Review: Ikea PEPPARKAKA MANDEL and PEPPARKAKA HUS

Lumping these together because they're similar.

Ikea PEPPARKAKA MANDEL Ginger thins with almonds

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Ikea PEPPARKAKA MANDEL Ginger thins with almond: US$ 1.99 (CA$ 1.79)
Ikea PEPPARKAKA HUS Gingerbread house: US$ 4.99 (CA$ 4.59)

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Overview: Ikea PEPPARKAKA MANDEL and HUS Foods

Unboxing and Cooking
The PEPPARKAKA MANDEL ginger thins came in a plastic wrapped package. Inside was a plastic tray divided into three sections, all of them filled with crackers -- they had an open top and no lid. I don't recall having any cracked or broken ones. All of them were poured into a plastic container to make it easier to store.

I didn't bother reading the package for the PEPPARKAKA HUS in detail before buying or opening it. Was it wrong to expect prepackaged candy and icing? Anyway, the package was wrapped in plastic. Inside was a hard plastic resealable shell enclosed by a cardboard shell. There was nothing other than the gingerbread inside the plastic box that I could see. Assembly instructions and a brief recipe for making icing were found on the inside of the cardboard shell. The gingerbread pieces appeared to resemble sections of a house.

Inside the PEPPARKAKA MANDEL Package

How was it?
Can't go wrong with crackers? I found the PEPPARKAKA MANDEL ginger thins to be more than adequate. They were brittle, which I expected, and the characteristic flavor of gingerbread came right through for me. Sizing seemed good being small enough to handle and enjoy individually -- in other words, it didn't feel like eating a brick or a hamburger that was falling apart with every bite.

Plan A for the gingerbread house was to use the cream and candy like cream cheese on top of saltines. No plans were made to build a gingerbread house because the only one I helped make as a kid was destroyed and trashed. It was built, admired for a few minutes, and thrown in the garbage without being eaten. Kind of wasteful... With no candy or cream provided, I just ate the crackers like crackers, one section of house at a time. They tasted like the PEPPARKAKA MANDEL ginger thins to me except thicker, larger, and more difficult to handle due to their size.

Ikea PEPPARKAKA HUS Gingerbread House

According to the labels, there were 300 grams of PEPPARKAKA HUS per package and 150 grams of PEPPARKAKA MANDEL. The gingerbread house was a bit more expensive than the ginger thins per gram of product. Obvious premium for having the parts ready-made to resemble a house?

Conclusion
Ginger thins and parts of a gingerbread house. I enjoyed both versions but would probably buy more of the PEPPARKAKA MANDEL to save a few dollars. On the other hand, there will probably be a sale on the PEPPARKAKA HUS once Christmas is over. Might be time to stock up then...