So going even further than my last cookie review, Michelle’s Naturally Vegan, I will review a raw cookie. Raw food is that which has been unadultered by the heating or freezing process. Raw foodists do not consume any meat, dairy or eggs. I have the back of the package here that shows the ingredients:

..not that you can read the ingredients, thanks to the flash. The raw fruit burst cookies only contain Organic Cashews, organic agave nectar, organic coconut oil, organic oranges, organic dried cranberries, organic raisins and sea salt. As you can see, nothing that has to be cooked and everything can be eaten fine in its purest form.

These cookies came inside a plastic bag with a zip top to keep these cookies fresh. Tiny cookies that literally look like what the ingredient list lists, all ground up and meshed together. However I couldn’t taste the different ingredients individually except that it had a distinct nutty flavor. The cookies were smooth, thanks to the cashews. They were soft, pliable with your fingers even. It didn’t have enough fruit in it; I wouldn’t have minded some extra whole dried cranberries to change up the texture and taste in every bite (I don’t like oranges or raisins so I’m fine with the little amount they put in there). The best thing I can compare this to would be a Larabar. Larabars are snack bars that contain only dried fruit and nuts so you can imagine the resemblance. This cookie tasted great; nothing like a regular cookie though. I think the only reason that this is called a cookie is because it’s round. Larabar could probably make a “cookie” out of the ingredients they make their bars with with this definition. Then we go into what makes a cookie? Combo of sugar and flour?

Anyway, that’s beside the point. I finished this package in about 2 days (didn’t want the fresh ingredients to go stale, you know…). All in all, they tasted great, but $8 at WF for a box of cookies hurt my wallet more than pleased my mouth and stomach.

• Taste: 7
• Crust and center moistness: very moist and soft all around
• Value: $8 for 8 raw cookies, 84 cals each; eat two and that’s 168 calories. There aren’t that many Raw companies out there, so when you consider the scarcity of products you’ll understand that Raw foods have to be on the pricier side. Not being a Raw foodist, I don’t have to eat these cookies; I actually think this is the most expensive cookie I’ve ever eaten. However, I can officially say I’ve eaten a raw cookie now though, so I have paid $8 to join this club. Therefore I will rank the value at a 2.
• Overall: I’ll have to do more “research” on Raw cookies to see if this brand is more worth buying than other Raw cookies. In terms of cookies in general, I’ll never pay $8 for a box of these cookies again. They are “healthier” than other cookies but.. come on, it’s a cookie. 6!

At any point in time I will usually have this stash of cookies in my drawer at work:

::grin::

Michelle has the cutest picture of herself on the front and touts that her cookies are all natural with nothing artificial, contain no trans fats, are fruit juice sweetened and are made with organic ingredients.

I’ve only eaten the Chokolada Chip cookies, but there’s a Peanut Butter Apricot that intrigued me. Now, on with the review!

A standard sized cookie, about the size of my palm. I’ll point out one negative in that the cookies are very crumbly. They take a tiny bit of effort to bite into, and it can get a bit messy but from then on it’s just heaven!! I don’t know how she achieves that “buttery” goodness in a vegan cookie, but somehow she did. This cookie always disappears too quickly Also worth noting is that I’m usually really picky about my chocolate chips in my cookies. I usually like more chocolate chips than less, but this cookie — as you can tell from the photos — don’t have as many as I would normally like. However, in this special cookie the ratio is very well balanced due to the very tasty dough. I can tell these cookies are sold much more fresh than other pre-packaged cookies (a downside is that one time I think I bought a bag of these cookies that had gone a little stale…). And might I mention that one of these chocolate chip cookies is a mere 135 calories??

When I first ate these cookies, I was so impressed that I actually emailed Michelle herself. She ever-so-kindly emailed me back, thanking me for the compliments. That’s another great thing: the customer service of a self-starter is wonderful! I gave one to my meat-eating friend and even he admitted it was one of the best he’s had. Unfortunately, you may not be able to find these cookies everywhere. I get mine at Miss Winston’s on 31st and Ocean Park in Santa Monica for $4.99 (my last post stating that these cookies were $4.69 needs to be corrected but it still doesn’t change my opinion about them!). The Whole Foods on National and Barrington sells it at a monstrous $5.69, but the Whole Foods on Lincoln and Rose doesn’t sell it at all which was appalling.

• Taste: 10
• Crust and center moistness: A little dry, but it’s buttery at the same time
• Value: $5 for 8 almost-fresh cookies, each at 135 calories; GREAT!!
• Overall: If you don’t do eggs or dairy or either, this is a MUST HAVE in your pantry. If you don’t steer in that direction, it’s still a REALLY REALLY good cookie. 10!!

So what do you think of the vegetarian / vegan trend getting into your baked goods? Do you believe that something lacking eggs and dairy could be this good?!