Gluten Free Cookie: Alive & Radiant Foods Vanilla Contrast Cookie with Cacao Cream

PRODUCT NAME:                  Vanilla Contrast Cookie w/Cacao

COMPANY NAME:                 Alive and Radiant Foods

COST:                                    $3.00

SIZE:                                     1.5 oz

COST PER OZ:                       $2.00

CERTIFIED GLUTEN FREE:     NO

CERTIFICATION AGENCY:      N/A

ORGANIC:                              YES

CERTIFICATION AGENCY:      Unknown

VEGAN:                                  YES

GLUTEN FREE FACILITY:        NO

LOCATION OF FACILITY:        Emeryville, CA

SHELF LIFE:                            2 months

*These statements are based on the information printed on the product packaging.  We cannot verify the accuracy of this information.  For verification of the statements above, please contact the manufacturer.     

           

REVIEW:

Taste: 

Alive and Radiant Foods is a bay area raw foods company straight out of Emeryville, California. The company is most famous for their Dehydrated Kale Chips and has an almost cult-like following as a result. Although this savory treat is their most famous, they also have a fairly broad smattering of raw treats that fall on the dessert side of the spectrum. Today we have the “contrast cookie” to review.

The ingredient list is very short, which is something I greatly appreciate about the product. It consists solely of almonds, coconut butter, agave, cacao, cashews, coconut milk, and vanilla. That’s right folks! No gluten, sugar, soy, dairy, or sugar. This cookie’s ingredients are extremely health conscious and particularly chosen. Additionally, every single component listed is recognizable to me as a delicious food that I personally enjoy. I was really looking forward to indulging.

The cookie itself is on the larger side and has a vanilla outer edge and a cacao cream center. It seems the outside is supposed to be the “cookie” while the inside is supposed to be the “cream” but there was no discernible difference in texture between the two and so that is kind of a hard sell. The outside has an immediate almond flavor but none of the mealy almond texture that could add nuance or complexity to the flavor. Four out of six ingredients listed were direct fat sources and it seems that all of these were thrown together in a food processor to make a paste and then formed into a cookie. All the textural delight of cashew, coconut, and almond was completely nullified by this blending and left me with a wave of disappointment. Truth be told, the cookie had the texture of Play-Doh.

Onto the center. As the cookie itself seemed to be a flop, I could only press forward and onto the redeeming qualities of the cream. I broke the cookie in half and took a bite that was 100% cream center. As I mentioned before, same texture. The addition of cocoa gave the flavor of the cream more than the single taste note of the cookie, but all in all, I wasn’t anywhere close to impressed.

Labeling:

Labeling on this product was not sufficient. There was no nutrition information whatsoever. As I determined that many of the ingredients listed were fats, I assume the calorie content is fairly high, and it seems sneaky to market something as “healthy” but not also include the fact that it also may be very caloric. Also, it took some poking around on the company’s website to find that the product was organic. As organic seems to be a huge selling point these days, wouldn’t they want to make this information immediately known?

Packaging:

The packaging of this product was a sealed plastic sheeth. It seemed appropriate for the freshness of the product.

Reader’s Reviews:

Please share with us your review of this company’s other products + where you purchased the product + how long you have been using this product. Please no review from the family + friends of the company producing the product…

RATING:

Texture:           2

Taste:               2         

Value:              2         

OVERALL:        2

Reviewed by Lacy D.