Recently, the lovely team at Genius sent me a box of delicious goodies that I'd never tried before. As you can see from the pic below, I received crumpets, triple-seeded bread, triple-seeded rolls, chocolate cupcakes, a white bloomer, and chocolate chip brioche. If you're a regular reader, I'm sure you can imagine the bouncing-around, hopping-on-one-foot level of excitement. If you're a new reader you may think I'm exaggerating and you would be wrong!
First up to the taste-test was the crumpets. You might be surprised to hear (read?) that I've never had crumpets before, pre or post-diagnosis. And well, they're a bit odd, aren't they?! Toast them up and they become crunchy on the outside and squodgy in the middle (yes, squodgy. It is a word, I assure you). Served with butter and jam, they are really rather nice! My non-coeliac husband wolfed down the remaining two crumpets and gave them a thumbs-up.
Amazingly, the chocolate chip brioche survived a little longer than the crumpets (by about 5 hours!). I actually remember having brioche before I was diagnosed and I HATED them then, but I've now concluded I was clearly mad because these are SO good! Slice a brioche in half, slather with salted butter and you have a delicious treat that even your hips won't regret.
Now, here's a little bit of a negative, I'm afraid. My one issue with Genius bread is that although it always tastes great, it's always hit-and-miss as to whether it will be so full of holes that you can't really use it. I get the brown sandwich bread on prescription and last week, one was totally unuseable because of the large gaps in it.
So, I was a bit worried about reviewing the triple-seeded loaf. Well, there were cracks in it, as you can see from the pic, but they were small enough that the bread held together pretty well. The seeds give it a lightly crunchy texture and the loaf is incredibly soft and light. Plus, everyone knows seeds are great for you, so it's okay to thickly cover it in jam or Nutella, right? Right!
Unfortunately, the white bloomer didn't escape the holes and cracks, which ran right the way through the loaf. But, on the positive side, it was really very nice. The crust is slightly chewy and the inside of the bread is wonderful for a sandwich or French toast. Yum!
On the topic of the bread, I should add that I forgot to take a pic of the rolls! Sorry! They were excellent though. All the seedy-fluffiness of the loaf in a nice, fat roll. They're perfect for packed lunches or to serve with soup. Their texture means they'd also be fantastic as burger rolls, so next year these will be popping up at our barbecues!
Finally, the chocolate cupcakes. Technically, as a baker, I think I'm meant to tell you all about the inferiority of mass-produced, store-bought sweet bakes. But the truth is that sometimes, I have too much to do or I just don't have the energy and it's easier to buy something on-the-go. Well, these cakes are a brilliant option! Although yes, I prefer my own, the cake is rich, light, moist and chocolatey, and the buttercream is incredibly smooth and silky. However, I wouldn't recommend ordering them online because the icing got a little smushed in transit...!
So there you have it! I thoroughly enjoyed myself this week, working my way through everything. Overall, there were a few issues with the breads but everything tasted great and I really cannot recommend the chocolate brioche, in particular, enough!
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