A few weeks ago Jennifer C. from Bixby, OK won the Grassroots Granookies giveaway here at Gluten-Free Fun. Since I don't eat oats, even gluten-free oats, I asked for a reader review. Here are Jennifer's thoughts and photo about Grassroots Granookies.
My Granookies arrived very quickly, and I didn’t even wait for my daughter to get home from school before I opened the box. The box had two bags of chocolate chip Granookies and two bags of apricot cinnamon Granookies along with a cute t-shirt.
Granookies are gluten free, but they are also dairy free, soy free, and nut free (which means my non-gluten free, tree nut allergic husband can have them too). I like that 95% of the ingredients are organic and that Granookies do not have anything artificial. They do contain gluten free oats, so if you don’t eat oats, they aren’t for you.
Each bag contained six Granookies. They are a combination of granola and cookies, but my best description of Granookies would be a chewy cluster. They look more like granola, but they are not dry like granola and are somewhat held together in a cookie/cluster shape.
I have to admit upfront that I am not a big raisin fan. They just don’t appeal to me, so I was a little unsure about how much I would like Granookies since both flavors have raisins. I was pleasantly surprised.
The Granookies are very moist and have a nice combination of crunchy and chewy, although I would say they are more chewy than crunchy. They definitely don’t taste like some healthful items where you can tell someone just put all the good-for-you stuff they could think of together and really didn’t think about how it tastes. Granookies taste good.
As for the specific flavors, you can taste the chocolate in the chocolate chip flavor (yeah!). However, for those of you who don’t love chocolate as much as I do, the chocolate is not overwhelming. The apricot cinnamon had a nice, mellow flavor that was good on its own but would pair well with vanilla yogurt or ice cream. The chocolate chip flavor was definitely my favorite, but for the most part chocolate will beat out just about anything else for me.
My five-year-old daughter tried the Granookies as well and declared them a winner. She went for the chocolate chip Granookie first (big surprise) but finished off her apricot cinnamon Granookie with just as much zeal. My husband also tried Granookies on his morning yogurt. He said he liked the taste, but he does prefer a crunchier topping.
Two Granookies have 100 calories and 2.5g of fat for chocolate chip and 1.5g fat for apricot cinnamon. For a healthful, tasty treat, I think they are a very good option. The chocolate chip granookies could definitely satisfy a sweets/chocolate craving for me without too much guilt.
The primary negative to the Granookies is that they are kind of messy. Once you bite into a cluster, it starts to fall apart. Because of that, these are probably not the best “on the go/car” snack for my daughter.
Pros
- Great Taste
- Allergy Friendly
- Healthful (good stuff in/bad stuff out)
Cons
- The “clusters” don’t hold together well, which I guess is not a bad thing if you are going to break them up anyway to use them as a topping
- Could be kind of messy for an “on the go/car” snack for kids
My Ratings Breakdown:
Health Factor: 5/5 (works with all my family’s dietary needs, made from good stuff)
Taste: 4/5 (mostly because of the raisins for me)
Convenience Factor: 4/5 (could be messy for on-the-go)
My Granookies arrived very quickly, and I didn’t even wait for my daughter to get home from school before I opened the box. The box had two bags of chocolate chip Granookies and two bags of apricot cinnamon Granookies along with a cute t-shirt.
Granookies are gluten free, but they are also dairy free, soy free, and nut free (which means my non-gluten free, tree nut allergic husband can have them too). I like that 95% of the ingredients are organic and that Granookies do not have anything artificial. They do contain gluten free oats, so if you don’t eat oats, they aren’t for you.
Each bag contained six Granookies. They are a combination of granola and cookies, but my best description of Granookies would be a chewy cluster. They look more like granola, but they are not dry like granola and are somewhat held together in a cookie/cluster shape.
I have to admit upfront that I am not a big raisin fan. They just don’t appeal to me, so I was a little unsure about how much I would like Granookies since both flavors have raisins. I was pleasantly surprised.
The Granookies are very moist and have a nice combination of crunchy and chewy, although I would say they are more chewy than crunchy. They definitely don’t taste like some healthful items where you can tell someone just put all the good-for-you stuff they could think of together and really didn’t think about how it tastes. Granookies taste good.
As for the specific flavors, you can taste the chocolate in the chocolate chip flavor (yeah!). However, for those of you who don’t love chocolate as much as I do, the chocolate is not overwhelming. The apricot cinnamon had a nice, mellow flavor that was good on its own but would pair well with vanilla yogurt or ice cream. The chocolate chip flavor was definitely my favorite, but for the most part chocolate will beat out just about anything else for me.
My five-year-old daughter tried the Granookies as well and declared them a winner. She went for the chocolate chip Granookie first (big surprise) but finished off her apricot cinnamon Granookie with just as much zeal. My husband also tried Granookies on his morning yogurt. He said he liked the taste, but he does prefer a crunchier topping.
Two Granookies have 100 calories and 2.5g of fat for chocolate chip and 1.5g fat for apricot cinnamon. For a healthful, tasty treat, I think they are a very good option. The chocolate chip granookies could definitely satisfy a sweets/chocolate craving for me without too much guilt.
The primary negative to the Granookies is that they are kind of messy. Once you bite into a cluster, it starts to fall apart. Because of that, these are probably not the best “on the go/car” snack for my daughter.
Pros
- Great Taste
- Allergy Friendly
- Healthful (good stuff in/bad stuff out)
Cons
- The “clusters” don’t hold together well, which I guess is not a bad thing if you are going to break them up anyway to use them as a topping
- Could be kind of messy for an “on the go/car” snack for kids
My Ratings Breakdown:
Health Factor: 5/5 (works with all my family’s dietary needs, made from good stuff)
Taste: 4/5 (mostly because of the raisins for me)
Convenience Factor: 4/5 (could be messy for on-the-go)
Labels: "Grassroots Granookies"
