Product: Scratch & Grain Baking Gluten Free Chocolate Truffle Cookie Kit – $6.99+
It was on a whim and by sheer luck that I ran across the gluten-free cookie kits that Scratch & Grain Baking Co. have out on the market. I was, actually, walking around Target with my roommate on my lunch break, scoping out the various clearance end caps, because this is what we do for fun. We live in a wild and crazy town, you see?
*sigh*
But…this actually turned out to be a good thing. Because one of the sections happened to have a couple boxes of Scratch & Grain Baking Co. Gluten Free Cookie Kits. No joke. First of all, I had never heard of these. Second of all, it involved cookies. Third of all, I wanted to try them.
Granted, I have been working on trying to not eat as many sugary treats…and I’m getting better, but sometimes, you just need to have a cookie. And this looked easy enough.
Scratch & Grain Bakery Co. grew out of an unfortunate baking experience, leading two (2) moms (Taya and Leah, from Portland, Oregon) to make homemade baking fun and easy. After Leah spent 3 hours in her kitchen baking cardboard cookies with her daughters, she texted Taya and told her she had a business idea and asked her to come over and discuss it. The seed was planted and the two women began discussing the concept and vision of the products and company. They focused on wanting to make homemade baking fun, delicious, easy…and a little healthier. And so, they got to work creating a baking kit that included all of the BEST ingredients, already measured out and wrapped individually so you know what is in your food…and the actual baking process is made easy and fun. After testing thousands of variations for the kits, Taya and Leah put together the perfect recipes. Then, they set out to learn the ins and outs of product development and design – not outsourcing any aspect of their product, keeping all of the product components production right there in Portland. They even included a few gluten-free products, although neither of them are gluten-free. They both have close family members who do have Celiac, and as they are not fans of most gluten-free products, they knew they had to make a few products that were gluten-free, but still tasted amazing, delicious, and as close to any whole-wheat version. They wouldn’t produce a product that they were unwilling to eat, so that means…quality is guaranteed.
So, tonight, just before I set out to get dinner ready, I pulled this little box out of my pantry and gathered up the two additional ingredients needed to prepare these cookies. No joke…you just need an egg (or egg replacer)…and 2 tablespoons of butter. Except, I used 1.5 tablespoons of applesauce instead, to make it lower in fat. Also, I was just being lazy and didn’t feel like melting butter in my microwave. HA!! So, it was time to mix up the ingredients and get my Gluten Free Chocolate Truffle Cookie on.
This kit included 10 individually packaged ingredients. These included baking powder, vanilla powder, salt, cane sugar, flax, cocoa, flour, chocolate chips, walnuts, and finishing salt. In a bowl, I put the apple sauce (or butter if you do butter) and add the ingredients per package instructions, stirring to blend them each time to perfection. Then, once everything is added and mixed well, you put 1 tablespoon of batter (mine was a little runny…but it worked in the end) onto a baking sheet and pop it into the oven for about 11-13 minutes. Do not overcook them, or they will flatten. Let them cook for 5-10 minutes before stuffing your face…er…moving them to a cooling rack.
So…here’s the deal…I was not impressed with the batter, as the tablespoons I dropped began to spread and run together. But the magic happened in the oven. When I pulled these out, they had puffed up a little, and were soft and chewy just from the look of them. I let them cool on the rack while I ate dinner…but after that…dessert was so happening. I handed a cookie to my roommate and I took another one…and we both took a bite.
While, at first, I had been unimpressed and ready to give up on them and just toss it…I am so glad that I didn’t. These cookies are rich, chewy, amazing chocolate cookies of yumminess and awesomeness. OH. MY. COOKIE. GODS. I was skeptical and ready to just call it a failure, but these cookies are amazing. Not only are they easy and quick to mix up and prepare, they also make for perfect portion control. Both my roommate and I were quick to devour the cookie I served each of us. We literally didn’t even sit down…just noshed them down there in the tiny apartment kitchen. Impressed doesn’t even begin to cover it. We were loving every bite of these. I moved the rest of them over to a rack to cool down and have stored them away for dessert for the next 5 days.
WOW.
Let’s talk about the ingredients that go into the Scratch & Grain Baking Co. Gluten Free Chocolate Truffle Cookie Kit. This kit is made from semi-sweet chocolate chips (sugar, unsweetened chocolate, cocoa butter, dextrose, soya lecithin), cocoa (sugar, cocoa potassium carbonate unsweetened chocolate and pure vanilla, organic evaporated cane sugar, walnuts, multi-blend flour (brown rice flour, sweet rice flour, tapioca starch, cornstarch, potato starch, xanthan gum), organic ground flaxseeds, sea salt, organic vanilla powder (organic sucrose and organic vanilla bean extractives), baking powder (sodium acid pyrophosphate, sodium bicarbonate, corn starch, monocalcium phosphate). The kits use all-natural GMO-free ingredients (because they taste better!), and most of the ingredients are also certified organic.
As for nutrition, the Scratch & Grain Baking Co. Gluten Free Chocolate Truffle Cookie Kit is great for a cookie option. A kit will make between 9-12 cookies. A serving size is 1 cookie (24 grams dry mix). This serving will serve you 130 calories, 8 grams of fat, 3 grams saturated fat, 0 grams trans fat, 25 mg cholesterol, 19- mg sodium, 16 grams carbohydrates, 2 grams dietary fiber, 13 grams sugar, and 2 grams of protein. It’s a cookie, but one you know exactly what you are putting into it and one that you can change up (like use applesauce like I did). It’s a fun and easy way to enjoy cookies and bake them on your own, not relying on the packaged, and not always delicious, or soft, or chewy, premade gluten free cookies on the shelf at your grocery store.
Needless to say, Scratch & Grain Baking Co. really won me over with the end result of their Gluten Free Chocolate Truffle Cookie Kit. I hope to discover other varieties out at Target, as their gluten-free lineup includes Snickerdoodles and Peanut Butter cookies.
Sounds amazing to me. And now…I know the high quality product that will emerge. SO happy with this little kit. Let’s hear it for going out on a whim and having it pay off in spades…or cookies.
The Celiathlete 