<p style="text-align:center;"><img class="aligncenter" src="http://www.remain-silent.com/cm/myplate/DolceVivianMacaroon.jpg" alt="Dolce Vivian Macaroon" width="400" height="394" /></p>

While on holiday in <a href="http://cravenmaven.wordpress.com/2010/07/05/im-baaack/">New Hampshire</a>, I had the pleasure of meeting the Vivian behind <a href="http://dolcevivian.com/">Dolce Vivian</a> - a gluten free bakery. Now I am not always a fan of food that is 'free' of anything, especially when it comes to my sweet treats. But I thought I would give it a try and so snagged a sample of one of her Almond Macaroons.

As we all know <a href="http://cravenmaven.wordpress.com/2010/06/14/macarons-are-not-macaroons/">Macaroons are not Macarons</a>..right? This treat had the nice crunchy edges of a macaroon with a soft rich almond middle not disimilar to a macaron. Such a quandry! The cream in the middle was soft and whipped - amazing as I don't believe these were baked the same day.

All in all what impressed me the most was how 'normal' it tasted. Sugar free always tastes off - Gluten free sometimes tastes dull - but this treat was as good as the 'real deal' and has prompted me to alert all my friends with Celiac's disease.

If you have a chance check out Dolce Vivian's good stuff - which can be ordered from her site <a href="http://dolcevivian.com">here</a>.

<i>images by cravenmaven</i>