What I Do Now:
Divvies (Part I) Are They Really Made To Share?
Sharing is a big big deal when you are a kid. From the time many babies sit up and babble, parents begin demonstrating the benefits of generosity. "Thank you!" we beam as they hand us their beloved stuffed animals. "His turn?" we prod as they enter their group-play toddler years. Nowadays great pains are taken for our children to have family meals: Both meals and snacks have become one more way to share.
But from the moment a food allergic child receives their diagnosis, food-sharing becomes forbidden territory. Food allergic children cannot truly share food unless they know with absolute certainty it is safe. Can they share their safe food? Sure. But for most children with food allergies the very fact of it has already made them different from their peers. Allergic children don't really want their food to be viewed as "different."
This truth - that Divvies treats are "so good, they're made to share" - is the brilliance of Divvies Bakery. For the purposes of this review my family, including those without food allergies, sampled every single Divvies baked and confectionery item. (Tough job but someone had to do it.) And since there is so much to recommend, and rave about, today's review is solely on Baked Goods:
Divvies Cupcakes -
Both the chocolate and the vanilla have a similarly fluffy texture, difficult to find in most egg-free cakes. The flavors of the batter shine through so much that my son shuns the frosting, claiming "It just tastes so good plain!" The frosting is worth mention though, in that it is nicely sweet without being granular or clawing. Both kinds of cupcakes are perfectly sized for school children (unlike many other bakery cupcakes.)
Divvies Bakery Cookies -
Our cups runneth-ed over ,these cookies. First, the award winning "choco-lot brownie cookies" are ridiculous. It was 6pm when I bit into that chewy, rich, sugar-topped goodness and my first thought was: Do I really have to wait until after dinner to have another? Sensing danger I gave the remainder to my two children who moaned and voiced that very question aloud. The other varieties? The Divvies sugar cookies melt in your mouth. My son, who almost always favors chocolate over anything vanilla, loves these after school with a cup of rice milk. My top choice is Divvies molasses ginger cookies, which, if you close your eyes, taste exactly like my favorite gingerbread recipe but chewier and therefore, far more interesting.
Now this post is in danger of runneth-ing over, so I'll get us back to the question of sharing: I'm certain that if I were to heap a platter full of Divvies cupcakes and cookies at my next gathering, no one in the room (either child or adult) would guess that were "free-of" anything. But for children like my allergic son to freely enjoy a bounty of baked goods so often denied -- well, I can't imagine a more delicious sight.