Gluten Free Works Gluten Free Resources News and Tips
Hold on to your lattes, kids, Dunkin Donuts just made a major gluten-free announcement! Yes, the coffee and pastry giant is adding gluten-free items to their menu. By the end of the year, we will be able to order GF cinnamon-sugar donuts and blueberry muffins along with our joe. Dunkin Brands Group Inc., the company that owns the chain, tested these gluten-free offerings in some of its shops in Massachusetts. The response was so positive, the GF items are being served in the Hartford, CT area now, and will begin to spread across the country.
“We recognize the importance of providing our guests with many options, including alternative choices for people with food and dietary restrictions,” said Stan Frankenthaler, DD’s executive chef. The new items will be packaged separately to prevent cross-contamination from other foods containing gluten.
While many haters will balk at this addition, people who haven’t been able to
have a realdonut in years (10 for me!) are looking forward to it. Especially when your family or co-workers are scarfing down Dunkin Donuts; it will be nice to be able to eat along with them, instead of sipping your coffee and looking deprived.
The news outlets that are reporting the story (Bloomberg, CNN) are warning that these new goodies aren’t particularly healthy; the donut clocks in at 320 calories and the blueberry muffin is about 400 calories.
This news is no surprise to those of us who have been eating gluten-free for any length of time: we know it takes calories and fat and sugar to make a GF treat taste like a non-GF treat. And really, that’s okay. We appreciate the effort. Thanks, Double D, for noticing us and baking for us.
———————–
Author Information: Trish Deitemeyer
www.kindarealglutenfreefood.blogspot.com
http://www.examiner.com/x-14494-Philadelphia-GlutenFree-Food-Examiner
Twitter:kindareal
These have been available in Connecticut since at least late last year. You just have to go inside, and they’re usually on the counter right next to the register in a special box.
But I have to say…they’re not all that great. :( The doughnuts, which are only available in cinnamon sugar, are on the dry side, and the muffins are flavorless with some crumbling issues. My local gluten-free bakery puts these items to absolute shame. Actually, even the frozen Udi’s and Kinnikinnick items are better.
So this is a nice step forward, but I hope they will consider improving these items before wide distribution.