Gluten-Free Bakery Review: The Flying Apron

festivas is upon us and the goodies are beginning to surface. I, the next month and half we will honor 5 birthdays, Thanksgiving, Gingerbread house making and Christmas.

We are notorious for particularly enormous sweet tooths (teeth) in our family. My mom takes the cake; literally, as the supreme duchess of dessert. So, each event is generously lavished with excellent sweets.

So, think of poor Shea; last time we just let him eat the normal (wheat) birthday cake. Oh sure, we steered him toward the frosting. As if that was somehow better for him. But, of course, we saw his pre-diet pallor and behaviors crop right back up again.

Now, we are a bit more seasoned; we have been on the wheat/gluten/egg/soy/whey/peanut/rye/barley/spelt free diet for almost 5 months and try real hard not to "fall off the wagon".

I have been wanting to check out The Flying Apron bakery in Fremont, (3510 Fremont Ave. N. Seattle, WA 206-442-1115) for quite a while. They neighborhood is very groovy and fun and they are apparently now quite famous for their excellent variety of wheat/gluten free and many vegan goodies. They popped up prominently during my first feverish googling after we found out about Shea's food allergies. Since then I have read and heard many wonderful things.

Now seemed like a real good time to try them out with Shea in tow. We sampled a wide array of treats, everything looked yummy. The bakery is very cute, warm and inviting and the staff was friendly. We got muffins, cookies, some little chocolate cakes, a loaf of apple bread and a small blackberry pie. My personal favorite were the chocolate chip cookies (big surprise) and the Apricot Thumbprints but there was a lot to choose from. They also do fancy cakes too and seem to be doing a lively business.

I was disappointed for one reason but it wasn't their fault. I have been searching for a good loaf of bread. To be honest, wheat and gluten free breads have a pretty weird texture understandable considering gluten is the thing that makes bread really fluffy and wonderful. Breads without gluten tend to be very dense. So, I am always looking for a loaf of bread that Shea will eat. I consider a personal mission.

I was looking forward to trying their "house bread" but they were out on this Friday mid-afternoon which may very well be a good sign. If you check their website, they offer "mail order" so I might just order a loaf to give it a try.

All in all it was a successful excursion and I would highly recommend it to folks who are dealing with the wheat and other allergies. I would definitely come back and will probably get Shea's birthday cake from The Flying Apron Bakery next time around.