Category: Food

Granola is perhaps one of the best food innovations to have been borne from the easy-going days of the 60’s era. Combining hearty oats, sweet fruits, and crunchy seeds and/or nuts, such a staple is a cheap and tasty way to nourish your body – A huge payoff for such a small amount of work. Stick all of these healthful elements together to form a bar, and you now have a completely effortless on-the-go meal. Sadly, corporate America has found ways to corrupt even this concept, adding in unnecessary and non-nutritive ingredients to bulk up their bars along with their bottom line, or going the route of traditional Yankee junk food, turning once healthful snacks into genuine candy bars. As an unabashed lover of all things granola, it can be quite frustrating to find myself in a grocery store aisle full of nothing but over-processed, over-priced, and unfulfilling ready-to-eat products. Sure, it’s not a huge undertaking to just make them yourself, but I can understand that many less experienced bakers balk at the idea of just whipping up a nutritious granola bar that could rival anything conveniently purchased at the store.

Even so, I normally would not think to look towards a baking mix – Not in this instance, and not in any other for that matter. Growing up with a skilled baker as a mother, the only thing I can remember ever baking from a box is angel food cake. My natural thought process would most likely never even lead me to imagine there might be a need for a pre-assembled dry mix for something as basic as granola bars…but then out of no where, I became aware of a growing sensation defined as just that. Suspending my doubt, I took an open-minded look at Trail Blaze Bars by Matisse and Jack’s. They appeared to have nothing but the best intentions for their consumers, in stark contrast to most corner-cutting products.

Not just some cheap gimmick to make money, this particular mix included a good amount of protein, whole grains, and real ingredients (rather than an incomprehensible slurry of chemicals and artificial flavors). Even though it felt like cheating as I mixed in a mere smattering of applesauce and water, I couldn’t deny that the ease was truly appealing, and this blend of grains and fruits was honestly alluring in its own right. At first, the smell was a bit disconcerting – Something akin to wet cement in my opinion, but perhaps I was just exhausted from the marathon of baking I had just completed to test more recipes for my book. Smoothing out the top of the thick mixture, it went into the oven for the recommended time, and before I could clean the clumps of old flour out of my hair, they were done in a flash.

First to meet the heat was the mix of Cranberry Walnut bars. Bursting at the seams with visible oats and flax seeds, a hearty, glutinous smell wafted to my nostrils as the oven door opened to reveal my semi-homemade snack. Ravenous and taunted by the delicious scents and looks, my will power allowed me to wait just until the bars were cool enough to leave only minor burns along my mouth. Initially surprised by the texture, I had expected more of a solid, crunchy bar, whereas what I chewed carefully was much more like baked oatmeal. Had I actually taken a good look at the box, however, it should have come as no surprise, being clearly labeled “OATMEAL ENERGY BARS.” My poor brain must have been on the fritz, but nonetheless it was a pleasant surprise all the same. Passionate for granola as I am, the same fondness extends out to almost all forms of cereals, hot and cold, readily including oatmeal as well.

Slightly crisp on the outside but still soft on the interior, the blend of various base ingredients came together harmoniously to form a toothsome, multi-textured and flavorful bar. Each bit slightly different, the inclusion of crunchy nuts and soft, sweet cranberries made me excited to taste how the next bite might compare to the last. Balance is the name of the game here, and I must say that everything seems to be in perfect proportion to each other – No one flavor rules, but they all make themselves heard. Sweet in a natural and appropriate way, I could see these bars working their way into every eating opportunity available – Breakfast, lunch, snack… Hey, if you’re in a rush, dinner might not be such a stretch, either! Trust me on this; It took me two short days to polish off five of these babies…

Anticipating the untimely demise of my first batch, I wasted no time and whipped up the other box of granola mix, Chocolate Chip. Still boasting an impressive collection of whole grains and seeds, these bars took a decidedly more decadent route, revealing a sprinkling of dark chocolate every now and then. Noting that my first bite lacked any actually chips, I was still happy to detect a pleasant cocoa flavor nonetheless. Although that might sound like a skimpy amount of chocolate, it really carries well throughout – Any more than that would make it seem like too much of an indulgence to enjoy as a regular snack. However, just warmed through, the gooey, melted chips make it seem 100 times more decadent than it really is. After polishing off a generous square straight out of the oven and literally licking stray chocolate off my fingers, it’s hard to believe how healthy these are!

