Ah, chocolate!  Such a torturous food, that even us vanilla addicts tend to long for on occasion.  While cocoa sounds so pure, chocolate in its snacking and baking form isn’t always so innocent.  Fillers such as soy lecithin, butterfat, and milk solids threaten its goodness, while traces of nuts and other ingredients threaten those with allergies. 

But thanks to Enjoy Life Foods, there are some truly “safe” chocolate chips on the market.  Made in a dedicated facility, they are free of gluten and all eight of the top food allergens.  In fact, the only ingredients are:  Evaporated Cane Juice, Chocolate Liquor, Non-Dairy Cocoa Butter.  I actually found it quite funny that they put “non-dairy” cocoa butter, since cocoa butter contains no dairy by nature.  I guess this avoids the confusion that can accompany the word butter.

With my own bag of Enjoy Life chocolate chips in hand, it was time to make some chocolate chip cookies. As I ripped open the package the comforting scent of Nestle chocolate chips cheerfully greeted my nose.  I could tell that I was in for a true semi-sweet experience.  Unable to resist a sample, I poured a handful of … mini chocolate chips?  To be honest, while I was expecting tollhouse-sized chips, I have been searching for dairy-free mini-chips for years!  The larger ones tend to overwhelm dainty desserts, such as meringue, and just don’t fit in nicely with homemade quick breads, muffins, and granola bars.

Each mini morsel was bursting with semi-sweet chocolate flavor, so much so that I wondered why any manufacturer would add soy lecithin, butterfat, milk, or any other allergens for that matter.  While I had never made chocolate chip cookies with mini chips, they turned out quite tasty. Little bursts of chocolate added excitement without overtaking the cookie itself, a nice change indeed.  Of course, to make them completely “free” I used the cookie mix from Namaste Foods … 

The package was smaller than average (10 oz), but since they were mini-chips, they seemed to last me quite a bit longer than the regular 12 oz package … perhaps because my husband wasn’t stealing them for chocolate snacks, but also because I seemed to use less of them in recipes. They do cost a bit more than standard chocolate chips, but for many, the extra insurance is well worth it.

Where to Buy:  Enjoy Life products are available in many natural food grocers throughout the U.S. and Canada.  Distribution has also begun in Dillon, Fry’s, King Soopers, Kroger, Smith’s and Wegmans stores.  See their website for a store locator or to purchase online. 

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