People who love delicious brownies and fine renditions of classic cookies can thank Necessity for the existence of Dough Raise Me.

Necessity was the mother of invention for Erin Saltsman’s bakery. Seven years ago, with her steady job at risk, Erin did more than think about starting her own business: She found her first account and started Dough Raise Me. (In fact, the business raises her at 1:30 every morning.)

The small artisan bakery uses all-natural ingredients, superior chocolate and the freshest butter and cream. There’s a conventional line and an organic line. Satisfaction is just a click away online for those needing treats or gifts.

You must order the buttery chocolate sablés:* They’re the perfect chocolate cookie for a sophisticated palate. The Parisian Chocolate Sablé combines midnight dark cocoa and bittersweet chocolate topped with a light sprinkling of fleur de sel. The organic series features the Aztec Sablé: guajillo chilies and Taza’s guajillo chili chocolate (great stuff!) add the perfect amount of heat. These sablés are irresistible; you’d better order more than one little bag. After that, we can pretty much recommend anything.

Conventional and organic brownies and
cookies from Dough Raise Me make life sweeter. Photo by Katharine Pollak |
THE NIBBLE.

Read the full review—and perhaps send some sablés to Grandmother for Mother’s Day. Erin learned the joy of baking from her Grandmother McWilliam, who baked the family a pie every day from scratch. (And that explains why we like to bake, too. Thanks, Nana.) Happy Mother’s Day to all moms—especially those who don’t know how to turn on the oven. There’s still time!

*A sablé is a type of shortbread, a round butter cookie. It originated in Caen, a town in the French province of Normandy. Sablés are refrigerator cookies: like shortbread, the dough is refrigerated in logs until it becomes hard. It is then sliced into rounds and baked (see the different types of cookies). Sablés are also known as Breton Biscuits. Sablé is the French word for sand; it refers to the crumbly texture of the cookie. They are made with vanilla extract but can be enhanced with just about any cookie flavor. Popular additions include almonds, citrus zest, coconut and cocoa. For the holidays, the edges can be rolled in red and green sanding sugar.

What a refreshing lineup! Photo by Hannah
Kaminsky | THE NIBBLE.

Sometimes we disagree with high-falutin’ names given to products. And don’t even get us started on names approved by highly-paid individuals who haven’t bothered to consult a dictionary.

Such is the case of R.W. Knudsen’s Sparkling Essence. Essence of what? Look at the definition of the word, below, and let us know if you have a clue.

Nevertheless, we’re addicted to these flavored, unsweetened sparkling waters made from carbonated spring water. They’re also certified USDA organic.

Sparkling Essence is flavored with blueberry, cucumber, lemon or mint. The flavors are light and refreshing; there are no calories, added sweeteners or artificial ingredients.

The Lemon flavor tastes like lemon-flavored club soda, lemon Perrier and others of the genre. It’s nice, but we’ve had it before. The revelations are the other three flavors, which we’ve never seen in sparkling form: Blueberry, Cucumber and Mint.

Blueberry tastes as if fresh blueberries were infused into the water. Ditto with cucumber. We’re a big cucumber water fan, making our own by adding a sliced cucumber to a pitcher of water. We’ve never had it carbonated; now we’re hooked. In fact, a can of cucumber water with half of a sliced cucumber makes a filling, uber-low-calorie snack.

And anyone who has ever infused the water pitcher with fresh mint will love this grab-and-go version.

In fact, our only complaint about the product, beyond the silly name, is that it’s in 10.5-ounce cans. They’re so good, we drink two at a clip!

Look for R.W. Knudsen Sparkling Essence at fine retailers. Check the store locator on the Knudsen website.

*From the Random House Dictonary:
1. The basic, real, and invariable nature of a thing or its significant individual feature or features: Freedom is the very essence of our democracy.
2. A substance obtained from a plant, drug, or the like, by distillation, infusion, etc., and containing its characteristic properties in concentrated form.
3. An alcoholic solution of an essential oil; spirit.
4. A perfume; scent.
5. Philosophy. the inward nature, true substance, or constitution of anything, as opposed to what is accidental, phenomenal, illusory, etc.
6. Something that exists, esp. a spiritual or immaterial entity.

Even if you don’t have a gluten allergy, you’ll want to know about these Top Picks. That’s because lots of people have allergies, with more diagnoses made daily.

