I had the pleasure of meeting Shelley Ritchie, founder of Moondance Heavenly Desserts, the first week of January. Shelley met me at Whole Foods to bring me some samples of her desserts – cheesecakes & brownies. Shelley was diagnosed a few years back with wheat & gluten intolerance. She began to sift through baked goods trying to find something that met her standards. After mounting frustration, Shelley decided to create her own desserts.
From the Moondance website:
Moondance Heavenly Desserts… homemade in small batches… will send you to the moon and back! Are you tired of tasteless gluten free desserts that just leave you wanting more? The wait is over! Our desserts have the home baked taste you’ve been missing. We understand the culinary challenges involved in baking gluten free desserts, so we have created exquisite desserts available at your fingertips. The finest ingredients and our unique cooking processes give you gourmet creations like none you have ever tasted before. Our delectable desserts are simply heavenly!
All of my finished desserts are tested and certified Gluten Free/Wheat Free by the University of Nebraska’s Food Allergy Research & Resource Program, FARRP, or Q Laboratories in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Moondance Desserts can be found in the mid-Atlantic Whole Foods stores (PA, MD, DC, KY, OH). They can also be found at Maggiano’s in Cleveland (right up the street from Whole Foods). If you are in the Knoxville area, they will be at the Celiac Vendor’s Fair (Saturday, February 27, 2010). You can check here to see other locations that may be close to you.
Shelley was nice enough to bring complimentary samples of 4 different cheesecakes & 2 different brownies. I think I died & went to heaven! Cheesecake was my favorite dessert before going gluten-free.
Descriptions from the Moondance website. My comments & thoughts are in italics.
Lemon Cheesecake -Cheesecake topped with a thick layer of refreshing lemon curd on a pecan shortbread crust. The perfect lemon cheesecake. Smooth & creamy.
Raspberry Ribbon Cheesecake – Cheesecake with an all natural swirl of luscious raspberry coulis on a pecan shortbread crust. Traditional cheesecake taste with a bonus. Very rich & satisfying.
Pumpkin Cheesecake -This seasonal favorite sits upon a delicious gingersnap crust. The heavenly aroma of cinnamon and nutmeg gives this cheesecake a delectable flavor. Our favorite. I served this to my Mom & sent some in to Aaron’s coworkers. It was raved about. Perfect blend of flavors & amazing texture.
Fudge Brownie – Imagine chocolate… rich chocolate… and even more chocolate, and you have just described our Fudge Brownies. Each bite is filled with the lucious taste of fine chocolate. The brownies linger on your tongue like a decadant chocolate mousse. You won’t be able to put these brownies down! Hands down one of the best brownies I have ever had. Thick, fudgey & gooey. YUM!
We have yet to get to the next two, but can’t wait! If they are anywhere as good as the first 4 desserts, we are in for a real treat!
Walnut Brownie – The finest quality crunchy walnuts are nestled throughout our decadant Fudge Brownies for a taste experience that will send you to the moon and back! Packed with oversized chunks of walnuts, each bite of our Walnut Brownie is sinfully rich and will surely satisfy the inner chocoholic in you!
Butter Toffee Cheesecake – Our classic cheesecake topped with handmade butter toffee and drizzles of decadent chocolate on a pecan shortbread crust.
Do you want to try Moondance Desserts Brownies for yourself? Shelley is offering to give one lucky reader a sampling of her brownies. The winner will get 6 brownies – 3 fudge & 3 walnut. All you have to do is:
1. Leave a comment here telling me what your favorite cheesecake flavor is.
2. Tweet (@kbouldin) or blog about this contest & post a comment with the link or letting me know you tweeted.
3. Contest will end Friday, January 29, 2010 at midnight.
Shelley, it was great to meet you. Thank you again for the wonderful samples – we are truly enjoying them.
My son and me, November 2000. This is before we were gluten-free/diagnosed Celiac.
Pumpkin Cheesecake! By far!!!!!! Moondance use to make a Blondie that was unreal. I don't know if they still make it. That is their only product I have tried and it was years ago.
I retweeted about the contest!
Pumpkin cheesecake for sure! I eat more food with pumpkin during the holidays, but truthfully, I enjoy it year round! I really like gingersnaps too. It sounds like the perfect combination! I retweeted your contest announcement on Twitter.
That raspberry cheesecake sounds amazing to me! I have only had cheesecake once since going GF nearly 7 years ago – it was nothing great. I can't wait to try some Moondance products!
I had a chance to taste the Moondance products last year and they were delicious. The Raspberry Ribbon Cheesecake was by far my favorite. Good luck to those in your contest.
http://glutenfreefun.blogspot.com/2009/07/moondan…
ooh these do sound heavenly! my all-time favorite cheesecake flavor is traditional cheesecake with almond flavoring added to the cake. super yummy! Of course I love any cheesecake and anything pumpkin!
Please enter me for a chance to win these brownies! I am dying to find a fantastic GF brownie! Thank you!
I'm a purist – Plain cheesecake maybe some strawberries on the side, but I am also searching for a good brownie to see me through…
Thanks,
Elaine
Pumpkin Cheesecake! Kim, these look so good that I not only "tweeted" about it, I just did a dedicated blog post! http://adventuresofaglutenfreemom.com/2010/01/27/…
Heidi
Pumpkin cheesecake would be my favorite. I love things with pumpkin in them.
Plain cheesecake with fruit topping is usually my favorite, but the raspberry ribbon sounds really good!
And by the way, I just tweeted about the contest (I am @maconmom). Thanks!
Man, I wish I was back in the Midwest and could get my hands on some of these!!! My favorite cheesecake flavor is: ANY!!! But if I really had to pick it would be plain with a fruit topping like raspberry or cherry. I have never tried pumpkin cheesecake but I think I would like it too.
[...] can check out Kim’s review here and enter for a chance to win a sampling of gluten-free [...]
Chocolate or Pina Colada Cheesecake
I haven't had cheesecake since I was diagnosed with celiac almost 2 years ago-It looks amazing! My favorite would have to be blueberry! Any kind of cheesecake is wonderful!
[...] to all who entered my giveaway!! Don’t forget you can still enter the Moondance Desserts giveaway to win free gluten-free brownies until Friday at midnight!!! SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: [...]
I think that my favorite cheesecake is peanut butter cup from cheesecake factory… I know it is filled with tons of calories, but it is SOO delicious!!
I retweeted about the giveaway and I hope that I get to try these yummy brownies!!
[...] I had the pleasure of meeting with the founder of Moondance Heavenly Desserts, Shelley Ritchie, in January of this year. Shelley brought me some complimentary samples of her cheesecakes & brownies to sample & review. You can see my review of some of her products here. [...]
i just leave munching and eating cheesecakes, they are tasty and yummy`;-
i'd love to munch those very big cheesecakes, they are really tasty and sweet"~"
very good post, i certainly love this website, keep on it
You should take part in a contest for one of the best blogs on the web. I will recommend this site!
I like the valuable information you provide for your articles. I’ll bookmark your blog and take a look at again here regularly. I am somewhat sure I’ll be told a lot of new stuff proper here! Best of luck for the next!
Great read, thank you for this great post.