Sweet Treats Without the Guilt

What do you do when a group gathers to eat and enjoy, but each has a different food allergy? At a recent birthday gathering, the birthday child couldn’t eat gluten, the mother couldn’t have dairy, and another relative couldn’t have nuts. What’s the solution, besides giving out bottles of water?

Enter Hope Treats with Paleo Sweets, a clean eating bakery founded by Alabama resident Hope Davis.

With more advanced allergy testing available and a greater awareness of the connection between food choices and health, our birthday scenario is a great deal more common than it was a few years back.

Hope holds that there’s an “undeniable connection between food and our bodies functioning at their full potential.”

And she’s built an entire business around it.

Clean Eating, Great Taste

Hope Treats with Paleo Sweets offers one-of-a-kind baked goods that are gluten-free, dairy-free and nut-free, made with natural and organic ingredients. She also offers many vegan options for those who are sensitive to eggs, all at an affordable price.

“My purpose in Hope Heals with Paleo Meals is to help make this way of eating accessible to all so they can feel the incredible benefits of clean eating!” says Hope.

Besides being free from the top allergens, her Paleo baked goods offer a healthier version of sweet treats without compromising on taste or quality. While other gluten free bakeries still use a lot of refined sugar and preservatives, she sweetens with only natural sweeteners: honey, maple and coconut sugar.

This makes it not only a safe treat for people with allergies, but also a tasty treat for Paleo and clean dieters, without the guilt.

Peace of Mind

But there’s another aspect to Hope Treats: delivering allergen friendly baked goods to those who have never been able to enjoy them. Some extreme allergy sufferers face risks that are so high, that cross contamination could be devastating.

Hope recalls her all-time favorite moment in this business, when a young child approached her table at an event and eyed all the baked goods. When his mother learned the sweet treats were completely free from the top allergens, his eyes widened and he exclaimed, “So I can eat anything on this table?” After being restricted his whole life from eating sweets everyone else could enjoy, his enthusiasm was understandable.

Because what’s childhood without sweets? Or birthdays, after school snacks and holidays?

And even when a food item is free of one allergen, it’s very rarely free of all of them.

That’s where Hope’s Paleo Treats come in, offering sweet treats that are completely free of cross contamination so kids (and adults) can eat with peace of mind.

Perfecting Taste: The Process

After being diagnosed with Celiac Disease in 2010, Hope was disheartened to also discover additional food intolerances, including dairy and nuts.

But she refused to compromise on taste. After sampling the many cardboard-tasting allergen friendly baked goods available locally, she set out to find her own solution. Over the next 10 years, she tested and re-tested in the kitchen until her baked creations tasted just right.

She recounts how over the years, people who heard of her food intolerances asked her: “So, what can you eat?” and her response to them was always, “Really delicious food!””

“Lots of love, sweat and tears go into my recipes to make sure they taste divine and not like cardboard,” says Hope.

The Taste Problem Solved

Gluten free baking has long been associated with a chalky taste, and a dry, odd texture. Dairy free baking tends to lack richness. Those who suffer from allergies and sensitivities frequently lament the song and dance of running to the grocery store or nearby bakery to choose from a limited selection, pay an exorbitant price, and then instantly regret the taste as they choke down their purchase.

Hope’s Paleo Treats not only make no sacrifice in flavor, they also taste better than baked goods chocked full of gluten, nuts, dairy and refined sugars. Lest you think this is impossible, she’s performed numerous taste tests on kids and adults who have no sensitivities at all – and they all prefer Hope’s Paleo Treats to “regular” baked goods, hands-down.