After all of the struggles of making labor-intensive dishes from scratch, I can see the lure of a no muss, no fuss baking mix like this one. Much better than buying pre-made granola bars altogether, this quick fix lets you know exactly what’s going into your body, beyond some random numbers and statistics printed on the side of a label. There are even different ways to make your bars should you choose – Instructions are included for making them with yogurt, less sweet, or vegan like I did. Additionally, a brief search of their website reveals numerous recipes for other healthy snacks using the very same mixes, such as muffins, cookies, and other tempting treats. My only complaint about this product is that it’s only available online, and therefore more difficult to obtain – I only wish I had received more than one box of each to try out some of these other options!

[Written for Go Dairy Free.]

Ask most run of the mill omnivores what they think of vegan foods in general, and most responses from the unenlightened are undoubtedly less than enthusiastic. Even as new vegan products gain popularity in mainstream supermarkets, it is still largely mistaken as a very spartan, restrictive path to follow. Ask again about a gluten-free diet, and any previous weariness is likely to transform into firm disapproval. Now, a gluten-free vegan…? It would seem incomprehensible, if not completely impossible. I won’t lie – I still often see a diet without any gluten as being a challenge to follow, and since it’s not a medical necessity for me to do so, it is really not a high priority to choose specifically gluten-free products. Many baked goods that exclude wheat flour rely more heavily on eggs, so I can see why vegans like myself might have trouble committing to such a diet. However, thanks to a growing number of innovative companies, it is becoming a more realistic, not to mention tastier, possibility by the day.

Awareness of Celiac’s Disease is still fairly new to me. While I’ve successfully created a handful of wheat-less desserts myself, I still can’t help but be impressed when experiments in this field actually produce not only edible, but delicious foods that are no compromise over their glutinous counterparts. Who would have thought that ground beans and legumes could be reconstituted into a cookie that might rival any containing traditional and non-nutritive white flour? Before trying to accommodate those with allergies, I would have banished the thought! I know many people who become reluctant to sample such goods upon hearing these unusual ingredients, but there’s no way to prove their culinary value without taking the plunge. Now companies like Sun Flour Baking Company are helping the unadventurous swallow their fears along with their allergen-free cookies, brownies, and donuts, and proving that even the most unexpected but natural materials can create one hell of a treat.

Unabashedly declaring on the front of every box “made without wheat, gluten, eggs, dairy…”, it’s clear from first glance that the producers take pride in not only what they put into their cookies, but also what they leave out. Having received many accolades and awards for their traditional vegan treats, they have dozens of animal-free cookies available for direct shipment at a moment’s notice. More recently, they have also been increasing their sugar- and gluten- free offerings with which to treat people from all walks of life. My sampling of six varieties only scratched the surface in terms of their whole product line. For any garden-variety vegan, picking and choosing any cookie out there must make them look like a kid in a candy shop!

Although my selection was a bit one-sided, I was intrigued and curious to see what you could do with such a limited number of ingredients.

Overwhelmed by the number of choices, I decided to start by comparing the shortbread options in my possession. First up was the Vanilla, as I hoped to get a good base line of how this traditional, basic cookie would be translated without its usual staple ingredients. If this was any indication of things to come… Then color me disappointed. Admittedly, shortbread tends to be quite dry and crumbly under any circumstances, but once you bit off a chunk, it dissolved into this powdery dust that stuck to my teeth slightly as I tried to chew. The taste was… Vanilla, I suppose, but in some terrible irony it tasted completely unnatural, like those awful protein powders that try to pass themselves off as “vanilla” flavored. Maybe if they were dipped in chocolate they would be more palatable… But honestly, what wouldn’t?

