Monday, August 15, 2011

Gluten Free Goodies

Since I officially went GF about 5 years ago, I've been on the hunt for the perfect prepared baked goods.  No longer could I pop into the market and bring home a cake or pie for dessert, I had to settle for making my own or buying something that, for years, had the possibility of tasting like concrete or sawdust (or a combo of both). Doesn't being gluten-free sound delightful to you right now?

Fear not, being GF is hip now and there are plenty of delicious products out there for us "glutards."  Then when we moved to NY we learned about the Katz Company - I was instantly in love with their challah and some other ready to eat yummies.  So, when they contacted me a few weeks ago about reviewing and giving away (yes, you read right!) a few of their products I jumped at the chance!

A week of so later a box arrived with some of Katz's newest products! I popped everything into the freezer until I had a chance to eat them and then this weekend we had company twice and I used them as my guinea pigs!
 First up, the coffee bundt cake. I of course can't look at or mention a bundt cake without thinking about the scene from "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," but I digress.  This good sized bundt cake came with a coffee glaze to pour on top of it.  I took the cake out of the freezer that morning and it was perfectly defrosted by the time I served dessert.  This cake had a really great flavor and texture, which is a plus for GF goodies.  The glaze, which was also frozen, then thawed, and then microwaved was a nice addition, but the cake was super good on its own.  We also added some whipped cream, which of course was a fabulous addition!

It had a subtle but present coffee flavor, but not overpowering at all.  The glaze was holy moly coffee flavor, but since the second ingredient is coffee, that is to be expected.  The cake then sat in the fridge from Friday night to Sunday evening. It held up pretty well, and only got a little dried out. But that may be my fault since I didn't wrap it too tightly. Overall, a good product here Katz!
 Then onto the apple pie. I also had frozen this, and took it out the morning I planned on serving it, and it was perfectly defrosted by dessert time. I have fond memories from my pre-gluten-free days of having store made apple pie for dessert on winter Shabbats.  So I was pretty excited to try this out. This little, but decent sized pie is supposed to serve 4 people, which seems pretty generous, 4 people ate half of this one!

The flavor was actually quite good.  The crust was flaky and had that melt in your mouth flavor that is so hard to describe, but that you expect from apple pie. My only two gripes about it are that there wasn't enough apple filling to crust ratio and that they used high fructose corn syrup in their apple filling. I really try to avoid eating any HFCS and was slightly bummed to read that Katz was using it in their product. But, overall, a good pie, and they have other flavors too! So my suggestion is ditch the corn syrup and bump up the fruit filling and you have me hook line and pie!
Then we have the sugared snack poppers. They sounded like a kichel to me, and I have memories of living on kichel during Pesach as a kid, so I was excited to try these.  I also froze these and tried them frozen and tried them thawed out.

And here is where the rave reviews stop (sorry Katz!). Frozen these were awesome, but I like most cookies in frozen form. Thawed, these were almost stale tasting. They weren't overly sweet, but they were sorta dense and too crunchy. I remember kichel being lighter and flakier.  A valiant effort though, on Katz's part.
You can see the flakiness of the crust, and while the pie looks fruity, I am a very fruity type of pie girl. Good, but could have been fruitier! But it does look pretty, and I didn't have to make my own pie crust, a serious, serious plus! 
Before and after - I wasn't the only one who thought the kichel were a miss, sadly. The cake was gobbled up as was the pie. So I applaud thee Katz Gluten Free, you have some seriously good goods here and I look forward to sampling and buying more soon!

And now the fun part. Okay, well the fun part for me was tasting these goodies. The fun part for you comes now: a giveaway!! The Katz Company now had 40 gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, and kosher products and are working on rolling out more. So in honor of their 40th product I get to host a giveaway for you my dear readers. And there are 2 ways to win!

Way number 1: in the comments let me know what product you miss the most since going GF or what gluteny product you can't live without!  You could win 5 products from Katz!

Way number 2: Go here and enter the giveaway on Katz's site. You will be entered into the raffle to win a box filled with all 40, yes all 40, products that Katz offers! Just make sure you enter my URL in the blog referral box! Last day for this too!! Go enter, now!

This giveaway is open until August 19th at 9 p.m. and make sure you leave an email or way for me to contact you!

8 thoughts on the matter:

Avi said... {Reply}

GF! GF! I miss anything that had puff pastry or filo dough in it, buttery flaky goodness. That apple pie is making my mouth water.

physician activist in training said... {Reply}

Babka!!

Buckeroomama said... {Reply}

Haha, that scene from My Big Fat Greek Wedding is stuck in my head, too, whenever I hear someone say bundt cake. That said, I'm on the hunt for a bundt cake mold... saw some really yummy recipes online that I want to try. :)

Chava Gal-Or said... {Reply}

Wow Tamar! You really had all the fun and of course the goodies had to come after I left your house! Sigh.

I know Aryeh and I are missing lots of stuff. Aryeh just wants to be normal and enjoy sweet junk, he loves bundt cakes and pound cakes, and cup cakes. I would probably even give up my no sugar rule on Rosh HaShana for the apple pie. Wow!!!

Anyway, hon...have fun with this and thanks for introducing us to something new. I haven't had gluten goodies in nearly 10 years and mouth still waters as does Aryeh who hasn't had a normal childhood with twinkies and yodels.

With love,
Chava

sherri lynn said... {Reply}

This sounds so fun to try so many of their goodies! I am not gluten-free, but have thought many times about becoming GF because I have chronic headaches. My doctors have suggested playing around with my foods, thus the contemplation of going GF. I'd love to try some of the products though!

cubbie said... {Reply}

Wow! sounds like you were having a gluten free time!! Count me in/1

cubbieduke@gmail.com

Unknown said... {Reply}

I miss sweets! I am a sweetaholic and I am really struggling with not being able to run into the store & pick up a treat. :( I'd love to win to try something that might make my sweet tooth happy :)

Amy said... {Reply}

My son has only been GF for a few days now, but he is missing Goldfish like crazy :-( I am surprised at how well he is doing though!

amy_lavonne@yahoodotcom