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    Treat to Try/Ohio’s Own: Moondance Chocolate Chip Cookie Bar

    Both gluten-free and Ohio-grown products have become so abundant in stores, they’re not necessarily marketed with big announcements of their specialness. While Moondance Desserts does disclose its gluten-free-ness on its label, its chocolate chip cookies were found in the mix with a bunch of normal cookies, and the fact that it’s based in Cincinnati became evident only after looking at the itty bitty print.

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    The bakery does its chocolate chip cookies in bar form. They’re dense and sweet and reasonably freckled with chocolate chips. The texture is tender; certainly, no one would think they’re missing gluten (wheat flour), and they can hold their own over anything made by Nabisco or even fancier big-box cookie makers. Truly, nothing in this world is less satisfying than a wooden Chip Ahoy. Except possibly, the chemical-ly ones that are treated to stay bendable.

    In smaller print, the ingredient list also mentions being “all natural.” That actually turns out to be pretty true too. A quick look at the ingredient list shows the first ingredient is brown sugar. There’s also unsalted butter, eggs, vanilla: lots of the normal stuff you’d use at home, with the exception of “rice flour”, instead of wheat flour. Full disclosure: there are a few little odd things like soy lecithin and xantham gum in the mix, but you find those two in lots of “natural” products.

    If you’re doing gluten-free for weight-loss purposes (let’s be honest, people do that), these are probably not the cookies you’re looking for. A single hit will get you 130 calories. Of course, there’s a gram of protein there, and 4 percent of the RDA for Vitamin A. If you eat the whole box, which is a distinct possibility, you’ll end up eating most of the calories for the day. You can always eat a salad tomorrow.

    You can find Moondance Bakery items at local gourmet grocers. In terms of branching out, it’s also got a line of brownies, cheesecakes and coffeecakes.

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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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