Delicious vegan cookies? You say impossible! Well, now that Miami has Om Nom Nom cookies, no one will be able to question the tastiness of a vegan treat.
Spotted by Short Order at Panther Coffee, these desserts lack animal products, but they lose nothing in flavor. Panther has an impressive selection of sweets, including Yummy ChunBuns and doughnuts made at the Mandarin Oriental. Om Nom Nom fits in quite well.
Miami's Anthea Ponsetti is the woman behind the cookie. A vegetarian since she was 18, she recently became a full-fledged vegan. The reason for starting Om Nom Nom: "My sister's always been pushing me to do cookies. She loves my cookies." So a few years ago, she made up her mind to start her own brand.
"I found that especially in Miami, vegan culture is just starting to take off. There's not that many vegans. There's not that many vegan options." She's a chef who loves food culture and enjoys eating out. Ponsetti notes that as a vegan, you end up eating salad everywhere -- "you get thin because you have no choice!" She jokes, "I have a sweet tooth. I have to have something sweet everyday. Thank God I can cook." For those who can't, On Nom Nom will be the cookie to end any meal in a kick-ass way.
So far, Om Nom Nom has received a great response, and they're selling around town at Lemoni, Tinta y Café, Here Comes the Sun, Last Carrot, and a few Books & Books locations.
It's a small operation run with the help of friends. Her head baker and lifelong friend, Alain Martinez, has celiac's disease. She's working on a cookie line without wheat so that he can taste his own creations. Ponsetti is still experimenting with different kinds of flour. She exclaims about trying to find the perfect wheatless flour: "You should see my kitchen!"
Ponsetti began creating these recipes about five months ago and selling them about two months ago. Flavors include orange-zested chocolate chip, spicy Mexican snickerdoodle, and oatmeal cranberry coconut. The cookies are mostly organic, and she's working on making them 100 percent organic. The packaging is green, and she composts. Totally earth-friendly.
The Om Nom Nom crew is moving to a larger location and will soon launch a website where people around the world can buy delicious vegan cookies. Next step is to maybe open a space in Los Angeles. Vegan empanadas with champagne-made dough are possibly on the horizon too. Expect to read about those when they hit the stores in Miami. We'll be shoveling them in our maws as we type!
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