Gluten Free, R U?: Halelife Bakery Cupcakes in a Jar

Sunday, February 11, 2018

Halelife Bakery Cupcakes in a Jar

I have been following Gluten Away, now known as Halelife, for quite some time now and always appreciated their information. So when they offered cupcakes in a jar I decided I wanted to support them and try them out. The cupcakes are gluten free, vegan and allergen friendly.

I purchased their deal of buy 4 get a Cookies N Cream jar for free. It was $39.95 and luckily free shipping. This seemed to be more than I would like to spend as it works out to $8 a jar but they state the jars are 2 cupcakes, so that is $4 a jar which seemed worth it then. I waited patiently for my shipment and was very excited when it showed up on my doorstep 7 days later.

I received Vanilla Raspberry, Dulce De Leche, Chocolate Ganache, Chocolate Caramel and Cookies N Cream.

I started with Vanilla Raspberry and ate it all on my own. It didn’t seem like I was eating two cupcakes but when I ended up sharing all the others it was definitely better to just eat half the jar. It was very sweet which I don’t usually mind but it was a nice tasting of vanilla cake and raspberry flavor and maybe because I ate the whole jar myself, I would say that it was too sweet overall.

Next was sharing Cookies N Cream and this was soooo tasty. It was very sweet but in this I didn’t care because these two flavors are my favorites and in combination, yummmm. Moist, sweet and oh so tasty.

Next I shared Chocolate Caramel and while the chocolate cake was very moist and tasty I could not taste the caramel. If I just tried the icing, then I noticed the caramel but with the cake it was not noticeable to me.

Next Chocolate Ganache and this was too much chocolate and while I LOVE chocolate I prefer to not have chocolate on chocolate. The tastes were very good overall but just too sweet and too much chocolate but if you love chocolate on chocolate you can’t beat this one.

The last one was Dulce De Leche and I have no idea what flavor this was or what it should have been. This was not very moist and I did not like it. In fact it was this one that made me realize what I didn’t like about the Vanilla Raspberry, the vanilla cake is too dry. This doesn’t allow for the vanilla flavor to come through enough.

I wish I could rave about these but I definitely have to say I am glad I ordered them to try and I might be tempted to order them again if there was a future deal ... especially if Cookies N Cream is involved! If you like cupcakes, and don’t mind spending a little more than usual, I say go for it and enjoy all the sweetness.

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My gluten free history

When I turned 30 years old, I started to gain weight that I couldn't lose and I was getting back to back colds. The final straw was I got bronchitis and I had to take an antibiotic to help me get better. The side effect for 4% of people on this antibiotic was gastrointestinal issues. Yes, I was part of that 4%. The medicine basically stripped away whatever had been protecting me through my first 30 years of life. You see I have always had gastrointestinal issues since I can remember. My father also had the same issues and my paternal grandmother too. I was so sick from the medicine (or so I thought) that I had to go back to the doctor and do a series of tests. During this time I was following the BRAT diet (Banana, rice, a, toast). Saltines and toast were my go to comfort, little did I know they were NOT what I should be eating. My co-worker gave me an article about food allergies and there was a quiz. You only needed to answer 4 of the 8 questions with yes to fall under their designation and I had answered 6 of the 8 with yes. I was on my way. My husband and I cleaned out all our cabinets of the 7 allergens… all that was left was rice. After a few weeks, I was feeling somewhat better when I stayed at a home where they told me to eat whatever was in the fridge. I saw the rice and started eating. Within a hour I was violently ill. I couldn't understand. I took the rice with me to work the next day and when I told my other co-worker about my issue she asked to see the rice. It was orzo… pasta… gluten/wheat filled pasta! I had my first allergen to check off the list as being an issue. It turned out at the time dairy and eggs were also triggers but I have since been able to add them back. My husband and I went on a full gluten free diet and within a few months I had lost my weight, stopped living in my bathroom, looked healthy and was not terrified to eat things any more. Now it has been 15 years and while I have gained some weight back (darn those yummy gluten free cookies and pretzels) my issues are still in check and I couldn't be happier to figure out what was wrong with my body and be able to fix it.