Gluten Free Stop: Bittersweet Bakery & Cupcake Cafe

A double whammy of gluten-free awesomeness!

I was in Minneapolis this past weekend. In addition to getting to check out the ever-so-spiffy Textile Center, I was able to make a couple gluten-free stops: Bittersweet Bakery and Cupcake Cafe.

Bittersweet is a bakery dedicated to making gluten free yumminess. I did a little research before we hit the Twin Cities to find safe-ish restaurants I could visit, and I found this place! I knew I had to go. No fear of cross contamination on gluten free bread, cake, cookies, and muffins? I was sold. Bittersweet is not in Minneapolis itself, so I had to take a little solo trek Saturday morning to visit it. A little daunting, since I have only been to Minneapolis once before, but the fear of navigating alone was nothing compared to my bread-want. And lemme tell you, it.was.so.worth.it. Just look at my haul:

Half loaf of their original bread

This is making me hungry.

Spice cookie and my cranberry tea for breakfast yesterday.

Look at dat cookie. Oooo gurrl.

Buttered toast for breakfast. Mhhhhhhhh.

Dat. Butter.

Just look at those. Look at them. It has been over a month since I had anything remotely bread-like, and I LOVE bread. So getting to purchase these wonderful treats was super cool. I did not get pictures of a few things (because I ate dem). I also bought a lemon zinger cookie (it was like a lemon bar in cookie form), a generous slice of almond bundt cake, and a box of brownie bites (you know the crispy corners when you make a pan of brownies? Yeah. It was a box of those. Ohmyglob guys).

I cannot wait to be able to make a trek to Bittersweet again. All that wonderfulness and no fear of cross-contamination or anything. -happy sobs-

My second lil gluten-free indulgence was Cupcake. This adorable little cafe/bakery (Cafekery? Bafe?) had a pretty impressive menu for being such a tiny place. It is run by a guy named Kevin who competed in (and won!) several rounds of Cupcake Wars. Too cool.

The bitty cafe.

So cute!!

 Cupcake is not a strictly gf cafe, so there weren't a ton of options I could indulge in. (Well, they had a lot of salads that were gf but, because of my Colitis, salads are a no-go). They specialized in cupcakes, but they also had a TON of macaroons. Those bitty french pastries (in case you did not know, like me) are naturally gluten free. But my adventure-buddy and I were there for lunch, so I decided to hold off on the sweets until after our meal.

I had a bowl of Potato Prosciutto soup (which was gf) and a cappuccino. Perfect for the mega-chill I was experiencing due to the temperature. Good, cozy, well-made food.  My friend who was with me had their pulled pork sammie. She said it was quite tasty.

Hipster photo is hipst.

Once we were done, I was so full I forgot to buy some macaroons! Drats! I guess I'll have to go back. The spiffy thing is Cupcake is only a few blocks from the Textile Center! Booyah!! So if you visit one, you have no excuse of why you can't check out the other.

So yes little butternubs, two fun places that are gluten free friendly in the Twin Cities. Do you know of any other places in/around the Twin Cities that are gluten free? Have you been to either of these places? Let me know, yo. Now, I have to go eat something. All this talk of food.

Yours faithfully,
Carolyn Michelle

And your daily dose of Arlo!!