Trips to the supermarket at Christmastime are some of my most favorite shopping sessions, with all the seasonal eats making their much-awaited appearances (I love saying “hello” and “welcome back, old friends” to the fruit cakes and puddings!) Another exciting part of the experience is discovering new treats that have arrived for the holidays that I have yet to see and taste.

I enjoyed all the fun wafer treats I tasted this year, therefore, spotting gingerbread wafers at the Christmas section was a sign for me to add a wafer touch to my Christmas season for a full circle! Loacker’s winter edition wafer range includes gingerbread, and I grabbed the Quadratini version (the snackable size) to add to my festive snack stash for a little holiday adventure.

Gingerbread (or pan di zenzero as they say in Italian and on the wafers’ package) unites Christmas spreads around the world. When I think of gingerbread cookies, two thoughts always pop into my mind:

1. Traditional flat cookies that are assembled into delicious villages and houses that come in a flat-pack style, and
2. The notable cookie folks who live in those cute cottages.

Gingerbread has since explored realms beyond their classic forms. Gingerbread ice cream and gingerbread frappuccinos are some of the ‘different’ gingerbread creations that grace the festive sweet tooth world. Even classic gingerbread cookies are being revolutionized into creative architectural marvels. Skyscrapers arise in gingerbread cities, and 3-D gingerbread sleigh and reindeer sets that come in pre-made DIY kits do indeed exist. One of the coolest gingerbread creations I’ve seen is a 3-D gingerbread train in an episode of The Great Christmas Bake Off!

The gingerbread wafers are a fun twist to the traditional cookies, and it is a member of the cookie realm too. Gingerbread cookies in a wafer form is rather unique, which is why I had to bring a pack home to satisfy my curiosity when my eyes detected it while I was browsing all the holly and jolly treats! Like the hazelnut ‘tortina‘ wafers I tasted last summer, these wafers are made in Austria by Loacker, an Italian wafer brand from a location near to the Italy-Austria border.

Taste Test!

The wafer cubes feature alternating layers of wafer biscuits and gingerbread cream. With gingerbread-filled thoughts in my mind while admiring the delicious layers, I realized that the wafers’ waffle-y part and the wavy layers would be perfect as walls or roofs on gingerbread houses!

While reading the list of ingredients in the beginning, I realized I was in for an ultimate gingerbread experience. The cream shines brightly with a gingerbread-inspired spice mix. While ginger is indeed present from the beginning, it is wonderfully accompanied by the rest of the spices – namely cinnamon, fennel, coriander, clove, allspice, mace and cardamom. Among all of the spices, cinnamon (my foodie frenemy) stands out in the most delicious of ways to my taste buds. Its presence most certainly leans to ‘love’ in my love-hate friendship with cinnamon!

While I adore cute gingerbread creations and enjoy gingerbread’s aroma, I’m not a big ginger person in general. Hence, I’m glad that ginger’s presence in these wafers is pleasant to my palate by not being too intense while retaining its spotlight.

To me, the wafer biscuits (on their own) taste exactly like Loacker’s wafers that are available in their regular year-round ranges, and they bring a nice crunch to the gingerbread experience. As always, the wafers pair well with the cream.

It was indeed fun to experience gingerbread cookies in a ‘non-gingerbread’ form. I definitely enjoyed snacking on these delicious wafer cubes!