Gluten free treats

On the weekend I took a trip to the Sunnybrook Healthfood Store in Ormond. I've written about the place before and how great it is to be in a supermarket of gluten free food. I haven't been in a long time because I've been sampling the gluten free options in my local Safeway and Coles.

Patties gluten free pies:
These pies remind me of Victorian England (bear with me). In those days they would make pies out of whatever they had and often would eat less than great meat because it was all they could afford. These pies are not good. Save yourself the money and pain and keep walking. The pastry looks and acts normally. But whatever flavour it may have is masked completely by the grey sludge held within it. Finely ground meat (so finely it is hard to call it meat anymore, more like molecules) flavoured by grey gravy, it reminds me of dog food. While I appreciate the attempt by Patties, perhaps it would have been nicer of them to employ some sort of taster before marketing these. I feel sorry for all you gluten free people who are going to presented with one of these by well meaning friends/family who are so proud that they found something you can eat.
1/10 (marks only given because sometimes you're desperate and they are in many supermarkets)

U8 GingerBread men
10/10!!! These are completely great. Perhaps slightly crisper than I remember mother's gingerbread men, which would be the rice flour I'm thinking, these have every other characteristic of "normal" gingerbread men. U8 make a lot of biscuits and baked goods, which unfortunately cannot be ordered in large masses directly from them (I checked) but they are definately worth looking up! I definately will be eating my way through their selections.

Gluten Free Gourmet lemon/lime custard muffin
Everytime I go to Sunnybrook I get one of these because I'm always starving when I go there. Cakier than a "normal" muffin, these are moreishly good. The tiny dab of custard in the middle helps prevent the dryness that many GF baked goods are plagued by. I don't recommend eating on the go or in the car as crumbs fly when eating these. They're not particularly crumbly but I always have to think about vacuuming my car after I eat one.
8/10

Britt's Bakery Chocolate cupcake/muffin
My Boy tried this one, I only had 2 small samples - one with icing and one without. First off, it looks great. It comes in a little individual plastic cup thing like a chocolate pudding (which is what I thought it was at first) and the icing sticks enticingly to the lid. Nicely dense, with icing this is great. But on it's own, this muffin/cupcake is dry and somehow bland, like a donut after you've eaten the super-sweet icing off of it. A for effort, but needs work.
5/10

Brookfarm Macadamin Gluten Free Muesli
I've had this kicking around my desk drawer at work for awhile. This muesli is the only GF cereal I've found that comes in single serving packs that are great for throwing in a desk drawer for emergencies, or handbag, or overnight bag, whatever. About 2 months after I bought it I finally just sampled it. First bite and I was sad. It was not sweet. Well, duh, it's muesli. By the end of the bowl I was scraping it with the spoon and pouting that I was done. This stuff feels nutritious and my currently tender tummy is loving it. Full of nuts and buckwheat and good things this stuff is in no making me feel deprived. Next time I may add a handful of dried fruit or fresh perhaps, but straight out of the packet with some milk I pinched from work? Wholesomely tasty. Well worth grabbing.
9/10

Expect a large number of reviews soon as this weekend is the Gluten Free Food show in Melbourne! I'm hungry just thinking about it. Hopefully I'll be able to beg/borrow/steal some sort of camera by then to show you what it's like.