Cornbread was a staple in my non-vegan eating regimen. Afterall, how can you possibly eat greens, pinto beans, or chili without a nice slice of cornbread? Umm…I don’t believe it can be done. At least not willingly. Am I right? Well, as I travel along this vegan paved road, I find it easier to navigate when I can still enjoy my food staples. And not to a significantly lesser degree in terms of taste and texture.
Not long ago I made some cornbread using an egg replacer, the flax egg. It turned out aiight. Denser, darker and texturally different, I would certainly make it again. But, when in a time pinch, enter Abe’s Cornbread.
Now being the cornbread connoisseur that I am, I know that there are levels to this. Abe’s rises to the occasion. It reminds me of Jiffy cornbread. More sweet than savory-ish. The texture was moist and tender. Cakey. Although I can do without the sweetness, I still enjoyed it both solo and eaten with the minestrone I made to accompany it. My usual go-to cornbread is the whole corn meal, flour, cast iron skillet, put in hot oven and wait thing. MMmm…did I mention that I love cornbread? I digress. Anyway, if you don’t fancy sweet cornbread, pass on Abe’s.
Of course I couldn’t pass on the muffins and coffee cake that were taunting me as they sat in the rack. Abe’s Muffins creates an assortment of muffins (blueberry, chocolate chip, cranberry orange, pumpkin, apple cider, sweet carrot, lemon poppy, and cornbread), pound cake (original, coffee cake, ultimate lemon, and ginger spice). Some are seasonal. All of their treats have no milk, eggs, soy or nuts.
As I stood there trying to decide on which to choose, I noted the relatively small size of the muffins. As my eyes darted from the price sticker to the package, I decided that I should quickly decide or just walk away. They weren’t going to get any bigger. So, out of the many from which to choose, I picked Abe’s Double Chocolate muffins. Mini muffins. I really wanted to try the apple cider ones but I soon gave up digging behind the packages in front.
My initial impression was…meh. My teenager’s reaction was a bit more dramatic as she frowned her face in disgust…as she took another bite. :::insert eye roll::: It wasn’t soft or texturally “right”. I chalked it up to them having been in the refrigerated section and maybe having been shipped frozen. After trying them the following day, I’m still not amazed but they were okay. Balanced sweetness and nicely chocolately with chocolate chips to boot. The coffee cake was my favorite. The price, however, left alot to be desired.
Abe’s isn’t sold everywhere. Don’t look for them at Kroger or Walmart (at least not at the time when this post was written). It appears that their products are sold in specialty type stores like Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s. I found mine at Fresh Thyme.
So, if you are looking for a treat sans the milk, eggs, soy or nuts and is Certified Kosher Pareve and Certified Gluten AND allergy friendly, too, give Abe’s a try.
