Nature's Best - Chocolate Sandwich Cookies - January 29, 2013

Chocolate of the Day:

Nature's Best (Cadia product line)
Chocolate Sandwich Cookies
Good
Weight: 1 oz. (28 g.) / 10.5 oz. (298 g.) in 1 package
Calories: 140 calories for 2 cookies
Purchased from: Piazza's Fine Foods, Palo Alto, CA

Today was Day #6 of Chocolate and Gluten-Free Cookie Theme Week.

Nature's Best (Brea, CA) is one of the largest privately owned wholesaler-distributors of health foods in the Americas. Their Cadia product line can be found in an increasing number of independent grocery stores, and small chains, such as Piazza's Fine Foods, where I found these chocolate sandwich cookies.

Similar to Nabisco Oreo sandwich cookies, these cookies (from Canada) weren't marked organic (many of the company's products are); however, they were gluten-free. So, I was able to enjoy two of these crisp chocolate wafer style cookies with the vanilla cream middle, reminiscent of childhood.

Did I unscrew the two chocolate cookies so I could eat the cream center? No, that would be playing with my food. Instead I engaged in some dessert landscaping. I crushed one of the sandwich cookies -- transforming it into chocolate dirt -- and packed this sugary soil into an orange, plastic shotglass flowerpot. With the help of a paring knife, a strawberry became a flower in this pot. Et voila, a shotglass dessert with only 75 calories. Chocolate gardening should be fun.

Purely Elizabeth - Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix - January 28, 2013

Chocolate of the Day: 

Purely Elizabeth
Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix
Good
Weight: 1.5 oz. (42 g.) / 15.5 oz. (439 g.) total box of mix
Calories: 200 calories (estimate) in 2 cookies
Cost: $8.99 for 1 box of mix
Purchased from: Abe's Market, Michigan (online)

Today was Day #5 of Chocolate and Gluten-Free Cookie Theme Week.

I was having visions of rack after rack of chocolate chip cookies marching out of the oven, like the multiplying brooms and buckets in Walt Disney's animated film "The Sorcerer's Apprentice." Why? This box of Purely Elizabeth Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix (Appetite for Healthy Living LLC - New York, NY) made far more cookies than anticipated -- 41 to be precise.

I didn't mind having extra warm cookies perfuming my kitchen. But, it did take three sequential batches to cook them, and I needed to clear extra counter space to cool three large plates worth of them.

The base for these gluten-free and vegan cookie mix consisted of organic millet, organic almond and garbanzo fava bean flours, as well as chia seeds.

Directions for this mix called for 1/2 cup oil and 1/4 cup of applesauce, which helped establish a cohesive, chewy texture.

The golden brown cookies were dotted with small chocolate chips that seemed the right size for smaller cookies that I made. The cookies were sweetened with a relatively heavy dose of organic coconut palm sugar. While I like the flavor of this sugar -- often touted for its less refined, higher nutritional and lower glycemic properties -- I might use a bit less of this sweetener.

Because there was no raw egg in these cookies, the batter could be eaten (safely) uncooked, or could be enjoyed with other dessert items, e.g., ice cream. I tried this later -- layering cookie dough and crumbs with vanilla ice cream, to make a small shotglass dessert parfait. It reminded me of an oatmeal cookie ice cream sandwich. And because I can't have wheat or oats, I appreciated this close facsimile.

WholeVine - Chocolate Chip Cookies - January 27, 2013

Chocolate of the Day: 

WholeVine Products
1.) Chocolate Chip Cookies
Good +
Weight: 1 oz. (28 g.) / 8 oz. (227 g.) in total package
Calories: 110 calories in 1 cookie
Cost: $7.99 for 1 package
Purchased from: Paradise Foods, Corte Madera, CA

2.) 2-Chocolates Chip Cookies
Good
Weight: 1 oz. (28 g.) / 8 oz. (227 g.) in total package
Calories: 120 calories in 1 cookie
Cost: $7.99 for 1 package
Purchased from: Paradise Foods, Corte Madera, CA

Today was Day #4 of Chocolate and Gluten Free Cookie Theme Week.

When baking with gluten free flours, applesauce, mashed banana, pumpkin, jam with pectin, or xanthan gum, can help approximate the texture of conventionally baked cookies, and help bind ingredients together.

Today's Chocolate Chip, and 2-Chocolates Chip (chocolate and white chocolate chips), "Sonoma Style" Cookies from WholeVine Products (Santa Rosa, CA) incorporated applesauce and xanthan gum in their gluten free cookies.

However, what made these cookies special was the addition of Sauvignon Blanc grape seed, and grade seed skin flours. (The company also uses other varietal grapes.) According to the company -- based in Sonoma County, home of many fine wineries -- the unique, grape-based flours came from sustainably farmed coastal vineyards, via sister company Jackson Family Wines.

At the time of this writing, WholeVine made at least four different gluten free cookies. I previously featured their Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies. Of the two I tried today, may favorite flavor was the Chocolate Chip (one without white chocolate chips), winner of a Sonoma County Harvest Fair Gold Medal. (Other flavors include Oatmeal Currant and Peanut Butter.)

Hats off to creative use of vineyard ingredients that add fiber and some nutritional value to baked goods like this.

Trader Joe's - Chocolate Chip Cookies - January 26, 2013

Chocolate of the Day:

Trader Joe's
Crispy Crunchy Chocolate Chip Cookies
Good
Weight: 3.5 oz. (99 g.) / 7 oz. (198 g.) total package
Calories: 490 calories in 1/2 package
Cost: $3.99 total package
Purchased from: Trader Joe's, Menlo Park, CA

Today was Day #3 of Chocolate and Gluten-Free Cookie Theme Week.

