Bona Dea Ancient Grains Baking Mix (Pack of 2), Oat Cookies ~ Crumble Topping

These are tasty cookies made with super high quality ingredients. Yummy AND I can feel good about feeding them to my family.I made one bag with chocolate chips, and the other with dried cranberries and white chocolate chips. I added in a few tablespoons of honey also. I think the honey really helps with the consistency. Or you could try molasses. They give you dairy-free and vegan directions on the package so I can make these for my friends who are gluten-free and vegan. I'm looking forward to trying their other baking mixes and flour. I think I'll try their scones next.I also like that Bona Dea is a socially conscious company. I buy from businesses I believe in. More than just a cookie!

For gluten-free cookies these are OK (3 stars). If they were normal cookies I'd probably give them just 2 stars (both my kids and husband complained that they tasted funny and my daughter asked "are these cookies normal?"). The flavor is slightly out of balance--a heavy FLOUR flavor that's not-really-balanced against lots of sugar. Overall they're OK and I'll probably eat them rather than throwing them away... and if you have a need for gluten-free products, this may fit your craving for oatmeal cookies, but otherwise I wouldn't recommend them.I do need to point out that the nutrition label is flat-out misleading (this didn't affect my rating though perhaps it should). It says there are 80 calories per cookie, only 5 of which are from fat. That means if you eat the **dry powder**. If you actually prepare the cookies and add 1/2 cup butter as recommended, that's an extra 800 calories of fat (divided by 24 servings), or 33 extra calories (all from fat) per cookie. The thing that confuses me is this is still well within the normal range for cookies, which tend to be 100-150 calories each. So 113 calories per cookie (less than 30% of them from fat) would be entirely reasonable. I'm not sure why they're "bending the truth" on this point, especially since no one in their right mind would eat the dry powder plain. Adding insult to injury, the packaging says "Bona Dea created foods that taste great, are TRULY good for you..." Who on earth would expect cookies to be "truly good for you"? And why are they pretending that these are a health food? They're not. They're very average for cookies, and probably the kind of thing you're in the mood for, but no one would expect them to be healthy, so I don't know why they're basically lying to you. (Honestly I question the legality - "truly healthy" mayyy stand up in court, but the treatment of the nutrition info wouldn't--even breakfast cereals and mac & cheese include "as prepared" information). And since I'm complaining, they also brag "our blends start with whole grains, never sugar or starches," and technically speaking the blend doesn't *start* with sugar, but it's the #2 ingredient, so it could be as much as 49.5% sugar. There's certainly enough sugar to make the dough a bit grainy (though that disappears when baking--these actually have a good texture when baked), and the sugar competes with but doesn't offset the strong-not-quite-normal flour flavor when cooked. So I found it annoying that they highlight their "not too high" sugar when it's the #2 ingredient... again, it would hold up in a court of law, but I feel like they're insulting my intelligence.One other quick comment - these are super-easy to make. You dump the mix in a bowl, add 1/2 cup melted butter (or coconut oil, though I didn't try that myself), 1/4 cup water, and stir. Done. Let them sit 5 minutes and they're ready to scoop onto a cookie sheet for baking. Bake for ONLY 12 minutes; 16 would have been way too long.TIP: if you want seriously-yummy gluten-free cookies and aren't fixated on "oatmeal" per se, I'm still in love with the "Immaculate" brand "Gluten Free Double Chocolate Cookie baking mix." Yum.

I've been gluten free for almost two years and although I've tried tons of mixes I've never tried this brand before. Overall I'm pleased with how the cookies came out. I did find my doctored up batches to be more to my liking but the plain batch was acceptable.As someone who strives to eat as healthfully as possible, even when it comes to desserts, I'm happy with the ingredients in this mix. No unpronounceable chemicals and you can control if you want to use dairy by choosing butter or coconut oil. Sorghum flour is included and is an ingredient I've had a lot of luck with in homemade gluten free baking. It lends a nutty flavor similar to wheat flour and gives cookies a nice chewyness.I made the cookies as directed first then worked on mini batches of different versions. As is they're not bad. A bit bland and they crumble easily but, for gluten free, they're better than average. After experimenting I've found my family likes it best with an egg added (due to the extra protein be sure to flatten them slightly before baking as they won't spread out the way they do without the egg) as well as raisins and cinnamon (gives flavor and chewyness). I also added a bit more xanthan gum. This improved the texture. While I understand why there isn't more in the mix (it's an expensive ingredient) more really is needed to get a nice texture. More vanilla didn't seem to make any difference although a bit of almond extract was nice. I tried both butter and coconut oil and everyone preferred the butter version. That said, a coconut oil version with coconut flakes stirred in might be good (I didn't have enough mix left to try it).If you find the cookies to be a bit crumbly for your liking (as many gluten free baked goods are) one option is to press the dough into a ramekin before baking then serve out of the dish with a scoop of ice cream or whipped cream on top. When eaten with a fork and something soft like ice cream it's easier to eat it without making a crumbly mess.All in all I like this mix. The ingredients are high quality and the cookies are good regardless of if you choose to change up the basic recipe. I do wish an egg version was listed but I understand that they're trying to appeal to those with multiple food allergies and/or intolerances. The price is on the high side for a gluten free baking mix but the quality is better than most. I was able to get 20 cookies as measured with a healing cookie scoop. This works out to about 37 cents per cookie, not including the cost of add ins or the oil/butter. With everything it's more like 50 cents each which isn't bad for good quality, non gmo, gluten free cookies that don't involve fussy recipes or making a flour mix prior to baking. Just an all around good mix for those wanting a quick gluten free treat.