Sweet snacks: gluten-free cookies, cocoa confectionery and fruit jelly

Sweet snacks are little sugary treats for your coffee break, afternoon tea, or on the go – cookies and confectionery. At Leni & Hans, the focus is on gluten-free organic cookies from Belgium, complemented by cocoa confectionery from Weil am Rhein and fruit jelly from Austria. Chocolate bars have their own dedicated category with us.

Gluten-free cookies: what's in the dough

Gluten is the binding protein found in wheat, spelt, rye, and barley. It holds classic cookie dough together. In the EU, a food may only be labeled as gluten-free if it contains no more than 20 mg of gluten per kilogram. The cookies from Generous fall below this limit and rely on other ingredients: buckwheat, which despite its name has nothing to do with wheat and belongs to the knotweed family, plus potato starch, tapioca from the cassava root, and gluten-free oats. Oats are only gluten-free if they are grown and processed separately from other grains.

To ensure the cookies remain crumbly and aromatic, the remaining ingredients are key: butter and cane sugar for the sablés, plenty of hazelnuts for the croquant, and oats, raisins, and coconut flour for the soft breakfast cookie.

Sablé, Croquant, oat cookie: the varieties

A sablé is a French butter cookie made from shortcrust pastry; the name means "sandy" and describes how it crumbles on the tongue. Generous calls its hazelnut cookie croquant, which is baked entirely from egg white, cane sugar, and nuts, without flour or butter. The oat cookie, by contrast, stays soft and moist and is more like a small breakfast to take with you.

Alongside the cookies, there are two types of confectionery. Fruit jelly is a confection made from fruit juice or fruit purée, sugar, and a gelling agent, usually pectin, which is cut into bite-sized pieces after setting. Cocoa confectionery combines sugar and cocoa with vegetable fat such as coconut or palm kernel fat. Because the fat does not consist primarily of cocoa butter, it cannot be called chocolate. Both are an alternative if you fancy something other than pastry with your coffee.

Generous: gluten-free organic cookies from Belgium

All cookies in this category come from Generous in Tubize, Belgium, and bear first names. The most popular among the cookies are the Charlotte Chocolat chocolate cookies with butter, chocolate, Piedmont hazelnuts, and a pinch of fleur de sel – intensely chocolatey and slightly salty. Also very popular are the Victor Vanille vanilla cookies, delicately melting sablés with real organic vanilla, and the Nicole Noisette hazelnut cookies with 22% hazelnuts.

The Céline Citron lemon cookies, with organic lemon juice and 27% butter, taste slightly tart and buttery. The Martin Matin oat cookies are vegan according to the manufacturer and come in five 30 g portions – practical for a lunchbox or the commute to the office.

Cocoa confectionery and fruit jelly

Our top seller in this category is the cocoa confectionery from Goufrais in Weil am Rhein: small Gugelhupf cakes based on coconut and palm kernel fat, sugar, and cocoa, fully coated in cocoa powder, firm and cool to the bite, then delicately melting. They are available as a gift pack with 34 pieces in a shimmering gold box or in a gold bag with 20 pieces. The fruit jelly mix comes from the Berger Confiserie in Lofer in the Salzburg region: soft confectionery in seven varieties from mandarin to raspberry to yellow and green pear, jellied with pectin, colored with plant extracts, and vegan according to the manufacturer.

When to enjoy which sweet snack

A chocolate cookie goes well with an espresso after lunch, while the hazelnut croquant pairs with strong filter coffee. The lemon sablés are for afternoon tea, and the vanilla cookies go with fruit salad, compote, or a bowl of berries with yogurt. Sprinkle crumbled sablés over ice cream or layer them in a glass with quark and fruit. Serve the Goufrais Gugelhupf chilled and briefly brought to room temperature with coffee, and put the fruit jelly on the coffee table when you have guests – children love picking out their favorite color.

Buying advice and storage

• Gluten-free: All five Generous cookies are gluten-free with less than 20 mg of gluten per kilogram.
• Vegan: The oat cookies and the fruit jelly are labeled as vegan; the sablés contain butter.
• For sampling: The 100 g packs are well suited for trying several varieties side by side.
• Storing cookies: Keep dry and well-sealed, preferably in a cookie tin, so that sablés and croquant stay crispy.
• Storing confectionery: The Goufrais Gugelhupf is best kept cool; store fruit jelly in a cool place away from sunlight.

More from Sweets & Snacks

These sweet snacks belong to our Sweets & Snacks category. If you prefer a whole bar, you can find organic bars from the Berger Confiserie in the Chocolate section, ranging from milk to dark chocolate. For the savory side, savory snacks such as grissini, Schüttelbrot, and bread chips are available. You can find dried goji berries for your muesli under Nuts, Kernels & Seeds.

Order sweet snacks online

Whether cookies for coffee time, fruit jelly for visitors, or cocoa confectionery as a gift: order your sweet snacks online from Leni & Hans, and your package will be with you in 1–3 days.