Free Range Cookies

Closed! Sad :-(

Sad to say that this store has closed since Oct. 6. I really loved this place. Linda is a truly awesome baker. If at all, I will miss this place badly. No more beloved chocolate crinkles, cupcakes & icing shots. :(My GI tract & sanity will miss you, Free Range Cookies.

This place is ridiculously far from where I live. On a whim, a friend and I decided to make the trek since it’s been on my list to check out for the last few months.
It did not disappoint. I had the classic chocolate chip cookie and it was uh-​maaaazing.
I was sad when it was gone. Really sad.
I thought it was interesting that the cookies were so frozen, my friend and I kept ours on the dashboard and by the time we reached home, my chocolate chip cookie was warm and gooey and just perfect.
Sucks for my friend, who chose the banana oatmeal cookie that didn’t get all melt-​y and awesome like mine did, but he told me he did enjoy it.
I’m kinda sorta glad this place isn’t near me because I’d be frequenting it way too much, but check it out if you can!

My sister in law & I had the amazing fortune of getting to meet Linda, the shop’s owner, on the night of the terrible storms and tornadoes here on Friday 4÷22÷11. We had actually just settled in and ordered dinner across the street at Ferguson Brewery when I realized I had heard of this «Free Range Cookies» store I could see through the window… and I THOUGHT they had gluten-​free goods… so I got on my iPhone to verify and found that their store hours were only until 6 on Fridays. I tweeted about how I was bummed I missed out on @FreeRangeCookie that day. Not 5 minutes later, I received at tweet back from that said «come on over!» So post-​haste, I collected Meg and we ran over just as the storm was ramping up and had an amazing time chatting with Linda, checking out the shop and sampling her goodies before buying practically half of them and running back across the street in the rain!
This place is like a holy mecca to me now, I think. I’ve been gluten free for about two years and while accessibility of a lot of food products has increased, store-​bought pastries are still incredibly lacking and the call of my sweet tooth has gone unanswered for a long time. Free Range Cookies offers fresh baked goods that I think taste BETTER than «normal» sweets and we could not have had more fun and felt more special than we did that night!
Meg and I continued to tweet back and forth with Linda from Ferguson Brewery when all the power in the neighborhood went out to make sure she was okay and I’m also happy to report that we and our property all made it through!

Oh. My. Goodness! Free Range Cookies is the greatest.
First of all, it’s in Ferguson, which is the cutest little area. Don’t knock North County until you’ve been to Ferguson; it reminds me of Old Town St. Charles with its cute little shops and walkable area.
Free Range Cookies is a gluten-​free bakery that has a little of everything. Cookies, Breads, Brownies, Cupcakes, you name it.
They also have a number of VEGAN goodies! Since I’m going vegan for the month of March, this is a big deal to me.
I tried the vegan mint chocolate cookies, and they were delicious — they taste JUST like Thin Mints! And they definitely satisfied this girls craving for the popular Girl Scout cookie (Girl Scout Thin Mints aren’t vegan, by the way).
I also tried the cranberry oatmeal cookie (amazing) and the quinoa cookie (hands down, the BEST cookie I’ve ever had!). The cookies are HUGE and delicious.
While they are a bit on the expensive side ($ 2 a cookie), the quality of the ingredients is evident. It’s worth every penny.
P. S. If you go behind the building, there’s tons of parking. Useful if you suck at parallel parking like I do.

We came to this place while traveling across country (Hyde Park NY to home, Glendale, CA), and it has been our best food stop on the trip so far! I’m thrilled to be able to enjoy delicious baked goods. We’ve only eaten the chocolate donut so far, but it was FANTASTIC.
We also picked up a couple of brownies and chocolate chip cookies, as well as some quinoa cookies, biscotti and caramel popcorn.
It was also a pleasure to meet Linda, who gave me some advice when I admitted our woes in our attempts to make bagels at home.
I probably won’t come through the St. Louis area often in my life, but this is a stop that I’ll try to make every time I do!

Best. Bakery. EVER!
Everything Linda touches is delicious! She makes the best gluten free products in St. Louis, in my opinion. She uses a variety of healthy whole grain flours rather than using only the refined potato, rice, and tapioca flours that are common to gluten free goods. Many of her products are also dairy free. She has been known to create foods for customers with special requests or needs. I feel really good about eating her foods, and I love supporting the small business. Her service is always above and beyond what I could ask for.
I love eating her garlic baguette, usually with extra fresh or roasted garlic slathered on a slice! I would eat that every day if I could! When I serve her baguette at a dinner party, my friends are shocked that it is not gluten-​filled.
Her pizza crusts are thin and crispy and delicious! She makes awesome pita pockets, focaccia, buns, and sweets.
Oh sweet Jesus — The Banana Chocolate Scones! While it may not be entirely fair because I’ve never tried a scone before this, these scones are delightful beyond belief.
Her banana oatmeal cookie is my favorite cookie ever, and her cinnamon rolls are lovely. Her latest venture — a cake donut — is so yummy. Sometimes, I eat it right out of the freezer without defrosting it!
My girlfriend says I’m obsessed. What can I say? I love good food and good people.
(p.s. Bring Cash or Check! Being a small business, she cannot accept debit or credit.)

I have to agree with everything that Kim said. This bakery is NO JOKE. It’s like the little side shop in Italy or France that you always long for. Fresh-​baked, smelling all good from the oven, and the owner really there doing this all by hand!
I love the fact that I can walk in to the rich smells, browse the cases, talk to Linda herself while she is baking, and actually see all of the top-​quality ingredients she uses, right before my eyes.
See, Linda doesn’t cut corners, she does it all right, all from scratch, and all with tremendous heart. YOu can trust this place like no other!
Even if you don’t know what gluten or gluten free is, I encourage you to wander to this shop, pick out some tasty treat, and mark it as one of your favorites. These are the types of places we wanna keep around!
My favorites? Foccacia (toast it in toaster oven and dip in olive oil or put a nice spread on; you can even use as a pizza crust or panini); Cranberry oatmeal cookies — the healthiest, tastiest cookie around; Sugar Cookies — UM, WOW, much better than any gluten sugar cookie i have ever had; Caramel Corn Snack Mix — I dare you to try to not eat the whole bag; OK… just about EVERYTHING! STOP BY TODAY!

Free Range Cookies is a dedicated gluten free bakery in Ferguson. Meaning… no pesky wheat flour is flying about waiting to make that special celiac in your life miserable. But here’s the deal. My partner is required to be gluten free. I just am out of solidarity. That being said, gluten free or not, this is some of the best baked goods you’ll ever get your hands on. The banana cookies are outrageously good as are the baguettes and focaccia. Honestly never had a bad thing from here. It sounds crazy but I actually go sometimes just to buy the «Chex» mix that she makes. I don’t know what she does to it and quite frankly, I don’t care. I just buy the stuff and wind up eating it in the car before I leave the damn parking lot.
To the best of my knowledge, this is a one woman show and it is a specialty shop. Soooo… if you come here expecting to score loads of dough with only a little dough… well…you’re screwed. You will be paying for amazing ingredients, like whole grains, amaranth flour, almond flour, mesquite flour, etc. AND, it’s all gluten free! In a nut shell, it’s pricey but worth it to the right population. We usually try to make it up about once a month or so to stock up (most everything she has is in the freezer). It all keeps really well and is easy to defrost.
You can also purchase Free Range products at several stores in the area such as Winslow’s Home and Whole Foods. I do recommend going to the store and actually checking out all the products. And, if there is something specific you are looking for you may want to call ahead.