In one word?  Fundamentals.  Whether you call it the Paleo or the Primal diet, the fundamentals are the same.  We’re big believers in getting the fundamentals right before moving on to “advanced” stuff.  In fact, we’d rather spend all of our time perfecting the basics even if it means we’ll never move to “advanced” levels, because we’ve seen time and again that smoothly executed basics will consistently win out over more complex ideas.

Wait a second, how does that apply to making Paleo cookies?  Well, we’ve been in business a little over 3 years and still only have 4 Paleo Treats: The Brownie Bomb, the Cacao Now, the Mac Attack, and the Mustang Bar.  Why don’t we have more?  Because (we’re almost embarrassed to say it) we’re still working the basics of Paleo cookies.

What are those basics?  For us, anything we make has got to have two things, and two things only: It MUST be totally Paleo; no agave, no preservatives, not even the hint of a “cheat”.  It also HAS to be one of the most bitchin’ things you’ve ever tasted, health food or not.

Now, we know that if you go head to head with no-holds-barred tiramisu or freshly made ice cream you’re going to have to work pretty danged hard to taste better than that, but beyond a few “untouchables” we (and anyone who has tried them) think that our Paleo desserts taste just as good or better than their non-paleo equivalents.

The Brownie?  Let me tell you, we’ve had more people tell us the Brownie is the best brownie they’ve ever tasted than I can count, and for folks who like coconut, the Mac Attack is tops.  If you’re a dark chocolate fan (and Lee is a fan-atic), The Cacao Now ranks up there with any of the chocolate you can find, and that leaves the Mustang Bar.

That’s a hard one to describe, and we’ve found that when we first lay out a spread of Paleo Treats that people, left to their own devices, will try the Mustang last, or only with some prodding.  Once they tried it though, look out!  It goes head to head with the Brownie as our fans’ favorite Treat, and for good reason; we have begun to master the basics of a great Paleo cookie.

Have you tried one yet?

So what is “Paleo”, anyway?  You want the definitive Paleo diet definition?  Well, this might not be definitive, but it’s a damn good description.

Hold out your arm straight, fingers extended. Think of that length as representing the timeline of human evolution, from Australopithecines to you.  For the length of your arm up to the last tenth of an inch of your fingernail on your longest finger, this is what you’ve been eating:  lean meats, vegetables, fruits, nuts, and seeds.  Aside from the occasional binge on honey you ate no sweets.  That diet is the Paleolithic diet (often shortened to “paleo diet” or just “paleo”.)

Within that last little piece of your fingernail, which represents the last 10,000 years or so, humans discovered & developed agriculture, bringing grains, gluten, and dairy into our diet.  Within the last 100 years, which is a smaller sliver of your nail than you can see with the naked eye, artificial sweeteners, genetically modified foods, pesticides and other synthetic chemicals entered the human food chain.  Everything that came about in the last 10,000 years is known as the modern diet.

As you can see, we’ve had a LONG time to adjust and evolve with eating and digesting the Paleo diet, and almost no time to evolve to the modern diet.

For this reason, when you eat “food” from the modern diet like bread, cereal, milk, granola, or corn, your body reacts differently than if you feed it a Paleo diet.

For most of us, that reaction to “modern” foods ranges in severity from slightly more mucus than normal to a full blown allergic reaction.

Conversely, for most people, if you eat a diet that includes only foods from our Paleo history, pre-agriculture, many of your health issues will disappear.

There’s a ton of science, research, and discovery behind this concept of the paleo diet basics, much more than we’d like to get into on a paleo dessert site.  If you’d like more, google Robb Wolf, the Paleo Diet, and Loren Cordain to get a full version of the paleo diet explained; they are the gods of paleolithic nutrition.  For great cookbooks, take a look at Everyday Paleo by Sarah Fragoso and Paleo Comfort Foods by Julie & Charles Mayfield.  For some really good Paleo blogs, try George’s work over at Civilized Caveman Creations, or Michelle’s at Nom Nom Paleo, or Diane’s at Balanced Bites.

Enjoy your journey!

Thanks for checking out Paleo Treats, where we make awesome desserts (the Mac-Attack, the Brownie Bomb, the Cacao Now! and the Mustang Bar) that have NO gluten, NO dairy, and NO grain.  These are healthy Paleo desserts, and also by default, Ok to eat on a celiac diet as celiac dessert.

The Mac-Attack is a delicious morsel of a chocolate macaroon, made with healthy ingredients designed to be anti-inflammatory.  Because it follows the Paleo diet it’s naturally gluten free, and on top of that it doesn’t have the usual poisons found in a gluten free treat; there are no grains and no dairy.  We strongly believe in Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s saying that “perfection is achieved not when there is nothing left to add, but where there is nothing left to take away.”  We made this Paleo cookie with that in mind, and we think you’ll see at first bite the wisdom in our “less is WAY more” philosophy.

The Brownie Bomb is the pipe-hittin’ version of the brownies you used to make as a kid.  Without any gluten to weigh you down or irritate your digestive tract, the superfoods used in our brownie along with the ancient and all natural preservative of honey combine to make this an incredibly healthy treat. With only 6 totally Paleo ingredients it still weighs in at a hefty 3.25 ounces; that’s enough to satisfy the sweet tooth you have and give you enough substance to really finish a good dinner.  It also crushes all the other celiac desserts you may have tried.  Decadence with no penitence, bomber!

The Cacao Now is delicious untempered raw chocolate untainted by preservatives or excessive heat.   One of the main ingredients is cacao, a well known superfood.  Combined with goji berries (which have more vitamin C pound for pound than any other food on earth), pistachios, and almonds, this is a nutrition blast to your system!  All that in a rich dark diary free chocolate cup  makes eating the caveman diet easier than ever. Click here to buy Cacao Now!

Finally, there is the Mustang Bar.  Like all the others it is certified gluten free, and it might just be the most delicious paleo dessert we have.  It’s the hardest to describe taste-wise, but it’s made with almond butter (almonds are high in healthy fats and magnesium, critical to calcium uptake and protecting against heart disease), sweetened with honey, and is melt-in-your mouth delicious.

That’s our line up!  Simple, sweet, and fantastically healthy paleo desserts.  There are less than 11 ingredients in each cookie, most of ‘em have less than 7!  These are all natural, locally sourced when possible, and made of the highest quality ingredients we can find.  Enjoy!