<< previous   next >>

pot luck

“Cookie Monster Alert”

My brother David, as some of you may know, is a vegan. (How we came from the same parents is a mystery to me.) He’s also a dedicated yogi (Ashtanga), an endurance cyclist who could probably give Lance Armstrong a run for his money, and one of the most incredibly kind, smart, and interesting people I know. Yes, I am biased, but I think you’d feel the same way if you met him. Anyway, he’s always sending me information on restaurants he loves or foods that he discovers that he thinks I might like (he lives on the West Coast), and a few months ago he told me about Liz Lovely Cookies. He also informed me that they were certified organic, fair trade, and vegan.

Vegan? I thought. Oh no. I was skeptical. To be sure, I’m a big fan organics and fair trade products, but I am also a lover of butter, milk, and cream and find that baked goods prepared without these precious ingredients suffer in terms of taste and texture. But I was open to trying them. And I am sure you must know by now that if I am writing about them, I loved them.

Liz Lovely cookies were created by high school sweethearts Liz and Dan Holtz. After losing everything in the dot com crash, Liz went into comfort mode. She retreated to their tiny attic-level kitchen and started to bake. Most of the ceiling was on a deep slope, which caused incessant head banging, but she forged onward, mixing and baking hand-dipped chocolate covered vegan cookies and treats for friends. They were an instant hit and when her friends kept asking for more, she finally caved in (luckily the ceiling did not) and turned her kitchen hobby into a business.

Today, Liz Lovely Cookies are hand-mixed and baked daily in the Green Mountains of Vermont in a renovated canoe factory by Liz and her friend Lauren, and are packaged in eco-friendly wrappers. (All product information is printed on 100% post consumer recycled paper made by wind energy.) The cookies are soft bite (not crunchy) and oversized, about the size of a small bread plate, and come two per package ($3.99 each) in several varieties including Cowboy (oatmeal walnut cookies hand-dipped in dark chocolate), Cowgirl (chocolate chip hand-dipped in dark chocolate), Peanut Butter Classics (self-explanatory peanut butter goodness), Ginger Snapdragons (gingerbread cookies), and Mochadamia Mountains (coffee and macadamia nuts cookies hand-dipped in dark chocolate). My favorites are the Ginger Snapdragons—they pack a little bit of spicy heat from the fresh ginger and are topped with homemade candied ginger.

They also make a great assortment of delicious dark chocolate covered nuts and such—pretzels, ginger, Oreo-like cookies, cashews, almonds, trail mix and they've just introduced the most addictive and waist-threatening dark chocolate dipped macadamia nuts. I hesitate to recommend these because of the power they have to remove all sense of eating discipline, but I feel it’s my duty to give you this information. You have self-control. Yes, you do. (I, on the other hand, don’t.)

 

Liz Lovely Cookies are sold at many natural food stores including Whole Foods and are also sold online at www.lizlovely.com. I hope you enjoy them!

 

<< previous   next >>

Posted: March 7, 2008

Share ! Post a comment