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    Treat to Try: Gluten-Free Twinkies from Bake Me Happy

    Twinkies and Oatmeal Pies; they’re not all bad. Sure, the sanctimonious are endlessly horrified at anyone’s professed love for the packaged, processed treats. That’s all the more reason to love Hostess and Little Debbie.

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    How about this, then? You can score a gluten-free, cream-filled, tube-shaped pastry sponge cake that’s locally made here in Columbus. Look no further than the bakery, Bake Me Happy, a gluten-free facility. It makes lots of different gluten-free masterpieces, but its version of the junkie classics beckons the loudest -even if the price tags weigh in between $3-$4 dollars. It’s worth it.

    While Twinkies (aka “Spongies”) might be the headline grabber, it’s actually the oatmeal-pie (aka “Creme Cloud”) that earns the most love during the taste-test. First, the cookie sandwich is huge -you’ll have to stretch out your fingers to hold it. The cookie part has incredibly desirable qualities: almost a brownie-crisp edge, with a soft, dewy crumb. The filling is totally on target, and the assemblage is good enough to scarf down without pause or picking. It may be blasphemy, but it is better than the original Little Debbie Treat -even for a fan of low-brow dining.

    About the Spongies: Bake Me Happy’s version hits the spot, but there is a certain chemically infused wet-sponginess associated with the Hostess version, and aficionados will miss that in the gluten-free rendition. To be sure, it’s a nice, tube-shaped cake with sweet filling, but it’s not quite Twinkie Town.

    As for the ingredient lists, there’s no gluten (remember?), so these artisanal treats are made without wheat flour, using a mix of rice flour and cornstarch. The ingredient list features fairly natural sounding elements such as organic molasses and organic shortening. There might be a couple of multi-syllabic terms, but something like “bicarbonate of soda” is just part of baking powder.

    You can find Bake Me Happy’s products at local retail outlets listed here: www.bakemehappygf.com.

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    Miriam Bowers Abbott
    Miriam Bowers Abbotthttps://columbusunderground.com
    Miriam Bowers Abbott is a freelancer contributor to Columbus Underground who reviews restaurants, writes food-centric featurettes and occasionally pens other community journalism pieces.
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