Sweet Freedom Bakery

I spent last weekend in Philadelphia - a real gluten-free paradise. I had a scout, a gluten-free accomplice awaiting me when I arrived, meaning, a gluten-free friend who lives there and knows all the best things.

Best things: Sweet Freedom Bakery. Photographic proof of deliciousness: 6pm on a Saturday and nearly everything gone from the racks.

We had already been gluttons all day long: Carman's Country Kitchen (there was a pork chop on the brunch menu) and snacks at some bizarre yoga themed restaurant which still boasted a snow-kissed Christmas tree in the front lobby. By the time we got to Sweet Freedom I had to restrain myself. I sampled the chocolate chip cookie (chewy! How do they do it?) and ordered an oatmeal raisin cookie sandwich... aaand got a rhubarb oat crumble cake to save for breakfast the next day.

Inevitably, one's mind turns to Babycakes. I even had a little discussion with one of the owners about this. She intimated that some of her customers liked her treats MORE than the famous and seminal Lower East Side bakery. Babycakes, in my opinion, wins for chocolate chip cookies and frosting. Something about their coconut oil whip just pushes my buttons.


BUT. This oatmeal raisin situation was beyond. A definite winner. And the rhubarb golumpki, or whatchamacall, or whatnot, oh yeah. I love rhubarb and the bottom layer was a buttery thickness, like gingerless-gingerbread. My cousin didn't like that part and, like a hungry dog, I ate the scraps off her plate.