Cara Pearson samples a gluten-free Chocolate Chip with Sea Salt cookie. Photo by Christina Waters.
Gluten-Free Goodness The aromas of fresh-baked cookies filling this shop are almost too good to be possible. Always ahead of the curve with home-baked attitude in gourmet packaging, Pacific Cookie Company won our hearts and taste buds 30 years ago, thanks to founders Larry and Shelly Pearson, and has stayed fresh ever since. Especially fresh thanks to the latest brainstorm by company VP Cara Pearson. Having ousted trans-fats almost a decade ago, Pearson dreamed of offering gluten-free cookies that would magically meet the high standards of her cookie dynasty. Gluten-free products are popping up everywhere. Yet if you've tried some of the packaged products, then you know that most versions of “gluten-free” are also “flavor-free.” And gloppy, pasty and tough.
Well, that was then. But now there's the luscious partnership between the local gluten-free artisans of Red House Bakery and Pacific Cookie Company. “We'd been wanting to do this for a long time,” says Pearson. But the cookie company's existing kitchen facility was too wheat-flour based to offer gluten-free comfort. “We needed to find a dedicated gluten-free bakery that met our high standards of quality.” Pearson's father, company CEO, Larry Pearson, had noticed some gluten-free pastries over at New Leaf Market—which is where I first sampled Red House Bakery's celestial orange pound cake. One thing led to another, and pretty soon Red House founder Anna Hayes started experimenting with recipes for a light, delicious cookie that was acceptable to Pacific Cookie Company, and also gluten-free.
Ta da! From what I sampled last week, Hayes' outstandingly decadent results will charm every cookie lover with taste buds. The Snickerdoodle is loaded with the exact eggy, vanilla and cinnamon flavor signature required of a true Snickerdoodle. The mouthfeel is rich, light and buttery. And still warm and pliant from the oven, they literally melted in my mouth. But the new gluten-free Chocolate Chip with Sea Salt was the one that stole my heart. Generously laced with Guittard chocolate chips, these cookies offered the right amount of resistence to the teeth—that teasing that all great cookies do, before they surrender into a voluptuous satiny finish. A hint of saltiness helped balance the rest of the ingredients. And even if you absolutely adore gluten, these two new stars in the Pacific company galaxy will win you over. These new Pacific Cookie Company products mark a smart partnership between two local purveyors who both pay ultra-picky attention to detail, to taste, texture and ingredients like organic brown rice flour and organic coconut palm sugar. Betcha can't eat just one.
