Alternative Baking Company Cookies

I have had several consecutive disappointing experiences with new food options the past few days and to be honest, I wasn't sure that a Vegan cookie was going to be the cure (I love cookies...buttery, fatty, eggy, cookies.)

What a pleasant surprise! I tried the "Killer" Chocolate Chip Cookie with Macadamia Nuts and Coconut. It's chewy, delicious, and VEGAN. I still can't believe it.

Go buy these.

Yesterday at the climbing gym (Berkeley Ironworks), I was starving after several hours of bouldering. Instead of leaving to get some lunch, I decided to check out their selection of snacks to see if I could stretch my climbing day a couple more hours. I considered the usual suspects (cliff bars, power bars, power goo, pcp, crack, meth, etc) but first asked one of the staff how I could get the most calories for the dollar. Clearly they had considered this question before, because I was immediately directed to the Alternative Baking Company's vegan cookies.

Now, I'll admit that I am not even close to a vegan. And the packaging on the Alternative Baking Co's cookie re-iterated my evil lifestyle: "No single food choice has a farther-reaching and more profoundly positive impact on our health, the environment, and all of life on Earth than choosing vegan." In the case of my Cranberry Orange MuffinCookie w/Walnuts, the fact that it was a vegan cookie actually concerned me and almost made me not purchase it.

Prior to this cookie, every vegan cookie/muffin/doughnut/etc I had tried tasted like a shredded mixture of cardboard and canola oil. Mmmmm. So it was only after learning about the high calorie:dollar ratio, experiencing delirious hunger, and the encouragement of the staff that I dropped $2 on one of these. Probably the best $2 I've spent in a couple weeks!

The cookie tasted great - on par with their non-vegan butter-filled counterparts! $2 and 460 tasty calories later, I was fired up for several more hours of climbing. To think that $10/day (5 cookies) could complete a 2000+ calorie diet, is a fascinating/disturbing thought. Upon mentioning this fact, one of the staff told me that is pretty much how he lived for a while, while another discouraged the practice for lack of vitamins. We all agreed that the cookies are tasty, living off them for a week would be entirely feasible, and we will at the very least use them as climbing fuel.

 VEGAN COOKIES?!  these would automatically fall in my no-no category, as i'm a firm believer that if you're not a vegetarian/vegan, and when you're indulging in desserts, you should always go for the "real thing."  but these actually taste really good!  sometimes we're fooled into thinking that vegan or vegetarian products are healthier (as in lighter in calories).  these are definitely not.  but most importantly, they taste great.