"I am always on the lookout for great new treats to try – especially when chocolate is involved. This Chocolate Chunk Cookie Mix from Authentic Foods definitely makes my list of favorites!

The gluten-free mix is based on rice flour. The dark chocolate chunks are indeed chunky – enough to satisfy this chocolate lover! The mix itself starts out wheat-free, dairy-free, and egg-free. It does contain soy lecithin, but no soy protein.

To make this allergen-free I replaced the 2 large eggs with ½ cup of unsweetened applesauce. I find that applesauce usually works better as a substitute for eggs in most brownie or cookie mixes. I left them in the oven a bit longer than the package suggests – eighteen minutes was just about right.

These disappeared really fast. I will need to make them again very soon! "

- Colette Martin, Author of Learning to Bake Gluten Free

"Authentic Foods has done it again! When I received their cookie mix to try out in my own kitchen, I was excited. Having never made chocolate chip cookies from a mix before, I was honestly not sure what to expect. As with everything I have seen from Authentic Foods, I love the packaging of this mix. Simple, strait forward and clearly labeled.

The mix I tried today was their Chocolate Chunk Cookie Mix, it is gluten-free, dairy-free and nut-free. All you need to make these cookies, in addition to the mix, are eggs, olive oil and water. Simple and easy to find in most kitchens. Let me tell you, these folks at Authentic Foods have really got it together. On the package, there is also instructions for making these cookies crispier by changing the ingredients a bit.

This time around, I made the cookies as the basic instructions described. I will admit though, that I would have loved to have tried this mix again, using the crispier version, just to see which version my family preferred. In a perfect world, I would have.

A true chocolate lover (which I am) would think they had died and went to heaven when they opened the package to mix up this dough. The amount of chocolate chunks included in this mix is truly a thing to behold! When they called these cookies, "Chocolate Chunk" they were not joking. The cookie to chocolate ratio is a chocolate lovers dream come true.

The dough mixes up easily and though it did not look to me at first that it would hold together, the cookies were quick and easy to form into perfect cookies. I used a small cookie scoop and got the 3 dozen cookies. The package says that it should make 32, so I think my cookies were on the small size. They look amazingly good though, so I am not complaining.

Let me tell you, these cookies smelled amazingly good when they were baking. Had no hint of gluten-free flavor whatsoever! In my oven, they took 13 minutes to bake and came out beautiful. Just like the picture on the package. The dark chocolate chunks stood out in these cookies and allowing them to cool for the 5 minutes that the instructions called for was a real test to my will power!

So, I bet you are wondering after all of this, how they taste? I'd say they are about the best chocolate chip cookie I have had in a long time! Certainly a very close if not as good as any gluten-filled cookie out there. Moist on the inside, crunchy on the outside and oozing with dark chocolate goodness. My made from scratch cookies would be hard pressed to beat these cookies in a taste test.

To sum it all up, these cookies were wonderfully good! Perfect amount of dark chocolate to satisfy any chocolate lover. Tasty cookie and an easy to prepare mix. A wonderful product in my mind! Find yourself a quiet place, a glass of milk and a few of these tasty cookies and you will be in heaven, at least until the cookies are gone. Baking more is not a problem though, I had three dozen cookies on my cooling racks in just over half an hour."

- Valerie Fender, from Gling.com