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Eat your vegetables
Ever tried a lima bean cookie? How about a slice of root vegetable cake? It's understandable if these "treats" don't sound mouth-wateringly delicious -- but trust me, they are.
Brita DeBrest, president of and creative genius behind the quirky little Reston-based vegetarian bakery known as Veggielicious Cookies & Cakes, comes to the field in response to her mother’s challenge to tackle something really difficult. She creates and bakes a line of vegetable-based cookies and cakes. Her first creations were cookies based on parsnips and sweet potatoes.
"The business started on the West Coast about 3 1/2 years ago," says DeBrest, a former accountant and vegetarian. But after she moved east and gave up accounting, she found an investor in Northern Virginia, and the rest is Veggielicious history.
No one else is doing this, basing a whole line of baked goods on vegetables and fruits, she says. “It’s either the best idea or the worst idea in the world. Others may have a book, but I have a product. I hope I can at least open a door. It’s been hard work, but I’m very passionate.”
Some doors have already opened, at least a crack. DeBrest has featured her goodies on QVC and sold 16,000 cookies in three minutes. She’s also been a guest with Wendy Rieger on NBC 4, and has gotten a rave review from Rachael Ray, who cited the Sweet Potato Drop Cookies as the snack of the day.
Everyone, it seems, is surprised to find that baked goods based on vegetables and fruits, plus other organic ingredients, are quite tasty. Her line includes a seasonal fruit pound cake, a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting -- “I get calls about this all the time,” she says -- pineapple-carrot cookies, lima bean cookies and spice cookies made with veggies and cayenne. DeBrest bets that the most popular item in the line is the Sweet Potato Drop Cookie made with organic sweet potatoes. Adults are the target audience, but kids love them, too, she says.
A busy lady with a busy bakery, DeBrest admits to baking seven days a week because she is always creating and striving for a perfect product. “I’m always thinking of new products,” she says. What makes the whole process so unique and time-consuming is that each cake and cookie is made by hand -- no machines here to scoop up and portion out the dough.
Fortunately for the general public, the Veggielicious line of baked goods is available retail, as DeBrest is selling at the Reston Farm Market at Lake Anne each Saturday, and provides her baked goods to Katie’s Coffee House and the Java Junction, both in Great Falls. Customers can also order online -- www.veggieliciouscookies.com -- and DeBrest ships worldwide.
For a list of all-vegetarian restaurants located around the county, click here.
Contact the writer at cookasia@verizon.net
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