HomeFree

**UPDATE 2012: They have added a GF line. Here's their FAQ. **

I had been meaning to try Gak’s Snacks as I had heard so many positive things about them, but I hadn’t gotten around to it yet. Assistant Ami went to the Natural Products Expo and ran into the former Gak’s now HomeFree team and voila I now had an opportunity to try the treats. And treats they are: organic; free of peanuts, tree nuts, eggs and dairy!

From the HomeFree press release:

§ Free of peanuts, tree nuts, eggs and dairy

§ Certified whole grain – each cookie serving contains at least ½ serving of whole grains

§ Certified organic

§ Fine for most people allergic to wheat (not gluten-free; contain oats and barley)

§ Fine for most people allergic to soy (most contain soy lecithin)

§ Baked and packaged in a dedicated bakery

§ Allergen tested

§ Without trans fat or cholesterol

§ Without corn sweeteners, artificial colors, artificial flavors, MSG, and genetically modified organisms (GMOs)

§ Certified vegan (oatmeal cookies, and coffee cakes)

§ Certified kosher pareve

To be *super clear* about HomeFree non-Gluten-Free status: they use barley flour in their chip cookies and their oatmeal cookies use oats that may have traces of wheat. Here’s their GF info from the site's FAQ.

Since I’m not celiac but wheat intolerant, I deemed these cookies AG safe for me to try. (If you have further questions, please contact the company directly for more information: info@homefreetreats.com.)

So on to the cookies. The chocolate chocolate chip and the chocolate chip tasted exactly like commercial cookies to me. Really, like what I remember Chips Ahoy tasting like (even though I haven’t had those since grade school.) I gave them to assistant Tammy to try (she has no food intolerances or allergies) and she tried them with her friends who all thought they were not only terrific but couldn’t believe that were “free from” treats.

You probably all knew this because you ate them as Gak’s Snacks. But as a newbie to Jill Robbins’s creations, I’m impressed. So much so, that after a taste (or two or three) I had to give away my free sample boxes of HomeFree for fear of becoming a cookie monster and gobbling them all up!