Into every oil-free life a little fat must fall

As I mentioned in a previous post, I agreed to taste test bacon bits made from beans, which I never received. Instead of the bacon bits, I was sent a collection of salts (which I really liked), several bags of potato chips which are still unopened, and two boxes of gluten-free ice cream cones. The cones sat on my desk for a few days before I rushed out to grab some ice cream so I could try them. (I was going to make oil-free ice cream but, oh well.)  The ice cream pictured is So Delicious dairy free cashew milk creamy chocolate, in case you were wondering. I'm usually a compulsive label reader but I admit I didn't read the ingredients beyond checking to make sure it was gluten free, and I'm sorry to say that unlike many of the other So Delicious products, the non-GMO symbol is not on the carton. I assume the canola oil in the ice cream is a GMO product, since it doesn't say otherwise.  The ice cream is, in fact, so delicious, but I won't re-buy it if it contains GMO ingredients. (And yes, I know So Delicious was just bought out by White Wave.)



To do the important ice cream cone testing, I called upon Miss E, one of my three favorite testers, and she was happy to help out. I had both sugar cones, and what we used to call 'cake cups' and Miss E chose the cake cup. She is an experienced ice cream cone eater, and I was curious to see if she'd notice anything unusual about the cones — did they taste different in any way? She doesn't know what gluten-free is, and I didn't say anything about it to influence her opinion. She was totally pleased with her cone — loved it, in fact.

The dog didn't want to be left out of the photo shoot.

Because Miss E selected a cake cup, the testing of the sugar cone fell to me, and it's my cone that you see pictured at the top of the page. I have to say the cone tasted just like my memory of how a sugar cone should taste. It was crisp, sweet, slightly caramel-y and delicious. I also tested the cake cup, just to be sure Miss E was telling the truth about it being good, and she was right — it's exactly as it should be.



The cones are from Edward & Sons. The boxes have the symbols for non-Gmo, kosher, vegan and gluten-free, and contain 12 cones each. The cake cups' ingredients include potato starch, expeller pressed palm oil, demerara sugar, potato fiber, cocoa powder, xanthan gum, salt, natural vanilla extract. Each cone has 10 calories with zero calories from fat. In fact, all the nutritional numbers are zero except the total carbohydrate which is 2g.

The sugar cones contain potato starch, demerara sugar, tapioca starch,  expeller pressed palm oil,  potato fiber, cocoa powder, soy lecithin, salt and xanthan gum. Each cone contains 45 calories with zero calories from fat. All the nutrition numbers are zero except 25mg sodium, 5mg potassium, 10g total carbohydrate with 3g sugar. I prefer to avoid palm oil for environmental reasons that affect animals, so I was sorry to see it listed as an ingredient.



As you can see in the photo, the sample box also contained sprinkles, or Sprinklz. When I offered the sprinklz to Miss E, she declined, and I can't say I blamed her. The sprinklz are actually organic, vegan and gluten-free, and contain organic evaporated cane syrup, organic tapioca starch, colors from vegan sources, organic tapioca maltodextrin, baking soda and citric acid, but they are subdued in color. The first time I looked at them they seemed brownish, and odd, but today I looked again and I would describe them as 'pastel.' They actually look a bit better in the photo than in person, and on a cloudy day they look much better than on a sunny one. Today they look kind of pretty, though I have to admit that on the bright sunny day I first saw them, they looked a bit bleak. In truth, I prefer the look to the artificially bright colors one usually sees on items like this, but it's a personal preference, and I'm just trying to be truthful so you know what to expect. If I were looking to buy sprinkles, these are the ones I would choose, and I may use them on the next birthday cake I bake.

To sum up, if you are gluten-free or are entertaining a gluten-free friend, and planning to enjoy ice cream cones, the Edward and son ice cream cones taste great, have an excellent texture and are everything an ice cream cone should be. I haven't tasted the sprinklz, but I'd assume they taste just like ... sprinkles!

I received free product (cones). I wasn't paid. All opinions are my own.