A Smart Treat Indeed

Lately, I’ve been seeing more and more vegan cookies around the market place, so it was really just a matter of time until I snatched a box to see how they measured up. I’ve baked a good deal of vegan cookies in my time, but never having tried any mass-produced, I wasn’t really sure what to expect.

The brand that I settled on is called Smart Treat, which makes a good deal of vegan cookies, as well as some cakes and quick breads. What I ended up picking out was a package of the classic chocolate chip for a fair comparison – I’ve probably had more chocolate chip cookies in my life time than any other sort. At a later time though, I’d like to get my hands on some butterscotch oatmeal, or spicy ginger cookies. How enticing do those sound!

I was a bit skeptical at first, examining the crisp domes of cooked batter, expecting rock-like cookie pucks. Simply breaking them in half revealed a happy surprise however, as the concealed innards were actually quite soft and fluffy. While I wouldn’t say they are the traditional chewy chocolate chip cookies that I tend to think of, the texture was still far than I could have really hoped for.

The distribution of the chips was excellent; Not so many that the chocolate became overwhelming, but still definitely a pronounced flavor throughout. I liked that it allowed me to actually taste the cookie part, since that was always my favorite as a kid. Years ago in my very first baking exploits, making chocolate chip cookies, I would actually try to make the last few cookies in a batch without any chips at all. The flavor of the dough used in the Smart Treat cookies was just as good as any non vegan equivalent I could remember.

Taste aside, they aren’t called a “Smart Treat” for nothing. All of their cookies are not only vegan, but also completely gluten-free, and it appears that they don’t use any refined ingredients in any of their products. Sounds like a good deal to me!