Once again, the Inland Empire is coming up in the vegan world.  There is now a bakery that has two locations in the I.E.  Muffin Top Bakery‘s original location is in Riverside and they have recently opened their second location in beautiful downtown Redlands.  I had been buying their breads at Clarks Nutritional Center in Loma Linda (where they also sell a few select pastries), but was excited to have their full bakery menu at hand in Redlands.  I haven’t been to the Riverside location, but I would think the offerings at both locations would be very similar.

Just look at their display cases.  Most of the goodies are vegan.  They even have gluten free or sugar free cookies!

And of course they still have all their breads available.  And look at the table seating – Now a place for Redlands vegans to come and grab a pastry and catch up with friends!

So my mom and I went a little vegan crazy when we finally made it out to Muffin Top Bakery.  We got almost every vegan selection they had that day.  Going clockwise in the picture, this is what we got.

The Spinach Pie was a small savory pie filled with spinach, onions, and spices – we heated it in the microwave for a quick tasty snack.

The Peanut Butter Roll ($2.50) is like a regular cinnamon roll with peanut butter rolled up into it.  Hello!?  Why aren’t more people doing this?!  Peanut butter + cinnamon roll = delicious!  Of course, I do have to say that Muffin Top doesn’t use a lot of fats in their products, so the cinnamon roll dough is on the lighter side.

Cream Horn ($3) is AMAZING!  By far the favorite of the bunch.  It’s a horn shaped pastry filled with vegan cream – VEGAN CREAM!  And to top it off, one side is dipped in chocolate and then the whole thing is dusted with powdered sugar.

The Baklava ($2.50) was high up on the list as well (nothing could top that Cream Horn, though).  It was very moist and sweet.

The Blueberry Strudel ($2.50)was simple, yet satisfying.  The blueberry filling was on the tart side, though.

And the Apple Turnover ($2.50) was our least favorite.  It had far too much dough and not enough filling.

They have hundreds of cookies there ($5/dozen or $3/half dozen).  Deciding on which ones to get was impossible, so we just had them grab an assortment of the gluten and sugar -filled varieties.  While I did like these cookies, they tasted more like those tin cookies people buy around the holidays for their parties.  They even look like them, too.

In the mood for a cupcake?  They’ve got that too.  My mom and I decided that sharing is caring, so we got my dad a Chocolate Cupcake ($1.50).  Looks good, but I never heard the verdict.  I tasted the Vanilla Cupcake ($1.50) and thought it was too simple for me.  It had more of an angel food cake feel and a basic whipped cream topping.  I’m a sweet-aholic and like my cupcakes loaded with sugar.  The Brownie ($2.50), on the other hand, was more like that sweet cake topped with a rich fudgey frosting.  It didn’t remind me of a brownie, but still tasted good.

To make our trip to Muffin Top Bakery last the whole week, my mom bought some breads.  I didn’t try these varieties, but I love their whole wheat bread.  I’m not sure if all their breads are like this, but the whole wheat variety uses no oil and still tastes good!  How is that possible?  And because they don’t add fat, each slice is only 40 calories.  Where else can you find a whole wheat bread with such low calories?  No really – where can you?  I’ve never seen any.

Muffin Top Bakery’s location are:

Redlands
223 E. State St. Suite A
Redlands, CA 92373
(909)792-9911

Monday – Wednesday 8am – 7pm
Thursday 8am – 9pm
Friday – Saturday 8am – 7pm
Sunday 9am – 4pm
Riverside
1735 Spruce St
Riverside, CA 92507
951-222-0377

Monday – Friday 6am – 6pm
Saturday 8am – 4pm