BabyCakes

My gluten-free partner in crime, The Wardrobe (who left to go back to Boston this morning much to my dismay), and I went on a very inadvertent shopping spree at BabyCakes last night. If you're not familiar with BabyCakes, you should be (even if you're not gluten-free).

It's a bakery located on the Lower East Side of Manhattan (248 Broome between Orchard and Ludlow) that serves gluten-free, refined-sugar free, soy-free, dairy-free, egg-free, and vegan baked goods. Delicious baked goods. And they don't taste like they're missing any "normal" ingredients.

The Wardrobe introduced me to BabyCakes this past spring, but I had never actually been before. Every time she came down from Boston she'd go there and bring me the most incredible gluten-free doughnuts. Last night we happened to have dinner at an adorable restaurant called Dudleys, which was right around the corner, and she insisted (okay, okay, she didn't have to do much insisting) that we stop in.

We didn't exactly "stop in." We bought everything in sight, and then some. We took shots of icing! And then we went home and stuffed our faces.

We ate cinnamon sugar doughnuts, which I've had before, and think about constantly. I've never been a doughnut person, before or after (well, clearly) my celiac diagnosis. Until now. Good lord are these amazing. They have numerous other flavors, including coffee crunch, samoa, and salted caramel, but these are by far my favorite.

We ate cupcakes. Vanilla, chocolate, and mint brownie.

The chocolate cupcakes, particularly the mint brownie, were incredibly rich and I could only have a few bites, but if you're a chocolate person you will easily finish the entire cupcake.

But the winner of the night was the chocolate chip cookie sandwich. It was all kinds of deliciousness.

We devoured it, and almost (almost) fought over the last bite. And then we proceeded to spend the next hour in a gluten-free food coma.

The verdict? Run, don't walk, to BabyCakes. (They also have locations in Los Angeles and Orlando.)

Pip's Place

I don't have a recipe for you today, but I do have an amazing gluten-free bakery recommendation: Pip's Place, located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan (1st Ave. between 89th & 90th St.).

Pip's Place has only been open for a few months and so far I have been thoroughly impressed. Luckily for me it's right around the corner from my boyfriend's apartment, so every time I'm up there I pop in and try one (or, let's be honest, five) of their delicious baked goods.

What are those, you ask? Oh, just the most incredible Peppermint Pippi Cookies I've ever had (some sort of delicious chocolate cookies with a peppermint cream filling). And yes, they're gluten-free. And no, there's no way you would ever guess they're gluten-free. Even my boyfriend, who's subject to tasting a lot of my gluten-free foods (sorry!), couldn't get enough of these. Pip's Place, your work is done. (Just kidding. Keep the new recipes coming. Pretty please.)

I'm also a big fan of their Oatmeal Rasin Cookies and Zuchinni Bran Pecan Muffins.

You know what else I love about Pip's Place? The story behind it. The owner, Denise Cumming, said that when her daughter Olivia (nicknamed Pippi) was diagnosed with Celiac Disease at the age of fourteen, she was determined to create wonderful recipes from gluten-free ingredients. Not long after Olivia started eating a gluten-free diet she said to Denise, "Mom, do people really feel this good every day?" If you have a food allergy, whether it be gluten or something else, you have no idea what it's like to feel "good" until you cut that food out of your diet. And all of a sudden it opens up this whole new world for you. The day I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease was honestly one of the happiest days of my life. I finally knew why I had been feeling so sick for so long, and better yet, there was a simple enough solution: cut out gluten. Amen.

People always ask me whether I miss eating things like pizza or bread, which they can't imagine living without. Here's my answer, folks: Not. One. Bit. And thanks to people like Denise Cumming, I don't have to.

You can become a fan of Pip's Place on Facebook, follow them on Twitter, and visit their website.