Cole’s Fine Foods ~ Gluten Free Bakery & Cafe

Mom and I are thoroughly enjoying her retirement. We both like to lollygag around when we’re out running errands to see what’s new or see what we’ve missed when life used to be in a hurry.  Monday I had a follow-up with my doctor and we remembered there’s a new gluten-free bakery near there we wanted to check out that we missed after my last appointment. I almost drove right by it but mom said, “Hey! There’s that bakery, let’s stop and take a look!”

Being a fellow professional look-see lollygagger, I was all for it.

Cole’s Fine Foods is tucked into a pretty busy area with doctor’s buildings and strip malls. Easy to miss if you’re not looking for it. And I can tell you after sampling several of her items, you’ll regret it if you don’t make the time to find it. Cole’s has a lovely set up. Very open and inviting with their baking mixes, granola, and breads on display. In fact, the bread that was on display, was still warm from the oven!

At the counter you’ll find all of their pastries and goodies. The bakery is a completely gluten-free facility, as the owner has Celiac. I was incredibly pleased to hear that many of her items are also dairy free and on occasion, she bakes Paleo items. Cole’s also does baked goods for Huckleberry’s.

An assortment of cupcakes and truffles. The pink frosted cupcakes were also dairy free that day as were the lemon bars and a few other items.

This sweet gal came out to show us the Mother’s Day cakes they’re working on. They take great pride in their work and ability to provide great, gluten-free food. And rightly so! Cole’s is family owned and it shows. I love that they have a Mission & Values menu on their website.

Cole’s has a wide variety of delicious items to choose from and the owner and staff are friendly, generous with information, and generous with samples. They sell (all gluten-free) cakes, pastries, cookies, breads and rolls, baking mixes, granola, home made cheese balls and crackers, lasagna, casseroles, soups and salads, mac and cheese…ALL made from scratch and whenever possible use Non-GMO and organic ingredients.

Mom and I sampled the herb baguette, the sandwich bread, the granola, and angel food cake. It was all excellent!

Honestly, we could have purchased one of everything and been content. Sadly, I knew I had to practice some form of self-control so mom and I settled on a loaf of fresh bread, the herb baguette, two cupcakes, and a bag of the granola. I would say that their prices are reasonable considering. We all know baking gluten-free, dairy free, non GMO, and organic is not an inexpensive adventure whether you’re baking at home or purchasing it from someone else.

I couldn’t wait to get home to taste test again, take photos, and get my husband’s opinion. You may ask, “Why are you so excited over a gluten-free bakery?” I get excited about things like this because all gluten-free bakeries are not created equal. It is RARE that you find a bakery dedicated to being completely gluten-free, very rare. And it’s even more rare to find one with so many dairy free options. A gluten-free bakery is all well and good, but if you have multiple food allergies like most people with gluten allergens do or you’re Celiac and can’t eat in a contaminated facility, what good will it do you? It would be tough to cover all the food allergies of course, but Cole’s has gone above and beyond the norm to please their customers. And although they didn’t have any Paleo items that day, the fact that they offer them gets another two thumbs up.

Her granola is dangerous. I mean seriously, I’m not supposed to be eating grains but I made an exception for that day by sampling all of the goodies I brought home for Tony. I’m going to have to send the granola out of town with him because it’s that good. Every time I open the pantry I have visions of a bowl (or several) with very cold almond milk. Mmmmm…. it’s torture. All of the seeds and nuts are sprouted (activated) and light and crispy. Her granola mix is 50% oat mixture to 50% nuts and seeds. I think it would be fantastic as gifts in baskets, stockings, or something fun and delicious to mail to friends and relatives.

The breads had such a fantastic texture and flavor. Moist, not too heavy, great bounce back, yeasty flavor, and no strange slippery consistency when you swallow like so many gluten-free breads. Hands down, they were the best gluten-free breads I have ever tasted. Heads and tails over the ever popular Udi’s brand bread that we all dread but are basically forced to buy if we want a sandwich. Until now.

The bread was still warm when I got it home to sample it.

Look at that…no cavernous holes that leave you with just crust for a sandwich like you often find in Udi’s bread.

Impressive bounce back. No cracking. And even after it cooled completely and we made tunafish sandwiches, it still had the same texture and bounce back.

The cupcakes we chose were like frosted pound cakes. Heavenly! I controlled myself and only ate half and left the other half for Tony.

Tony sampled everything and also happily gave it all two thumbs up.

Please be sure to visit Cole’s. Not only because you’ll be missing out on a delicious and impressive experience if you don’t, but because it is family owned and they clearly take a great amount of pride in their work. Cole’s gets a resounding 10 from Gluten Free Zen and I look forward to sampling more items in the future.

Cole’s Fine Foods

Open 10:00 to 7:00 Monday thru Friday, Saturday 10:00 to 5:00

521 E. Holland, Suite 20, Spokane, WA 99218

You can order by phone at 509-413-1739 and you can find them online at:

www.colesfinefoods.com

www.facebook.com/colesfinefoods

or 

colesfinefoods @outlook.com