nice.
Taste:
So how are the cookies? From the title, you guessed it…they are delicious!
Even though my box of cookies is half a year old, they are still perfectly crispy and taste amazing. Yoku Moku makes 7 types of cookies plus a few special season cookies. This specific box had 5 different types of cookies.
Cigar:
This is their staple and most popular cookie. It’s a thin and crispy rolled butter cookie. The subtle vanilla taste and the texture are perfect. The cookie is delicate enough to crumble and melt in your mouth, but not break apart in your hand.
Pleine Lune:
This is one of their seasonal cookies. It’s a shortbread cookie with a milk chocolate base. Out of all the cookies in the box, this one was the softest. The shortbread cookie for some reason had a slightly nutty flavor. This cookie was very good but out of the bunch, this is my least favorite.
Bateau de Macadamia:
This is a buttery shortbread cookie that’s generously topped with milk chocolate and macadamia nuts. The shortbread cookie here is crispier than the previous Pleine Lune, and the nuts baked into the cookie were very tasty. This cookie had the perfect cookie to chocolate to nut ratio.
Billetau Chocolateau Lait:
This is a thin, butter-vanilla cookie doubled over and completely covered in milk chocolate. The butter cookie seems to be the same as the Cigar, so it has a mild vanilla flavor and a crispy yet delicate texture. The thin chocolate covering is perfect. This cookie is simple but it’s definitely one of the best cookies I’ve ever had.
Billet aux Amandes Chocolate:
This is a thin, butter-vanilla cookie completely covered in milk chocolate and topped with almond slivers. These are really good too, but since the almond slivers were so small, I couldn’t really taste the difference between this and the previous Billet au Chocolate au Lait.
TLDR:All of the cookies were delicious. If you are in Japan and looking for souvenirs, buy these! Noriichi definitely perfected the cookie here (especially the Cigar and Billet au Chocolate au Lait).
If you liked this post, enjoy some of our other tasty snack reviews below:
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