President's Choice Gluten-Free Cookie Review

On Thursday I announced that President's Choice would be introducing a new gluten-free cookie.  Recipe to Riches named Sonya Walos' gluten-free chocolate chip cookies the winner of the "Snack" challenge.  The cookies are named The Smart Cookie.


I called some stores and went wandering in search of the cookies... with no success.  The elusive cookies would have to wait.


Turns out my friend Jaclyn found the cookies on Thursday and said the following:

Way better than I'd thought they'd be. Sweet, kinda crunchy and chocolatey; definitely buy again. Joseph [my husband] likes them too. He says if no one told him they're gluten-free he wouldn't know.

Keep in mind, both Jaclyn and her husband are chefs and have pretty high standards!  So the cookies MUST be good, right?


I finally found the cookies on Friday evening at my local grocery store.  The cost was $3.99 for 200g.  I bought two boxes.

First thought - wow!  They managed to package gluten-free cookies that taste like homemade!


These cookies are not crunchy or crumbly or tasteless like a lot of other store bought cookies. (I won't mention any names.)  Good amount of chocolate chips and coconut, with a smidgen of cinnamon peeking through.

I have a huge sweet tooth... and even I find these very sweet.  Sugar is the first ingredient.  You'll likely only be able to eat one or two in one sitting.


You can find the full ingredient list and some reviews of the product on the President's Choice website.  

INGREDIENTS
Sugar, milk chocolate chips )sugar, cocoa butter, milk powder, unsweetened chocolate, soy lecithin, vanilla extract), whole grain brown rice flour, palm and canola and modified palm oils, unsweetened coconut (contains sulphites) brown sugar, potato starch, butter, honey, puffed corn, flaxseeds, dried whole egg, puffed quinoa, crisp brown rice (whole grain brown rice, evaporated cane juice, salt), natural flavour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, xanthan gum, salt.

When I heard the ingredients on the show, I thought these cookies would be similar to a (mock) oatmeal cookie, with the puffed corn, puffed quinoa and crisp brown rice added in the mix.  They aren't.  They have the texture of a typical home-baked chocolate chip cookie.  As seen on the show, I think it would be difficult for a non-Celiac to notice the lack of gluten/regular flour.

I want to point out that the cookies have a definite coconut flavour.  On the box, coconut is only mentioned in the small writing at the bottom and in the ingredients... but it should be made more prominent.  It's definitely a key ingredient.  If you don't like coconut, these cookies probably shouldn't be on your grocery shopping list.  But if you do (like me) these cookies are a winner.


The cookies seem to be getting mixed reviews on the website.  I'm wondering if maybe the hype has raised some people's expectations... or maybe they don't like coconut.  At any rate, The Smart Cookie will in my cupboard.


If you would like to help me encourage President's Choice to label their current products that are gluten-free, visit my blog post from yesterday.


Missed the show on TV or want to watch again?  Watch online!


If you would like to try making Sonya Walos' cookies at home, you can find the recipe here.

Edit: A fan of Gluten-Free Ontario, Lisa Noonan, took it upon herself to make the recipe at home and send me a picture!  She subbed in gluten-free crispy rice for the Nature's Path Vanilla Sunrise Cereal that the recipe called for and cut back on the chocolate chips a bit and got great results! Yum!

Have you tried The Smart Cookie?

Do you like it?

Plea to President's Choice

To all my Facebook fans, blog readers, tweeters and anyone else who may be reading this... 


I have a favour to ask of you.


I don't ask for much so please hear me out :)


If any of you have ever been to the store Wegmans in the US, you may already be familiar with their store brand products that are clearly labelled gluten-free.  They even go so far as to list their gluten-free products on their website.  And there are hundreds of them.


As far as I know, there is no Canadian (Ontario) equivalent to Wegman's awesome labeling in stores.

So here's the plan.

Let's encourage President's Choice to label their products in a similar manner.  If the product is gluten-free, put a little GF in the corner of the label.
President's Choice is known for having pretty tasty products and a lot of it is quite healthy too - their "Blue Menu" especially.  How great would it be to buy regular products again?

Who's with me?

There's strength in numbers!

You can contact President's Choice through their website, on Facebook, or through Twitter.


A sample message could be:

I loved President's Choice products prior to being diagnosed with Celiac Disease.  Now that I require a gluten-free diet, it is difficult to find affordable, great tasting food that is safe to consume.  Please label your PC products that are gluten-free and I will be a happy shopper!  This would make navigating the grocery store so much easier and more affordable to those of us who cannot eat gluten.  Thank you!

PC introduces a new Gluten-Free Cookie!!

RECIPE TO RICHES is a new competitive reality series where each week, Canadian home cooks battle to have their original recipes become a President’s Choice product, win $25,000 and become eligible for a grand prize of $250,000.

On last night's episode of Recipes to Riches, Sonya Walos' gluten-free chocolate chip cookie recipe was up against two other recipes in the "Snack" category. Contending recipes included a "S'more" and a strange sounding "Bacon and Pancake Cookie," neither of which were gluten-free.

Amazingly, the gluten-free cookie became a favourite of the judges and the recipe will be packaged and sold under the President's Choice brand name in stores starting this weekend!  It is called The Smart Cookie, and is described as: "A sinfully good cookie made with milk chocolate chips, coconut, puffed corn, quinoa and crisp brown rice."

Sonya had attempted 160 different gluten-free chocolate chip cookie recipes until she came up with the perfect soft-baked recipe for the show, that even her non-gluten-free friends loved.

I would like to thank my friend Dahlia, who tweeted me with this amazing news last night!  Thanks!

Check out my review!

How cool is this?!  Will you be on the lookout for the new gluten-free cookies in stores?