These Gluten Free Crispy Crunchy Chocolate Chip Cookies from Trader Joe's (Monrovia, CA) were relatively thin and golden brown, with softer morsels of rich chocolate.

Well executed, with just a hint of vanilla, these cookies may appeal to those who prefer thinner, wafer style treats over thicker, mounded cookies loaded with sweet lumps. As with other natural tasting wafer cookies, butter and brown sugar helped create just the right crunchy texture.

The cookies provided further evidence that gluten free doesn't have to mean sodden or crumbly when it comes to baked goods. Trader Joe's started offering gluten free products many years ago, and they've continued to be a reliable source of chocolates and tasty gluten, free offerings.

Aleia's - Chocolate Macaroon Cookies - January 25, 2013

Chocolate of the Day:

Aleia's Gluten Free Foods, LLC
Chocolate Coconut Macaroon Cookies
Good
Weight: .28 oz. (8 g.) / 12 oz. (340.2 g.) total package/bag
Calories: 15 calories in 1 cookie
Cost: $12.49 total package/bag
Purchased from: Paradise Foods, Corte Madera, CA

More chocolate macaroons today for Day #2 of Chocolate and Gluten Free Cookie Theme Week.

These diminutive Chocolate Coconut Macaroon Cookies from Aleia's Gluten Free Foods (Branford, CT) provided a small, sweet bite-sized, coconut flavored snack, with a light cocoa flavor. At $12.49 a bag, they were not inexpensive, but they were also made in a certified, dedicated gluten free facility, and the bag did contain a fairly generous 12 oz. (340.2 g.) worth of cookies.

Aleia's founder, Kimberly Snow, found she couldn't eat gluten, and used her culinary chef training to create a line of gluten free products including bread and cookies.

Mrs. Crimble's - Chocolate Macaroons - January 24, 2013

Chocolate of the Day:

Mrs. Crimble's
Chocolate Macaroons
Good
Weight: 1.3 oz. (36.8 g.) / 7.8 oz. (220 g.) in total package of 6
Calories: 130 calories in 1 macaroon
Cost: $3.69 total package of 6
Purchased from: Miki's Farm Fresh Market, Palo Alto, CA

Today was Day #1 of Chocolate and Gluten-Free Cookie Theme Week.

The first gluten-free cookies I remember eating were coconut and almond flour macaroons. It was just a matter of time before I found ones dipped in, or coated with, chocolate. I remember macaroons being sugary sweet, rich and chewy, so much so that one was quite satisfactory.

Today's macaroons were much like the ones I remember from childhood. Chocolate covered the backs and a few thin chocolate stripes ran across the tops of these Mrs. Crimble's Chocolate Macaroons (affiliated with Stiletto Foods, in Odiham, England). They were fresh, stuffed with sweetened coconut; the darker chocolate helped balance out the sweetness. In short, everything you'd want in a macaroon.

I ate half of one macaroon, and chopped up the other half to make a coconut and berry parfait in a shot glass*. Other recipes using Mrs. Crimble's products are available on their website.)

My own recipe consisted of layering chocolate macaroon crumbs with cultured coconut yogurt and some award-winning Wild Thimbleberry Jam from American Spoon (Petoskey, MI).

*My new rule for eating dessert in 2013 is -- one serving of dessert should contain at least one interesting, tasty ingredient, and should fit in a shot glass. You'll probably be seeing more shot glass desserts soon. 

shokomonk - coconut bars - January 23, 2013

Chocolate of the Day:

shokocrown GmbH
shokomonk bars

1.) kokos bar - 50% chocolate with coconut
Good
Weight: .586 oz. (16.6 g.) / 1.76 oz. (50 g.) in 1 bar
Calories: 88.5 calories in 1/3 bar
Cost: $ N/A - sample from shokomonk
Purchased from: N/A - sample; shokomonk booth, Fancy Food Show, San Francisco, CA

2.) kokos bar - 31% white chocolate with coconut
Good
Weight: .586 oz. (16.6 g.) / 1.76 oz. (50 g.) in 1 bar
Calories: 97 calories in 1/3 bar
Cost: $N/A - sample from shokomonk
Purchased from: N/A - sample; shokomonk booth, Fancy Food Show, San Francisco, CA

Today was Day #9 of Chocolate and Coconut Theme Week. Once again, I'm extending the conventional 7-day week, because chocolate offerings expand beyond time and space -- or at least geography -- in today's shokomonk bars from Germany (adorned with an illustration of a smiling monk). This line may be expanding into the U.S. soon.

A few days ago, I stopped by the shokomonk booth at the Fancy Food Show in San Francisco, CA, and picked up a set of bars to try, including two with coconut. The first bar was a 50% zartbitterschokolade mit kokosflocken (plain chocolate with coconut); the second was a 31% weisse schokolade mit kokos (white chocolate with coconut).

The company's two founders are committed to creating a line of bars that are enjoyable and mobile, and the bars I've had so far were made with higher quality ingredients that many traditional bulk candy and chocolate manufacturers. Both coconut bars had a consistent sweet and crunchy texture. The company uses cacao from Ecuador, according to a company rep.

I don't count white chocolate in my "different chocolate every day" approach on this site; but this second bar was the perfect candy playmate for the plain chocolate version. And, happily, cocoa butter (and not cheaper, substitute fat) was the second ingredient, behind sugar, and ahead of coconut flakes (8%); the bar also contained bourbon vanilla.

Note: these two bars do not contain gluten ingredients, but some of their bars do incorporate glucose syrup that contains wheat.