My Dad's Cookies Raspberry Linzer Cookies

Linzer cookies are my ultimate, all time favorite type of cookies. My grandmother used to make them every single Christmas and they were divine. She would do raspberry, strawberry and apricot filling in the Linzer cookies. I would steal as many as I could before the grown ups got into the cookies. Lucky for me my grandmother was good about spoiling her grandchildren so no one ever told me no :)

Since I was diagnosed with celiac I have not had a single linzer cookie. It's been nearly 7 years since one of those lovely cookies has crossed my lips. 

So you can imagine my joy and surprise when I came across these cookies at my local health store. (sidenote: Seriously, if you live in Southern New Jersey you absolutely have to go to Natural Health in Blackwood - its like Gluten Free mecca.) I had vaguely remembered a friend of mine in NYC telling me about this bakery and I figured if she was happy with the cookies they were absolutely worth a shot. 

As soon as I got home I ripped open the box and tried one. They were good but I felt let down and here's why. I think I've covered this before - a lot of the issues with gluten free foods is that we all have a taste memory of something that we ate before we were diagnosed with celiac/gluten intolerance/wheat intolerance. I believe this makes us more apt to immediately dismiss a gluten free product as "bad" since it doesn't taste anywhere near as good as what we remembered. That was my issue with this cookie. 

I had warm and gorgeous memories of this buttery, jam-filled cookies from my youth. I had to shake myself from that warm memory and review the cookie based on what it is not on what I want it to be. The cookie was good, it was firm and had a good crunch. I do wish that the cookie was more buttery but the filling was delicious. All in the cookie was pretty good. 

Verdict? Yummy

Aleia's Almond Horn Cookies

One of my favorite things to do is to slowly browse my local health food store Natural Health in Blackwood, NJ. The place looks smallish but it is packed and its easy to miss new products. I scanned the cookie/snack aisle and my eyes landed on these simple brown bags. I looked at the ingredients - almond paste, sugar, almonds & egg whites - there is no way these won't be insanely tasty. Plus I loved that they were about $4 - got to love that!

At a few holiday parties this season I saw lots of classic Italian cookies and was feeling deeply devastated that I couldn't indulge in almond horns & pignoli cookies - two cookies that were my favorites PCD. Seeing these lovely almond horns made me feel super excited. I was looking forward to making a lovely cup of tea and enjoying my cookies. 

These are truly insanely tasty. I think they taste better then the almond horn cookies locked in my memory. The flavor is intensely almond-y and they are the richest tasting almond cookie I've ever had in my life. They are flaky like a croissant yet have a good density. They are perfection in a horn. 

Anyone who is missing traditional Italian cookies need look no further than Aleia's. They also make a pignoli cookie which I'll have to ask the health food store to order.

Verdict? YUMMY

Schar Chocolate Hazelnut Bars

Back in elementary school my mom would occasionally buy wafer cookies and they would end up as my special snack in my lunchbox.

Those were always some happy times. I would break off each layer and eat them separately. I loved them. Left unattended I could polish off almost an entire container.

I feel like I've had gluten free wafer cookies before but nothing that could hold a flame to these bars.

First of all they are like the size of a candy bar. Which was totally unexpected. I figured these would be tiny little cookies - as is usually the case with gluten free stuff. I was very happy to see such a giant cookie! And it's totally covered in chocolate!

The cookie is light as air and it tastes even better than those wafer cookies from my youth. This is like a wafer cookie grown up. The hazelnut flavor is insanely yummy and the chocolate is light - its not too rich or too chocolate-ly. The hazelnut flavor is the real star of this show.

I am completely addicted to these bars. They call to me all the time. So my only warning is that one bite might turn you into a Schar Chocolate Hazelnut Bar junkie - but its clearly the best kind of junkie to be!

Verdict? YUMMY. You will LOVE these!

Udi's Snickerdoodles

How out of the Udi' loop am I?

When the crap did Udi's start making cookies????????

It's so hard to stay made at you Udi's. You're always so good to me and I know our love is true. I know you didn't mean to not tell me about all of the exciting happenings in your life. Afterall - you're so popular and so much in your life is going so well.....but Udi's I'm so hurt that I'm just now learning about your cookie deliciousness. 

My heart stopped a tiny bit when I saw these Snickerdoodles at the health food store today. Why am I always the last to know?

