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Review: Glutino Gluten-Free Donuts

Last Updated on by the Celiac-Disease.com Staff 5 Comments

Glutino has joined Kinnikinnick in making gluten-free donuts recently. I hadn’t seen them in any local store until the other day when I was in Whole Foods. I had a hard time deciding between the original glazed & the chocolate glazed, but ended up leaving with the chocolate glazed variety.

The donuts were just over $5 for 6 donuts, which is comparable to the Kinnikinnick donuts. You can imagine Jon’s surprise when I came home with donuts for him. His teeth were really sore from getting his braces tightened, so a warm, soft donut was just the thing to make him feel better.

Jon ooohed & aaahed his way through the donut & promptly asked for another one. That, I had to deny. He said the donuts were awesome, but not as good as the Kinnikinnick donuts. The Glutino variety don’t seem to be as dense as the Kinnikinnick donuts, so perhaps he just prefers them more dense? The taste & texture were good and not crumbly at all. They still have a cake-like appearance, but seem to be more airy, if that makes sense. Of course now we must buy the original variety the next time we make a trip to Whole Foods.

Glutino has been around since 1983 and has been providing gluten-free foods to those with celiac disease, gluten intolerance, wheat allergies and those who follow a gluten-free or wheat-free diet ever since. They currently offer more than 80 gluten-free products!

Glutino products can be purchase in stores across the US or online from various sources. Some of those sources include Gluten Solutions, Glutenfree.com, and Amazon.com. Some of the past reviews that have been shared here at Celiac-Disease.com are Glutino Bars, Glutino Chocolate & Yogurt Covered Pretzels, and Glutino Cookies & Candy Bars.

Have you had a chance to sample the new Glutino Donuts yet? How did they rate in your book?

Review: Glutino Gluten-Free Bars

Last Updated on by the Celiac-Disease.com Staff 3 Comments

When I opened the breakfast bars, I saw the marking on the box top that states “GLUTEN/WHEAT FREE, EGG, CASEIN, MILK FREE, CHOLESTEROL FREE, LOW FAT”. After reading that, I’ll admit I was a little worried that maybe the bars would not taste very good. I tried the same item several years ago and wasn’t impressed at all. The bars have been reformulated since then and have been getting rave reviews since the change occurred. I really wanted to like the bars because there they contain 12% of the RDA of fiber and 3 grams of protein. As bars go, these are pretty decent from a nutritional standpoint.

My favorite flavor of the four bars we tried was strawberry with apple following close behind. At one point, we started talking about trying to fry the apple bar to see if we could make a fried apple turnover, but we decided against it. It’s highly likely that the thing would fall apart if I dropped it in hot oil, but it sure would be nice to have an (almost) ready-made gluten-free apple turnover. If anyone knows that such a product exists, please tell us about it!

If you look at the photo on the box of Glutino Breakfast Bars, it looks like a lot of fruit filling is inside the pastry shell. When you open a bar and bite into it, you won’t find that much filling. I remarked that the photo was not true to what the actual product is like and my husband reminded me that the same thing can be said of Nutrigrain gluten bars. He’s right, of course. The good news is that even though there is not nearly enough fruit filling for my personal taste, both the outside and inside of the bar are quite tasty. The difference between the new bars and the ones I tried long ago is like night and day. It’s that dramatic a difference.

Glutino products are made in a dedicated gluten-free facility. The only allergen disclaimer on the box of bars is “may contain traces of soy”. These bars would be great for travel or to keep in an “emergency food kit” in the car. Since the filling might seep out of the end of the bars in extreme heat, it might be best not to store the bars in the car during the hot summer months.

Review: Conte’s Gluten-Free Ravioli

Last Updated on by the Celiac-Disease.com Staff Leave a Comment

After hearing a lot of positive comments about gluten-free ravioli from Conte’s, I picked up the regular cheese flavor and tried it myself. It was pretty good, but not as tasty as the stuffed shells from the line. Spinach is something I try to eat a lot of so when I spotted Conte’s Spinach Ravioli at the store recently, I decided to try it as well.

The pasta itself is the same for both the cheese and spinach versions of Conte’s product, but for some reason, the filling in the spinach ravioli seemed to make the pasta taste better than the cheese version. In color theory classes, you learn that the exact same color can look different based on what colors you put next to it. With this ravioli, the filling inside really makes a difference in the overall taste of the product. Now that I’ve tried the spinach ravioli and found that I prefer it over the cheese version, I’ll probably stick to the spinach-filled pasta from now on. Like many convenience foods, Conte’s pasta isn’t on the cheap side. That makes them less than ideal for families, but the contents of the gluten-free pasta bag are just enough for two for dinner. The ravioli is very easy to prepare – just boil, drain, and top with sauce. I like a nice tomato basil sauce with the pasta, but Alfredo sauce would work well too.

The ravioli, an Everybody Eats multi-grain baguette and a nice green salad makes a lovely meal. There are just a few things I miss being able to order when eating out and ravioli is one of them. Therefore, it’s nice to be able to find something like Conte’s pasta meals in the store freezer. I’d prefer fresh gluten-free ravioli instead of frozen, but for now, Conte’s spinach ravioli is a nice option to have. The Conte’s frozen pasta meals make for a quick and tasty weeknight dinner which is something I can appreciate. The story of how Conte’s Pasta company came to be is interesting. There is a full line of gluten products and several gluten-free items as well. Now, if they would just make a gluten-free version of their lobster ravioli – that would really be exciting!