Not exactly the culinary epiphany I had hoped for after hearing so many other rave reviews, but still I soldiered on. It’s a good thing that I hadn’t given up after this lack-luster biscuit, because things started looking up from here.

More crumbly than any other cookie I would sample in this whole bunch, the Peanut Butter Shortbread looked like someone had taken a hammer to them! It may be partially the fault of rough shipping, but the pieces pictured were the only full cookies in the box. No matter, I don’t take issue with it because that means you can pretend that you’re eating twice as many!

Sporting a yellow-ish hue, this shortbread exuded a nice nutty aroma appropriate for its designated title. The same textural issues were still present, but it was easier to ignore as these had much more flavor to distract the palate with. I found that they were actually quite pleasant – Sweet and salty, It had the best of both sides of the snack food spectrum. In fact, as I munched thoughtfully, I found that it really grows on you, and it was hard to take just one cookie at a time. The quality that I had expected finally manifested itself in these, because if you look very hard, you can see tiny pieces of the actual peanuts that contribute such great flavor and even a nice crunch every now and then.

Best intact of all were the Lemon Shortbread, shedding fewer crumbs but still a bit powdery around the outside. Looking similar to the vanilla, it’s no surprise that once again, that off-putting mouth-feel was still present, but this time it was accompanied by an almost buttery taste and feel. Paired with a bright citrus tang and only a vague sweetness, I truly enjoyed these alongside a nice cup of green tea. Perhaps not something I would seek out again if given the choice of anything made by Sun Flour Baking Company, but certainly not something I would turn down if it were offered to me.

After the initial disappointment, things seemed to be looking up. Maybe shortbread just isn’t my thing to begin with, so perhaps a different palate would enjoy these more anyways. Moving on to the softer varieties, I could scarcely imagine what might await my ready taste buds.

Upon opening the box of Brownie Babies, I was slightly taken aback by how small each cookie was! No larger than a silver dollar, they certainly fit the title of “babies,” not to mention the almost laughably microscopic fragments of walnuts visible on the surface. No matter, their chocolaty scent quickly wafted through the air and reassured me that size was no indication of quality here here.

Soft, dense, and chewy, the mouth-feel is ideal for any brownie. Only moderately sweet, I felt that the amount of sugar balanced out perfectly with the cocoa so that neither were overwhelming, but instead played together harmoniously inside my mouth. Suitable for a wide range of tastes, these aren’t so decadent that you can barely finish two bites on your own, but they are also still chocolaty enough to satisfy even a real chocolate lover. It turns out that those tiny pieces of walnut really are appropriate for the size of the cookie, too – Any larger and they would dominate the dough, but instead they provide a lovely crunch every now and then.

One of America’s favorite cookies and perhaps the single type most stereotypically “American,” it’s no surprise that the Chocolate Chip Cookie makes yet another appearance in the market. Dotted with dark chocolate chips, the cream-colored dough looks just like any of the other interpretations of this classic treat. Easily yielding to the teeth, it definitely fit into my preferred style – Some like theirs crisp, others cakey, but this would fall into the chewy category. As the dough alone is usually my favorite part of chocolate chip cookies, I began by sampling a chunk without any chips. If anything, I found that it was perhaps lacking a little in the flavor department… It had no distinct flavor in particular, and at times I could have sworn there was some sort of medicinal after taste… But eaten with the chocolate pieces as it was intended, these drawbacks were completely unnoticeable. The healthy sprinkling of chocolate was just the right amount to make it a very tasty snack overall.

Last but not least, I tore into my package of Cinnamon Cookies, expecting nothing more unique than your standard snicker-doodle. What I placed on my tongue, however, couldn’t have been further from my assumption – These weren’t just sugar and a little spice, these were actually spicy! Intensely cinnamon like a red-hot candy, these ended up being my favorite of all six varieties. Quite aromatic as soon as they were freed from their cellophane cell, I had to be careful as I removed my prey, or else the excess coating of sugar and cinnamon would end up all over the floor. Messy as they were, this exterior dusting added a lovely extra crunch, bumping up the standard chewy and delicious dough to an even higher level. Such intense heat from the spice might get to you after a few cookies though, so I must warn you to keep a tall glass of soymilk on hand when eating these! Unabashed cinnamon addict that I am, these may in fact be too hot for those who aren’t keen on this seasoning, but I highly suggest you give them a try anyway. Once you start eating these, it’s hard to stop!

