Golden Girl Gourmet Granola Review
The Golden Girl Granola company began with the O'Kelly family who shares a passion for gourmet foods.
Catherine was driven to sell her hand sewn bags at the farmers market and brought along doughnuts that they fried up that morning.
At the end of the day they realized they would need a product that had a longer shelf life to be able to sell at the farmers market.
Jacquie thought it was in their best interest to try making granola, so the next week they did just that and baked six deliciously crunchy varieties of granola and bagged them up into ziploc baggies with an image of a little blond girl which was a mix of Jacquie and her childhood idol Pippi Longstocking which they called " The Golden Girl".
During the summer of 2008 the farmers market expanded in which they added three more markets, Catherine and Jacquie came home during the summer to help with the baking. Catherine got busy in the kitchen and began to bake and also sell breads, scones and cookies in addition to their granola, whereas Deborah made and also sold placemats, table runners and aprons that enhanced the Golden Girl tent.
Everyone loved their granola so much that it became a year round endeavor and added it to the Natick Winter Market in January 2009 where Deborah began the baking production solo.
On Halloween night they were baking in the kitchen preparing for the last market of the season when their home oven caught fire due to over baking and that's when Deborah decided to move production into a commercial kitchen.
Deborah constructed plans to relocate the business that Spring, in May of 2010 Golden Girl Granola moved into Carven Catering in Chelmsford. Jacquie then graduated from college where she joined the company full time where they started baking delicious pies as well as their other scrumptious baked goods.
They made 30+ pies by hand every Friday for the Saturday markets during the summer. By the end of the season they were fatigued but had real big plans for the granola that everyone couldn't seem to get enough of.
In 2011 as a family the O'Kelly's decided to stop making their other baked goods and focused solely on producing their granola.
They created a new packaging for their 14oz bag of granola and began producing a 3oz snack bag as well!
To help Jacquie with the baking they hired their first employee. Deborah was focused on the sales to the stores, in May they were on the shelves at Whole Foods market in Bedford Massachusetts.
Golden Girl granola was becoming such a big company and began to outgrow the kitchen and come to the conclusion once again that it was time to relocate the company to invest in their own space and equipment.
They moved into their own kitchen in Phoenix Park in January 2012 where they had a rotating rack oven which quadrupled their production two weeks after the move-in.
They trained and hired a second baker. Golden Girl Granola was in twenty specialty stores, six Whole Foods Markets, and also began to sell online through their website. They acquired a delivery service to help Deborah distribute the granola throughout Eastern Massachusetts.
Not only do I love a company that believes in good food but the love that they have their community. They love meeting as well as speaking with their beloved customers face-to-face whether it be at in-store sampling demonstrations, or by donating their time and granola to charitable events, like the NStar's Walk for Boston Children's Hospital.
I came across their granola online and they sounded so delicious, they come
in a variety of scrumptious flavors from fruity to chocolaty and make for a great topping on a number of foods from yogurt to ice cream!
Golden Girl Granola Flavors:
Home sweet honey
The original
Truly tropical
Creative cranberry
Chocolate decadence
Bluesberry
Forest maple
I was sent four crunchy delicious granolas to try out for review and here are the flavors I chose !
Chocolate Decadence:
What's not to love when there's almonds, coconut and chocolate chips in granola? It was sweet, crunchy and delicious ! I love anything with chocolate and coconut together, I don't know what it is maybe the creaminess from the milk chocolate or the sweetness from the nutty coconut it just makes me well.. Go cukoo for coconuts ! It reminded me of my favorite girl scouts cookie known as the samoa. I sprinkled some of this delightful sweet and crunchy granola on top of some arctic zero chocolate ice cream and it was insanely good!
Bluesberry:
And I thought the chocolate decadence flavored granola was good? I loved the crunch of the oats, the nuttiness from the almonds, the chewy juicy blueberries with the sweet shreds of coconut! I made some blueberry pancakes for dinner and sprinkled the granola right on top with a drizzle of blueberry agave nectar and it was so good!
Creative Cranberry:
I racked my brain thinking of what to pair with this tasty granola, should I sprinkle it on yogurt, make a dessert out of it or should I bake with it? A thought occurred to me when I found an easy recipe for muffins online. You can find it here. http://fitfrugalrecipes.blogspot.com/2013/07/healthy-baked-oatmeal-muffins-3.html . This recipe was so easy to make it requires only 2 ripe bananas mashed, 2 cups of oatmeal, and 2 tablespoons of milk even though it called for (coconut milk) I had none on hand so I used some unsweetened cashew milk. Then I mixed them together folded in dried cranberries, then scooped them into cupcake paper to be baked into the oven, then I sprinkled on the granola for a crunchy yet delicious topping! These muffins make for a great breakfast or snack, I loved the sweetness from the coconut flakes along with the crunchiness from the almonds and the tang from the cranberries.
Forest Maple:
For a nutritious and delicious breakfast to start off the day I added some maple granola to a bowl of plain organic yogurt and topped it off with sliced apple and some raisins for added sweetness, I loved the crunch of the granola and subtle sweetness of maple.
Disclosure:
Golden Girl Granola provided me with samples of granola in exchange for review, however all opinions expressed are my own .
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