Even among people who appear to be healthy, gluten intolerance is common. Studies indicate that 1 in 167 children (0.6%) and 1 in 111 adults (0.9%) have a gluten allergy—a much more mild condition than celiac disease.

We’re not writing a health column. We just want to tell you about gluten-free cookies, cakes and other traditionally wheat-based products that are so good, we can’t believe we ate the whole thing! But eating is believing, and people who can eat wheat to their heart’s content will love these gluten-free products, too.

If you have friends, family or co-workers who can’t eat gluten, you can bake or buy some terrific cookies or cakes (and pancakes and cornbread and more) and get showered with a whole lot of thanks.

So get clicking and learn about:

Terrific chocolate chip cookies from Doodles.
Photo by Jerry Deutsch | THE NIBBLE.

Find more of our favorite gluten-free goods.

Just mix the concentrate with milk and
you’ll be transported to India. Photo by
Katherine Pollak | THE NIBBLE.

Chai lovers: You can now enjoy this spiced exotic treat in your own home. Rishi, sellers of organic tea, have launched an organic and Fair Trade Masala Chai tea concentrate.

Masala chai is made by brewing black tea with a mixture of aromatic Indian spices and herbs. Chai is the generic word for tea in Hindi and Punjabi and many other languages around the world—English speakers use the word “tea” from the Chinese “te” (from a dialect spoken around Xiamen). If you ask for chai, you’re only asking for tea; so show your superior knowledge and ask for masala chai if you want spiced tea.

Rishi’s Masala Chai concentrate is all natural and microbrewed (brewing in micro-batches enables producers to adjust each batch according to the seasonal characteristics of the ingredients). You just add milk, then heat it or drink the tea cold over ice.

The concentration of fine spices in Rishi’s brew makes your mouth tingle and transports you to the Indian subcontinent (put on some appropriate tunes as you enjoy the masala chai).

There’s a bonus: Every purchase helps the Jane Goodall Institute including Roots & Shoots, a global, environmental and humanitarian program for young people from preschool to college.

Look for Rishi’s Masala Chai concentrate at select Whole Foods Markets through the end of April; and afterward wherever Rishi teas are sold, including Rishi-Tea.com.

Boo, Sara Lee!

According to corporate and governmental watchdog, The Cornucopia Institute, a nonprofit farm policy research group, Sara Lee is trying to pull one over on consumers.

The popular supermarket brand has launched a marketing campaign for its EarthGrains bread, using misleading environmental-friendly catchphrases with the hope of attracting people who want to buy organics because they’re better for the environment and healthier to eat.

Sara Lee claims that “Eco-Grain™”—its trademarked ingredient that comprises just 20% of the grain in EarthGrains breads—is more sustainable than organic grain. This is not true, and the Cornucopia Institute has created a comparison chart to detail the differences.

Sara Lee’s EarthGrains line. Not particularly
earth-friendly. Photo courtesy Sara Lee.

According to Charlotte Vallaeys, a Food and Farm Policy Analyst at The Cornucopia Institute, “Sara Lee is doing practically nothing to ensure its ingredients are truly ecologically produced. It’s a crass example of a corporation trying to capitalize on the valuable market cachet of organic, while intentionally misleading consumers—without making any meaningful commitment to protect the environment or produce safer and more nutritious food.”

To educate consumers about EarthGrains bread made with Eco-Grain wheat, Sara Lee launched a consumer marketing program called “The Plot to Save the Earth, One Field at a Time.“ The campaign includes print, TV, radio and digital advertising, public relations, social media and point-of-sale materials that take a whimsical approach to catch consumers’ eyes with tag lines like, “How your turkey sandwich can help preserve the earth.”

“If advertising executives could be charged with malpractice, this would be a major felony,” said Mark A. Kastel, Co-Director at The Cornucopia Institute.

Now that you’re aware, make your own decisions. If you want to help the environment and eat pesticide-free food, look for the USDA certified organic seal.

Sara Lee also owns the brands Ambi Pur, Ball Park, Douwe Egberts, Hillshire Farm, Jimmy Dean, Kiwi, Sanex and Senseo.

For goober-loving Americans, Green & Black’s of the U.K. has introduced its first U.S.-exclusive flavor.

