Cookies: Pamela's Almond Anise Biscotti

The second Pamela’s product I tried was the Almond Anise Biscotti. These too are wheat-free and gluten-free and contain a pungent mix of anise and almond. They are twice baked to ensure they’ll stay crunchy in your favorite beverage. The anise almond biscotti are satisfying and not too sweet, just like their chocolate walnut counterpart. It does seem though that the almond anise biscotti disintegrate more quickly than the chocolate walnut. The cookie just seems to break up faster in your mouth-meaning there’s no prolonging the biscotti experience for a longer time! I believe it may be because the almond anise is finer in consistency. Still I can’t help but be impressed by the delicious taste.

Never mind that these are gluten free, these are the best biscotti I’ve had in a while - a perfect treat for celiacs.

Ingredients:

Brown rice base (brown rice flour, white rice flour, tapioca starch, sweet rice flour, xanthan gum); molasses and honey; butter, egg whites, almonds, white rice flour, natural almond flavor, natural vanilla flavor, natural anise flavor, grainless and aluminum free baking powder (sodium bicarbonate, sodium acid pyrophosphate, potato starch); sea salt, baking soda, xanthan gum.

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size: 2 biscotti (38 g)

Servings Per Container: 3

Calories: 170

Calories from fat: 60

Total fat: 6 g

Sat. fat: 3 g

Trans fat: 0 g

Cholesterol: 10 mg

Sodium: 180 mg

Total Carb: 26 g

Dietary fiber: 1 g

Sugars: 8 g

Protein: 2 g

Cookies: Pamela's Chocolate Walnut Biscotti

Pamela’s Chocolate Walnut Biscotti are deliciously crunchy with a hint of buttery richness. The Old World biscotti are twice-baked ensuring they’ll hold up in your favorite beverage. I tried mine with a cup of hot hazelnut coffee. The biscotti did leave a surprising amount of crumbs in the bottom, but I didn’t mind. There were whole chunks of walnuts to bite into surrounded by a satisfyingly hard cookie. These are a perfect celiac treat to keep on hand for tea, coffee, gluten-free guests and friends alike. It is truly a civilized biscotti that can rival any gluten biscotti on the market!

Ingredients:

Molasses and honey, brown rice base (brown rice flour, white rice flour, tapioca starch, sweet rice flour, xanthan gum); butter, egg whites, walnuts, natural process cocoa powder, white rice flour, potato starch, natural vanilla flavor, grainless and aluminum free baking powder (sodium bicarbonate, sodium acid pyrophosphate, potato starch); xanthan gum, sea salt, baking soda.

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size: 2 biscotti (38 g)

Servings Per Container: 3

Calories: 170

Calories from fat: 60

Total fat: 6 g

Sat. fat: 3 g

Trans fat: 0 g

Cholesterol: 10 mg

Sodium: 190 mg

Total Carb: 25 g

Dietary fiber: 1 g

Sugars: 10 g

Protein: 2 g

Brownies – Pamela’s Irresistible Chocolate Brownie Mix

Diana and I recently attended the 10th anniversary of the Celiac Research Center at University of Maryland. It was a great evening to see how far Celiac awareness and research has come. There was a silent auction and we won a few baskets of different Celiac mixes. Now we just need to cook them all and pass the reviews onto you.

Pamela’s Brownie mix is made up of Molasses and Honey; Brown Rice Flour; Natural Process Cocoa Powder; White Rice Flour; Organic Chocolate Chunks (Organic Natural Evaporated Cane Sugar, Organic Cocoa Paste, Organic Cocoa Butter, Non-GMO Soy Lecithin/ emulsifier, Organic Vanilla. Chunks may contain traces of milk protein due to manufacturing equipment.); Tapioca Starch; Sweet Rice Flour; Potato Starch; Natural Flavor (contains corn derivative); Sea Salt; Xanthan Gum; Baking Soda. To make the brownies with oil you’ll need a bag of mix, 1 large egg, ½ cup oil, and ¼ cup water. We took their advice and added a ½ cup of walnuts and ½ cup of chocolate chips (to make it extra rich). Direct from Pamela’s site.

The packaging includes nutritional facts which are helpful in watching the calories; I’ve included the information for your convenience. Click here to see them.

The mix versatile because it allows you to make chocolate cake, chocolate cookies, mocha brownies, ultra rich brownies, oil-free brownies, and egg-free brownies.

Enough with the details let’s get into the preparation and whether they actually taste good.

Directions: Put all ingredients into a bowl. With a spoon, mix enough to incorporate. For the fudgiest brownies, do not over mix. Pour into a greased 8" square pan. Bake at 350° for 18 to 20 minutes. Do not overbake. A toothpick inserted into the brownies should come out with crumbs. Direct from Pamela’s packing

Ease of preparation: It took my wife about 8 minutes to mix up the brownies and get them into the oven. She raved about the ease of preparation.

Level of Realism: Extremely high – my wife who is not Celiac said they matched normal brownies. Everyone in the family tried them and they all loved them. This is one of those perfect substitute products that doesn’t punish the non-Celiacs in the household.

Taste: We both felt they tasted great, rich chocolate and a nice mouth feel. Not a typical grainy rice flour feeling.

We’ll be buying them again.