Product: Enjoy Life Foods Soft-Baked Lively Lemon Cookies – $4.19+
Enjoy Life is a company that should be praised. While their products can be hit or miss, I will hand it to them for doing something that is so rare in the food industry these days. What is it?
They really put food allergies at the forefront of their products. It’s true. All of their products are free of the top 8 food allergens, which mean they contain absolutely no wheat/gluten, dairy, peanuts, tree nuts, egg, soy, fish or shellfish – the allergens that account for 90% of all food allergic reactions in the United States. If that wasn’t already enough, Enjoy Life took it up another level and made sure that there products were also made without casein, potato, sesame and sulfites.
Yes…I do need to hand it to Enjoy Life. I eat their products a lot…because I know I can trust them.
That being said…one such product eluded me from the moment I heard of them. Apparently…Enjoy Life had, what they were calling, Lively Lemon Cookies (from their Soft-Baked varieties). Now…you know me and lemon flavored things. I can eat them up because I just adore what lemon does for food…especially baked goods. So, here was the promise of a gluten-free cookie…with lemon zing to it. I was sold. Or would have been had I been able to find it in my area. I went to every grocery store, natural foods store, and specialty store…and struck out. While they all had a variety of Enjoy Life cookies…no one had the lemon ones. Dejected…I let it go…for the time being.
Then…while in Milwaukee, Wisconsin for a race, I came across the Gluten-Free Trading Company. It was a completely gluten-free grocery store. For real. Also known as my heaven…my nirvana…my happy place. One of the first items I spotted upon entering this little oasis of gluten-free wonder was…the Enjoy Life cookies. And there…on the top shelf…like a beacon of heavenly light…the Soft-Baked Lively Lemon Cookies smiled down at me. And without any hesitation at all…into my shopping basket they went.
And as the dessert rotation continues in my apartment, yesterday…it came their time to be eaten. I pulled the box from the pantry and opened it up. Immediately, you smell lemon. This was a very good sign. Inside are 12 small, soft cookies, speckled with lemon zest. No wonder they smelled so amazing! The serving size is two of these itty-bitty cookies, which will set you back 130 calories. I know…hard to believe something so small could be so…unhealthy. But it’s dessert, a treat. They are to be treated as such.
I settled in with them and took a bite. Soft and chewy, these cookies have amazing texture. The lemon zest doesn’t take away from the soft nature of the cookies. And the lemon flavor…is almost perfect. I could stand a little more…but I love lemon. They played it safe and kept it a bit mild, but it is easy to overdo lemon. So, I can’t blame them for that. However, that being said, the lemon flavor is there and is prominent in each nibble of these cookies. I was very impressed.
And…so was my roomie, who doesn’t have to eat anything gluten-free…but loves to because of me. She’s a good judge of a product as she can have regular food. And she was a huge fan of these. So…that’s a win from each of us.
Every ingredient listed on the box is something that I can pronounce and recognize. In fact, I could find most of it in the aisles of my local grocery store. Much respect to Enjoy Life for keeping chemicals out of their food.
When it comes to cookies…I love them soft. And these not only play up to that, but hit that love of lemon as well. Would I buy these again should I run across them at the store…yes. Oh, yes!! Eating freely is what Enjoy Life products are all about. And if you have food allergies or are just looking for something different, I encourage you to try these cookies. They are fantastic and lemony fresh.
The Celiathlete 