Product Review: Udi’s Gluten-Free Salted Caramel Cashew Soft-Baked Cookies

Product: Udi’s Gluten-Free Salted Caramel Cashew Soft-Baked Cookies – $5.99+

For all my loyal followers up to this point…you know it doesn’t need to be said…but I will state it one more time.

I.  LOVE.  COOKIES.

They are, in fact, one of my favorite indulgences.  Especially after dinner.  I don’t know what it is about cookies, but they just seem like the perfect way to end your day.  Dessert at its finest, especially when the cookies are crumbly, soft, buttery, sweet and delicious.

HOWEVER…this combination doesn’t always fall into place when gluten-free cookies are concerned.  Too often, the packaged cookies at the store are hard, crunchy, crumbly (and not in a good way) paper weights of wrongness that just don’t work for me.  I’ve found some decent enough cookies in the past…but at a price.  They are expensive for a reason.  That reason being…they are GOOD!

Well, at Expo West this past year, Udi’s Gluten-Free unveiled a bunch of new products.  And while Udi’s already has a line of cookies out on the shelves (the bite-size Snickerdoodles being my favorite), they introduced three new flavors in what they are calling a “Soft-Baked Cookies” line.  These include Peanut Butter Coconut (yes please!), Maple Pecan Chip (yum!), and, the one that caught my attention immediately…Salted Caramel Cashew.  Why did this one stand out?  Because Salted Caramel whatever the thing is will always win in my book because salted caramel is one of my favorite flavors.  It’s that sweet and salty combination.  Add my favorite nut in the whole entire universe…the cashew…to the mix and you are totally Charlie Sheen WINNING!

I was afraid these products would be scarce in my area for awhile.  This sometimes happens, especially when I get excited about a new product that is introduced by a brand I trust.  But…I was at Walmart of all places one day and there they were…shining at me from a lower shelf…begging me to purchase it and devour ALL the cookies.  I have no willpower when it comes to cookies, so they were in my arms and in a shopping bag in record time.

But I didn’t devour them all at once.  In fact, I had other dessert items that needed my attention first.  But yesterday marked the magical date where I ripped into the box, opened up the package and removed one of Udi’s Gluten-Free Salted Caramel Cashew Soft-Baked Cookies.  I breathed in the smell that came from the packaging itself.  It was so familiar.  In a good way.  I handed off one cookie to my roommate, took one for myself…and then put everything away to devour another day.  I stick to serving sizes even when I don’t always want to.

These cookies are amazing for processed goodies.  Trust me on this one.  The familiar smell…well…the taste made it all fall into place.  These cookies taste like butter pecan ice cream.  NO JOKE!  They are perfectly balanced in sweetness and saltiness, lending that bit of savory flavor to each flaky, buttery bite.  And these soft, chewy cookies are just a delight on the tastebuds.  I honestly had to remind myself that I was eating a cookie…not butter pecan ice cream.  Either way, I was one happy cookie monster.  Oh yes…that cookie was gone in no time flat and I enjoyed every single delicious bite.  Soft throughout, these cookies are just what I love when I bite into a gluten-free treat.  Nothing tasted off or fake.  Nothing crumbled.  Nothing crunched in a loud and obnoxious way.  These were sheer perfection in flavor, texture, and everything else.  I was one very, very happy gluten-free cookie.

So…now the science of things…

Ingredient wise, these cookies are baked up by using tapioca starch, dried cane syrup, palm oil, brown rice flour, cashew pieces, eggs, tapioca syrup, toffee bits, potato starch, molasses, salt, natural flavors, vanilla extract, xanthan gum, baking soda, and caramel color.  So, every ingredient is definitely something I recognize and might have even used myself.  I have quite an eclectic blend of flours going on…especially as I’ve been doing some paleo baking recipes as one of my runners on Saturday is doing a paleo diet.  Regardless…the fact that nothing sounds like a chemical or like a chemistry experiment makes me feel even better about eating these.

Nutritionally speaking…a serving of Udi’s Gluten-Free Salted Caramel Cashew Soft-Baked Cookies is one cookie.  This one cookie will cost you 120 calories and 6 grams of fat.  These cookies are much bigger than the two-bite Snickerdoodle, Chocolate Chip, and Oatmeal Raisin cookies that they originally put out in their lineup.  And the eclectic flavors of the new soft-baked varieties definitely tempt the palate.  Anyway…these cookies also contain 130 mg sodium and 7 grams of sugar.  Seven grams of sugar isn’t bad for a cookie!  That’s quite impressive.  These cookies do not provide any fiber to your diet and only 1 gram of protein, so not filling…but definitely a nice sweet way to end your meal.

So treat yourself to one of the most amazing cookies out on the market.  The sweet and salty combination of flavors will entice and liven up your taste buds and leave you wanting more.  And if you love butter pecan ice cream, you will especially fall in love with the butterscotchy flavor of the Salted Caramel Cashew Soft-Baked Cookies.

Once again, Udi’s Gluten-Free…you impress me with your products.  Another winner in my books.