Review: Trader Joe’s Gluten-Free Snickerdoodles

Last Updated on by the Celiac-Disease.com Staff 1 Comment

When I made my weekly trip to Trader Joe’s last week, one of the store employees asked me if I had tried the new gluten-free Snickerdoodles. I had not tried them yet, so I was excited that the employee reminded me that they were now sold them. I love their gluten-free gingersnaps and use them for a pie crust or cookie crumb crust in desserts.

Upon first glance, the box & cookies remind me of the cookies made by Enjoy Life. The ingredients are very similar, too. The cookies have 130 calories, 4.5 g fat, 2g fiber, and 1g protein per serving (2 cookies). In addition to not containing any gluten, the cookies are also vegan and free of the 8 common allergens. There are 6 servings or 12 cookies in a box for under $3.00. I love the simple, understandable ingredient list:

sorghum flour, date paste, grape, apple, and pear juice concentrate, brown pure cane sugar, expeller-pressed vegetable oil (safflower and/or sunflower oil), natural rice dextrin, ground flaxseed, water, xanthan gum, baking soda, vanilla, salt, cinnamon, rosemary extract.

The cookies are extremely moist and have the perfect balance of sugar & cinnamon flavor. Jon said that he thinks they are better – a bit moister – than the Enjoy Life version. I enjoyed them with a nice cup of hot tea on a chilly, fall afternoon.

Trader Joe’s has a nice variety of gluten-free products under their name. Some of those items are:

  • pancakes
  • brownie mix
  • pancake mix
  • granola
  • gingersnaps
  • waffles
  • French rolls
  • flourless chocolate cake
  • brown rice pasta

In addition to those items, they also have many others that are included on their gluten-free list. The list can be viewed here. To find out if there is a Trader Joe’s near you, click here. Have you had a chance to try the new Snickerdoodles yet? What are your thoughts?

Review: Gluten-Free Coffee Cake

Last Updated on by the Celiac-Disease.com Staff 5 Comments

For my gluten-free profile of Asheville, NC (summer 2010 issue of Delight gluten-free magazine), I was fortunate enough to visit the World’s Best Carrot Cake bakery just north of the city. The owners of the company are some of the nicest people around and the business is family owned and operated. I also profiled the fabulous carrot cakes in this article, in case you are not familiar with the North Carolina bakery’s wonderful gluten-free wares.

When I entered the recent gluten-free vendor fair in Atlanta recently, the very first table I noticed was that of The World’s Best Carrot Cake. The owner Avi and her husband Morgan were there so I went over to say hello. As I headed back to my own table, Leah McGrath (dietitian from Ingles) asked me if I’d tried the new coffee cake from the Asheville bakery. I had not so I did a 180 and grabbed a small sample cup of the cake. Even at room temperature, the coffee cake was absolutely divine! I dashed out to get some cash and returned to buy a whole Pecan Coffee Cake. I wasn’t sure how many they had and I didn’t want them to run out before I got a chance to return to the show floor.

For many reasons, I did not overload on carbs at this year’s event. Because my job involves getting so many products to review, I just don’t feel the need to taste every single gluten-free item out there these days. Everything I tried at the fair this year was very good or great, but I didn’t taste that much compared to every other year I’ve attended. In years past, I’ve not been able to eat much for a day (or two) after the show due to overdoing it at the event. This year, I was excited to have coffee cake for breakfast the next morning. Due to the way the cake is packaged, I loosely wrapped the whole thing in foil and heated it up in a 250 degree oven. It took about twenty minutes for it to get sufficiently warm.

As I opened up the foil that surrounded the cake, the aroma of homemade coffee cake wafted through the kitchen. It was stronger than the turkey bacon my husband was cooking and I could hardly wait to taste it. My husband had not tried the cake before so he had no predisposed notion about how it might be when heated up, but I was ready to taste some gluten-free greatness. One bite of the delicious coffee cake was all it took to take me back in time. When I was a child, something called coffee can bread (bread baked in a coffee can) was all the rage and some people also made “coffee can coffee cake”. Back in the day coffee cans were made of metal. There was not any plastic involved in the packaging so you could use the cans to bake in.

As I looked at the shape of the coffee cake with a nut crumble topping, I realized it looked like it had been baked in a coffee can. I’d made a vanilla glaze for the cake, but decided to taste the cake before putting any glaze on it and I’m so glad I did. Not that the glaze could have ruined the cake, but the cake was perfect just the way it was. It was rich, moist and decadent and best of all – it was light and fluffy! There is no way I can explain how incredible the coffee cake was, but anyone who used to eat sour cream coffee cake with gluten in it might want to try this incredible new offering from The World’s Best Carrot Cake bakery.

The bakery offers online ordering and Whole Foods should be picking up the new Pecan Coffee Cake soon. Whole Foods carries several of the World’s Best Carrot Cakes, including gluten and gluten-free versions. Because the bakery is not a dedicated gluten-free facility, they take every precaution you can think of (and some you never would) to keep the gluten-free items safe. Those precautions include using color coded scissors and box cutters to open the gluten-free ingredients and the boxes they come in. Everyone at the bakery takes the issue very seriously, to say the least. I’ve never seen so many non food items labeled gluten-free in my life!

It was so much fun to learn about the World’s Best Carrot Cake company and to get the know the people that created such a special place. After our behind the scenes tour of the bakery earlier this year, Avi was kind enough to give us some cupcakes to take to our hotel in Asheville. As we tasted both the regular and chocolate carrot cake cupcakes later that day, we debated over which flavor was the best and why. We finally decided that we could not decide. They were both phenomenal so it’s no wonder that the new Pecan Coffee Cake cake meets the high standard Avi has set for her products – regardless of ingredients.

*Special thanks to Avi for our chocolate carrot cake cupcakes.  They were fabulous – as always!