By Lorrie Baumann
Kakookies is a brand of better-for-you individually packaged cookies that are kind to those whose dietary needs don’t allow for gluten or animal-based products. The brand was invented by a Minnesota mom who developed the cookies eight years ago as a care-package gift for her daughter, a collegiate cyclist. “Cookies – it just seemed like it was the obvious thing for a mom to do, to send cookies, but it needed to be a healthier option,” said Sue Kakuk, the Owner of Kakookies and a two-time finalist in the Pillsbury Bake-Off competition. “I started sending her cookies, oatmeal-based with nuts and seeds, something that was packed with healthier ingredients that would satisfy her hunger.”
The baking started when Kakuk became aware that her daughter’s cycling team was breakfasting on competition days with a stop at a convenience store on their way to a race. She didn’t want her hungry daughter competing on the dubious nourishment provided by the products that were generally available in convenience stores at that time, so she started baking oatmeal cookies that she could offer her daughter as a portable breakfast option. “I didn’t want to be sending them boxes of over-processed snack bars,” she said.
Her daughter started sharing them with the other members of her cycling team, and the cookies became popular. “We started hosting athletic teams, primarily cycling teams,” Kakuk said. “I just called them a breakfast cookie at the time.”
Some of those cyclists declined the cookies because they were following diets that didn’t permit them – some were following a gluten-free regimen, and some were vegans. Kakuk did some research into products that she could buy at the supermarket to offer those who couldn’t eat her cookies, but she didn’t like what she found. “A lot of those diet-specific products didn’t have much nutritional value,” she said.
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She decided to make use of the recipe development skills that had served her so well during her competition in the Pillsbury Bake-Offs to adapt her cookie recipe to meet the needs of her guests who couldn’t eat the original version. “It was never really intended to be a vegan gluten-free cookie – it just turned out that way,” she said. The result is a cookie based on nuts, seeds and oats and shortened with coconut oil. The recipe is based on simple, whole ingredients instead of the protein powder and other highly processed ingredients that are added to many other products targeted at athletes. “It still has that cookie texture, but it’s that nice clean label, better-for-you grab-and-go snack,” Kakuk said. “You’re really getting the nutrition of an energy bar, but you get the deliciousness and the comfort of eating a cookie…. It really does satisfy your hunger and sustain your energy.”
Kakookies are now offered in five flavors. Each individually wrapped cookie offers about 200 calories, and the first ingredient in the label list is gluten-free oats. Boundary Waters Blueberry is nut free – sunflower seeds substitute in that flavor for the nuts that are used in the other recipes – and is a best seller in coffee shops. The flavor was inspired by the trail mixes that Kakuk had prepared to take along on outdoor adventures, starting from the days that she was a summer camp counselor during her teen years and then a student at Western Washington University, which she chose partly because its location offered her the chance to canoe on Puget Sound and hike in the Cascade Mountains. She now satisfies that urge for adventures in the outdoors by canoeing in the Boundary Waters. “I think anybody that travels as an athlete or a busy family – you just want to have a variety of snacks. To be able to eat a cookie and enjoy it and feel good about eating it and having it satisfy your hunger – it just feels good to eat it,” she said.”A lot of families, for whatever reason, need something quick to run out the door – our cookies are basically a bowl of oatmeal, but it’s in a cookie form.”
Each Cashew Blondie cookie offers 5 grams of plant-based protein from oats, cashews and chia seeds. Dark Chocolate Cranberry is the flavor most appropriate to enjoy at the end of the day with a glass of red wine. The newest flavor is Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip – a little bit of a departure for the brand, since Kakuk usually prefers working with slightly less traditional flavors. “But on the other hand, it’s an awesome-tasting cookie,” she said.
None of the varieties contains any flour, eggs or dairy. They’re all certified gluten free and soy free. “Even though it’s allergy-friendly, you’d be surprised,” Kakuk said. “They just taste like an oatmeal cookie that’s full of flavor. When you take out all the processed fillers, you’re able to taste the wonderful, wholesome, all-natural ingredients.”
Kakookies is available nationwide through the company’s website and through regional and national distributors for the foodservice channel. It’s widely sold in college campus stores and dining rooms and in resorts and other hospitality venues. For more information, visit www.kakookies.com.