On the whole, I would have to say that Sun Flour Baking Company really knows what they’re doing when they try to make favorite childhood treats into gluten-free fare. Sure, it might seem weird to eat a cookie made primarily of pinto bean flour, but don’t let that turn you away from something that is this delicious. Change is difficult, as anyone adjusting to a gluten-free diet might tell you, but it isn’t difficult to occasionally step out of your comfort zone and try new things. It’s really a small risk for those not limited by any allergies to take, and who knows, you might just find more sweet treasures like these.

[Written for Go Dairy Free]

Few if any flavors on earth have quite such a die-hard following as chocolate. It has a long and speckled history, being deemed first delicacy, then a source of evil, gaining favor again and becoming aphrodisiac, and finally being linked to heart-health in this day and age. In our own personal histories, I would bet that this indulgence comes up quite frequently as well, in numerous forms such as cakes, cookies, or just a solid bar of it itself. While it’s practically obligatory for me to wax poetic about my own unwavering love for the “food of the gods” at this point, I must confess that chocolate had never been something that I really craved. Sure, it certainly wasn’t a bad addition to desserts in general, and I was always forthcoming with new cocoa-based recipes for those insatiable demands from my loved ones, but I could almost guarantee that even as a child, you would never find me reaching for the chocolate bars stashed neatly away on the top shelf. For some reason, I just never fully understood the draw, the passion that some people had for what I considered to be nothing more than a chunk of ground beans and sugar. ...Until now.

Little did I know that my ambivalence towards the stuff had more to do with the chocolate itself than my own taste buds. After a few years of trying new foods and becoming accustomed to my developing preferences, I simply wrote it off as some other sweet item, no different than any other flavor out there. It turns out that all that time, and even as a vegan now, I had been under the influence of… cheap chocolate. The horror! Pinching pennies and conserving my food budget for other kitchen staples, chocolate had always gotten the short straw, and in the case of this highly esteemed bean, you really do get what you pay for. With unnecessary additives for shelf-stability and mass production, what found its way into my pantry had about the culinary value of Spam.

How did this revolutionary concept ever occur to me with my head buried deep within my “mockolate,” you may ask? Well, unbelievably lucky as I am, I recently had the great fortune to have some real chocolate fall into my lap – And I’ve continued falling with it ever since. Lake Champlain Chocolates, made in Vermont from only fresh, natural ingredients simply look like bona fide jewels compared to what I’m accustomed to. Although many of their offerings are not vegan, they do have an impressive selection of dark chocolates without any dairy, including some tempting hot chocolate mixes among other various products. Usually being rather limited even in my selection of cheap chocolates at the grocery store, I was thrilled to stumble upon a whole package of all-vegan chocolate squares in their repertoire.

Totaling 24 seductive squares making up 6.7 ounces of solid, unadulterated cocoa bliss, the mere sight of the Select Origin Chocolates box is enough to make even the most indiscriminate chocoholics and voracious omnivores sigh with desire. Almost everyone will agree that better quality chocolates don’t need the addition of extra sweeteners or milk to enhance their natural flavors, and Lake Champlain Chocolates will confirm this notion once and for all. If you still consider anything this indulgent to be junk food, just consider the health claims when it comes to pure dark chocolate – With all the natural flavonoids and anti-oxidants, there shouldn’t even be any guilt attached to this purchase!

Representing various geographic areas in which cacao is grown, this box claims that different beans contain a wide range of unique characteristics which become detectable after fermentation. Proving such a theory might be difficult with for many name-brand mockolates out there today, sourcing ingredients that are of questionable origin themselves, but if anyone could ever do it, Lake Champlain would be the ones to put it to the test. Included in this mouth-watering assortment are beans grown in Africa, Grenada, Sao Thome, and Tanzania, in varying percentages of cocoa content.