I can forgive, after all these are chewy, light, and oh so cinnamon-y. I had to use every ounce of self control to not inhale the entire container in 3 seconds. 

Oh Udi's - you minx! I'll always come running back!

Verdict: DELICIOUS & SUPER YUMMY

Enjoy Life Cookies

I think I've had just about every flavor of Enjoy Life Cookies. When I was first diagnosed with celiac they were pretty much the only game in time. So unless you felt like baking a dozen cookies (which I NEVER feel like doing) you bought a box of these bad boys. 

I have mixed feelings about Enjoy Life. I know that so much of our enjoyment with food is really from memories. I remember eating a soft baked apple cookie months after being diagnosed with celiac disease and feeling so happy to be eating a ready made cookie that didn't taste like sawdust. It's like a little hot water bottle right on my heart. 

However, I can't let warm and fuzzy memories dilute my opinion. I do think that for a soft baked cookie these really aren't that bad. I think there are better gluten free cookies on the market and there are also worse cookies on the market. These reside happily in the middle. I think they are geared more towards kids and thats who I think would find these really tasty. As an adult I think you tend to be looking for more from your food - at least I do. I want to taste the ingredients and have an "experience" with everything I eat. Which might sound crazy but I think with celiac disease the more tasty gluten free things I eat the more I have a hard time swallowing those that aren't quite as tasty. 

Verdict? Good for the cookie craving and totally yummy for kids

Jules Gluten Free Cookie Mix

So Jules Shepard is a heavy weight in the gluten free world. She's a GF gal who got sick and tired of all flour mixes sucking so she decided to get up off her bum and do something about it. She dared to ask "why can't GF taste like G-Full?"

I have no clue how or when I stumbled across Jules' website but I am so glad that I did. For well over a year I've been receiving her lovely monthly newsletter - which always features some tasty goodie that Jules is baking up. I've always wanted to try her recipes but was convinced they wouldn't be good due to using another brand of flour. For some reason I was really hesitant to order her flour or mixes. I read through all of the reviews and Googled the products and everything was favorable but for some reason I never pulled the trigger.

A month or so ago Jules was running a promotion and I bit. And dear Lord in heaven am I glad I did.

Little backstory here. I am a cookie monster. I LOVE cookies especially chocolate chip cookies. When I was growing up my Mother made the most delicious chocolate chip cookies on this planet. I have honestly never had a better cookie. I can still taste them to this day. Every cookie I have ever made in my entire life has been an attempt to duplicate my Mom's recipe. When I was G-Full I came pretty close with my cookies but it was never quite the same. Being GF my cookies NEVER came anywhere close to being nearly as good as my Mom's. They didn't even reside in the same planetary system as my Mom's cookies.


So I was super hopeful when I pulled out my Jules Gluten Free Cookie Mix yesterday and got to getting. The first thing I noticed was that Jules' instruction were different from anything I've ever seen. She has you cream half of the mix with butter and shortening (pro-tip I whipped out the pastry blender to incorporate the butter & shortening first because before I did that I ended up with a mix cloud and mix going everywhere). It turned the mix into light, fluffy clouds. You then add in your eggs and then the other half of the mix. I couldn't get over how light and fluffy the mix was. I seriously cannot emphasize that enough. It looked like this:

(Pictured: Light & Fluffy)

But what really got me was the aroma coming from the mix. It smelled sooooo delicious. In fact, I did something I haven't done in almost a decade. I ate raw cookie dough. I licked those beaters clean and shiny. Then I licked the spoon clean after I stirred in my M&Ms. I then ate another spoonful of batter (clean spoon - I'm not a savage). I had to stop myself before I ate the entire bowl of raw cookie dough. It was spectacular.

The most torturous part? The mix sets in the fridge for about two hours before you can bake them. I busied myself with getting into Game of Thrones (seriously? How good is that show?!). When two hours were up I pre-heated the oven and got down with my bad ass Betty Crocker self. 

Amazeballs. These cookies are insanity. I give Jules the highest honor of saying they tasted like my Mom's cookies. They were just incredible. Light, chewy and a little crispy around the edges - the perfect cookie. And best of all they taste G-Full NOT GF.

I highly recommend this mix to everyone - it is amazing and absolutely worth every single penny. Especially considering I got well over 60 cookies out of one bag.

Verdict? YUMMY to the Bajillionth Power