When I first developed a gluten intolerance 15 years ago, the options for baked goods were bleak. Bread was frozen bricks that, once thawed, tasted like rice-flavored sponges. Cookies were grainy and left a lingering garbanzo-bean flavor on the tongue. Happily, things have changed a lot since then.
When I meet a new gluten-free (GF) acquaintance, it’s usually only a matter of minutes until we’re trading intel, sharing places that celebrate and even center gluten-free baking, and create hard-to-find treats that I thought I might never taste again.
At Ice Cream Social, everything inside the bite-sized pink store at 2421 University Ave. is gluten-free — including the fresh-made maple waffle cones. If you’re lucky, you can see them being poured onto a hot waffle iron right at the counter, filling the shop with a toasty maple aroma.
One or more new flavors rotate in each week and always include one vegan option. Most of the goodies folded into the gloriously creamy bases are baked in-house. Some of my favorite flavors are Lavender Honeycomb, Biscuits with the Boss (Earl Grey tea ice cream with buttery shortbread pieces), and Bitter Sweet Symphony (burnt sugar caramel ice cream with chocolate-covered potato chips).
If you think ice cream is only a summer treat, I beg you not to sleep on Ice Cream Social’s winter flavors, like Minter Wonderland (peppermint ice cream with white chocolate and candy cane-covered pretzels) and Gingerbread Cookie Butter Swirl (tangy buttermilk ice cream with gingerbread cookie butter swirls).
Mini scoops are $4.25, singles are $5.75, and doubles are $7.75. Can’t decide on one flavor? Try a four-scoop flight ($10). You can also grab a pint or a cookie ice cream sandwich from the freezer, and word on the street is that ice cream cakes will soon be available too. Just to sweeten the deal, Ice Cream Social donates 10% of its profits to DaneMAC, a local nonprofit empowering survivors of sexual assault.
One might assume that a store specializing in high-end chocolate would not also make gluten-free baked goods in a dedicated GF kitchen. Or that they would be the best GF baked goods in town.
Yet that one-two punch is exactly what Madison Chocolate Company offers. I felt faint with delight the first time I saw its bakery case brimming with treats I hadn’t tasted in years: perfectly laminated pain au chocolate ($5.50), succulent ham and gruyere croissants ($8), silky cream cheese frosting swirls atop a nest of cinnamon rolls ($7), chunks of dark chocolate and sea-salt crystals in the generously sized chocolate chip cookies ($5). I bought one of everything. I couldn’t wait till I got home and tried bites of each in the car, trying to keep my sticky fingers off the steering wheel. It all tasted as good as it looked — no small feat. Seasonal treats include pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, apple cider doughnuts, and Thanksgiving pies in apple, pumpkin, and pumpkin praline.
Madison Chocolate Company has two locations: its original shop at 729 Glenway St. and a new, bigger space at 5521 Odana Road. Both locations often sell out of popular items, so call before you go.
I moved back to Madison in late 2020 after 12 years away, and Bloom was the first bakery I discovered that made GF treats. I stood outside in the late March chill, waiting my turn to don my mask and go inside so the store could maintain social distancing. I bought every flavor of the perfectly decorated cupcakes.
Bloom’s cupcakes remain my favorite, and they have the added bonus of being vegan, as are almost all the GF goodies they make. Even non-GF friends have happily gobbled them up and wanted seconds. Get one cupcake ($4.50) or order them by the dozen ($36) for special occasions. Flavors change weekly. My current favorites are pumpkin chai and chocolate ganache cream cheese.
Grab a doughnut while you’re at it, but expect a muffiny texture, since they’re not fried. My favorites include the chai glazed and chocolate glazed. Buy one ($3), a six-pack ($18), or a dozen ($36).
Be aware that since Bloom primarily makes baked goods with gluten, its kitchen is not dedicated GF.
Bloom has two locations: 1851 Monroe St. and a newer, smaller location in the Northstreet collective at 551 North St.
