Cinnamon Churros – Sweet Yuca Snacklins

Feb 22, 2022 by Chef David

By Chef David

Snacklins, the healthy-ish pareve snack, an airy, crisp, crunchy nosh made of yuca, mushrooms, and onions, recently added a sweet cinnamon churro, expanding on their savory flavors: Barbeque, Chesapeake Bay, Nacho, and Teriyaki. I’m glad they did!

Snacklins are advertised as being healthier than traditional potato chips, with fewer calories and less fat. All of which made me reluctant to open the bag. I feared the taste would be disappointing, but I was wrong.  It was a great eating experience, and cinnamon churros hit the spoke, satisfying my sweet tooth without adding calories, at 90 calories per bag, you can eat it all without guilt. 

The Snackins Story

Created by Samy Kobrosly in 2015 as a meatless equivalent for cracklins (pork rind chips), Snacklins has an interesting texture and pleasant flavor. Mr. Kobrosly, known in the Washington, D.C. community as “Samy K,” host of The Kane Show, developed Snacklins in the Union Kitchen, a food accelerator, and a shared kitchen in D.C. The idea came in response to a challenge to create vegan pork rinds.

Many people think pork rinds and cracklins are synonymous—not exactly the cuisine issue a kosher family (or a Muslim like Mr. Kobrosly) who have never eaten pork would worry about. In fact, they are different. Basic pork rind has no fat on the skin. Cracklins has some fat, giving it a richer, meatier crunch.

While I can’t compare the flavor of Snacklins to traditional cracklins, if appearance matters, they look like bags of pork rind. Most important is taste, and they were good. Even more important, they are kosher, and there is no mention of pork rind anywhere on the packaging.

 

The light-papery mouthfeel and texture are different than traditional potato chips and equally addictive. Adding the sweet cinnamon gives this chip-equivalent an irresistible flavor profile and aroma. 

 

Shark Tank Success Story

The product took off when Mr. Kobrosly appeared on ABC’s reality television series, Shark Tank, in October 2019 and made a deal with billionaire Mark Cuban, one of the show’s primary “shark” investors.  Cuban offered Kobrosly $250,000 in return for a five percent stake plus five percent in advisory shares produced amazing results which were featured as a success story appearing on Season 13 of Shark Tank on November 5, 2021.

In 2019, the company was averaging $5,000 per week in online sales and could barely keep up with production. Since Cuban’s initial investment two years ago, Snacklins has expanded to thousands of stores nationwide and surpassed five million in sales.  In February 2022, Snacklins will be on shelves in Wegmans, an East Coast grocery retailer, with 90 Wegmans locations across the North East, building on their strong East Coast retail footprint, including Whole Foods Market, Stop & Shop, Giant Food, and more.

Healthier Choice

Snacklins advertises that with its clean ingredients—yuca, mushroom, and onion—it has almost half the calories of traditional potato chips, 90 calories for a .9 ounce bag as compared to the 160 calories in a portion of traditional potato chips. In fact, the texture of the air-popped Snacklins chip is reminiscent of Wise Onion Rings, which has 130 calories in a similar portion.

Snacklins main ingredient yuca (cassava root), a staple carbohydrate in tropical regions, is rich in fiber and complex carbs and has a lower glycemic index than potatoes.
The cinnamon churro provides the taste profile of this traditional pastry from Spanish and Portuguese cuisine. Churro is made of deep-fried dough with a taste similar to cinnamon doughnuts, with crisp-ridges. When you combine Snacklins crunchy, airy, texture with the sweetness of mock-cinnamon sugar, Snaklins mimics the flavor and texture of a churro.  Snacklings use all-natural sweeteners, allulose, and monk fruit. Allulose, which has been found in jackfruit, figs, and raisins, does not raise blood sugar or insulin levels. Mock fruit juice provides a natural sweetener with zero calories.

Worth a Try

All in all, Snacklins, with its distinctive shape that make it great for snacking as an alternative to traditional chips. It’s advertised as having a “deliciously hard-to-describe” taste with a shape and texture that elude categorization, impossibly crunchy and remarkably airy.  

At 90 calories per serving, you really can eat the whole bag without feeling guilty. The snack’s texture is not too hard and not too soft, but just right to melt in the mouth rather than the hands.

Snacklins fun packaging would make the treat an exciting addition to your Purim Mishloach Manot package.