I must preface by saying that as a recent convert to the way of the cacao bean, I have no expertise in evaluating this most beloved prize. Like an ignorant beginner in wine-tasting, the words “woody,” “dry,” or “thin” make no connection in my mind to any sort of food-related memory. That being said, I can tell you what I enjoy and why I think it’s good, which is really what counts when it comes down to choosing your after dinner treat, isn’t it?

That being said, the moment this new, potent incarnation of everyone’s favorite aphrodisiac hit my tongue, I knew there was no turning back. Every glossy square was composed of the smoothest, most velvety substance I’ve ever experienced putting in my mouth – So obscenely silky that I hadn’t before even considered it to be a natural texture in terms of food. The magic came in the first bite, snapping a corner clean off with one swift cleave of the teeth and an audible ‘pop!’ that rang through the air like a bell. Slowly melting, allowing one to savor every last drop of flavor, it was nothing like any chocolate I had ever known.

Starting at the lightest end of the scale for cocoa content, the 54% African Blend was first on my hit list. Deliciously sweet and simple, it reminded me of some of my best experiences in childhood with chocolate chips and bars. The creamy texture had me hooked, although the overall flavor was nothing I found particularly spectacular that would make it stand out in comparison to other chocolates on the market. Moving up to the 60 % cocoa from Grenada, I found that this percentage had only a mild increase in flavor intensity, making for a slightly less sweet but still very mellow and pleasant flavor. Since this was only a 6% discrepancy, I hadn’t expected them to have jarringly diverse tastes overall, but I was so far only moderately impressed.

When I got to the Sao Thome at 70% however, all five senses went wild. The aroma, the feel, the smell, everything told me that this would be a pleasurable experience. Instantly I discovered it had a markedly unique tone, coming off as being deeper, richer, and somehow infinitely smoother. The simple sweetness present in the earlier squares had dissipated, now replaced by a more mature and sophisticated bite. Bowled over by this sensation, it was incredible how such a tiny amount of chocolate could focus my whole system on the experience of consuming such a luscious commodity. I swear that just a crumb could have coated my entire tongue like the softest and most comfortable blanket I had every taken shelter beneath. If I could only have one type of chocolate for the rest of my life, it would be this kind that I would demand, without question. I exaggerate not; While I’ve encouraged my mom to share much of this treasure with me, if one of those from Sao Thome turns up missing, there will be hell to pay.

Finally, reaching the uppermost level of cocoa content at 75% with the square from Tanzania, perhaps my taste buds had just reached their climax and tired out, but this one didn’t strike me quite as much. Still fantastic and intense, all the sweetness had been replaced by pure chocolate essence. At times the faint bitterness would remind me of a nice, strong cup of black coffee, which I thoroughly enjoyed. This one was very strong and not something that the children would probably take a liking to, but I found it to be a luxurious extravagance quite befitting of an after dinner nibble. Certainly not something I would turn down if offered, unlike my early response to any sort of chocolate up for grabs.

Whether you buy into the idea of potential health benefits, nuances in flavors depending on origin, natural ingredients, or anything else that this package offers up, there are few sweets more satisfying to the soul than chocolate. Now that I’ve learned the error of my ways, it will be difficult to sate my appetite for such high-end vegan chocolate, but truly, the sacrifice will be worth it; Was it not Shakespeare who said “T’was better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all?”

In addition to their year-round selection of truffles, chocolate bars, and chocolate covered-almonds, they have holidays covered at Lake Champlain Chocolates as well; Can you say “solid dark chocolate Easter bunnies?”

I suppose that this may be the one time that it’s perfectly vegan to eat rabbit! Just try to restrain yourself and divide this sweet fellow up into multiple portions for your own sake – After only scratching the surfacing on this 9.7 ounce cocoa bunny, I think I could be on the verge of a cocoa-induced coma right about now… But even so, I think I finally understand what makes quality chocolate worth all of the obsession, and even possible chocolate comas.

[Written for Go Dairy Free]