Middling brownie

Only last month the appearance of Sweet 'n Salty Chewy Chips Ahoy! Salted Caramel Chunk cookies caused Mr. Tidbit to reminisce about the days long past when it was Chips Ahoy!, not Oreos, that had a new version every five minutes. And now there's another new version of Chips Ahoy!.

(Once again, the exclamation point is part of the cookie's name; it does not imply particular enthusiasm from Mr. Tidbit.)

As its name does imply, the newcomer, Brownie Filled Chewy Chips Ahoy!, is a soft chocolate chip cookie, the middle of which is soft, brown and chocolate-flavored — like a brownie. A cookie that's supposed to be a brownie immediately reminded Mr. Tidbit of the new Chocolate Chip Cookie flavor of Fiber One 90-Calorie Brownie Bars from General Mills — a fiber bar that's supposed to be a brownie that's supposed to be a cookie.

Fancy that!

Over in the freezer aisle, Bertolli has a continually expanding presence. In fact, that's really ConAgra, which in 2012 purchased the Bertolli frozen meals line and a license to use the Bertolli name — and may also have taken a lesson from Oreo (or Chips Ahoy!).

In any event, Bertolli frozen meals for two have in recent memory been joined by frozen meals for one and frozen soups, and now by four fancy and pricey little frozen mousse desserts, each with a cake layer: Triple Chocolate Strata Cake, Cappuccino Strata Cake, Lemoncello and Tiramisu (with mascarpone).

Mr. Tidbit would underline the "little" — the desserts are sold in packs of two tubs, each of which contains 2.82 to 3 ounces. Less-upscale refrigerated puddings from Jell-O come in four-packs of 3.87 ounces each, and even Jell-O's fancier Temptations line is in 3.35-ounce tubs.

And, although Mr. Tidbit would note that the new Bertolli items are not exactly pudding, and are very nice indeed, he would still underline the "pricey." At one store, where the four-pack of regular Jell-O refrigerated puddings and the somewhat smaller Jell-O Temptations were $2.99 (19 and 22 cents per ounce, respectively), the littler Bertolli two-packs were $3.79 — 63 to 67 cents per ounce.

Al Sicherman