The newest addition to the Green & Black’s family of premium organic chocolate bars is the Peanut bar, a blend of premium 37% cacao dark milk chocolate with delectable caramelized peanuts and a hint of sea salt.

Whether you’re single and celebrating with a group of friends or planning a romantic evening for two, a chocolate and wine tasting is a delicious way to celebrate Valentine’s Day.

Green & Black’s suggests the following chocolate-and-wine pairings (and we have many more ideas—see below):

A great combination of peanuts, sea salt
and milk chocolate. Photo courtesy Green & Blacks.

Conduct the tasting as would a wine tasting. Choose up to six pairings. Start with the lightest variety (white chocolate) and finish with the darkest (dark 85%).

If your favorite sweet treat includes chocolate-covered peanuts or peanut clusters, Green & Black’s has just made your life even sweeter.

The company’s newest organic chocolate bar is a full-bodied 37% milk chocolate that enrobes crisp, caramelized peanuts. There’s a touch of sea salt for that wonderful sweet-and-salty flavor.

For portion control, the 3.5-ounce chocolate bar is scored into squares. If you’re calorie counting, just break off two or three a day.

Go nuts for caramelized peanuts and sea
salt enrobed in 37% cacao milk chocolate.
Photo courtesy Green & Black’s.

Your New Year’s resolution may be to eat healthier. But what do you do if you have a natural sweet tooth—or an addiction to chips?

Try Bare Fruit. The crispy and crunchy apple chips and chewy pears hit the spot. And every serving counts toward the “5 to 9 a day” of fruits and vegetable servings recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (In fact, dried fruit is the CDC’s fruit of the month for January.)

Even if your idea of a good time is not sinking your teeth into an apple or a pear, you may enjoy the fruit in its chip form. There are three options for apple chips: sweet Fuji apple chips, plain or with cinnamon, and tart Granny Smith apple chips. In addition to the pear slices, there are sweet but higher-calorie mango strips and dried cherries.

Bare Fruit products are gluten free and have no added sugar. Kids love ’em too. They’re certified USDA organic and kosher.

Sweet, low-calorie apple chips are as satisfying
as sugary snacks. Photo by Hannah Kaminsky | THE NIBBLE.

Have a chocolate craving? Consider if you’d rather have a chocolate bar that’s lower on the glycemic index than those sweetened with sugar. Or maybe you want one that’s guaranteed allergy-free?

Then unwrap the new, raw cacao gourmet chocolate bars from Organic Nectars. These new handmade chocolate bars—the first to be sweetened with organic palm nectar—are free of cane sugar, dairy, gluten, trans fats and cholesterol as are all Organic Nectars products.* In addition to being organic, the true benefit here is the palm nectar, which has a glycemic index of just 35—almost half that of sugar (which is 65 on the G.I. Index). That makes Organic Nectars a better-for-you chocolate bar.

*Note that plain chocolate bars are typically free of gluten, trans fats and cholesterol, and generally, only milk chocolate has dairy; but if you are concerned about dairy, read the label to see if any has been included or if the product was made on a machine that also makes milk chocolate.

In addition to being organic, the major benefit here is the palm nectar, which has a glycemic index of just 35—almost half that of sugar (which is 65 on the G.I. Index). That makes Organic Nectars a better-for-you chocolate bar. The chocolate is also available in one-pound blocks for baking.

Take a bite out of these organic, vegan and
kosher chocolate bars, which come in six varieties.

Available in six flavors, the vegan chocolate bars have a smooth taste and texture and a higher cacao content than most bars, which means more antioxidants. The bars are certified USDA Organic and certified Non-Dairy Kosher by Natural Food Certifiers. The 1.4-ounce bars retail at $5.20 to $5.40 each.

Just in time for the cold spell come three hearty soups from Amy’s Organic.

If you don’t know this brand, try it and become one of the many fans. The products are organic, tasty and better for you than most supermarket brands.

Amy’s aims to appeal to vegetarians and vegans as well as the general audience.

The three new soups include Chunky Tomato Bisque, Fire Roasted Southwestern Vegetable and Spanish Rice and Red Bean.

Stay warm this winter with Amy’s Organic
soups. Photo by Hannah Kaminsky | THE NIBBLE.

The line is gluten free, certified organic by QAI and kosher by Ner Tamid K. The soups are low fat, cholesterol free, high in fiber and have no GMOs.