Winning Recipes of First-Ever @SurfSweets Organic Jelly Beans Blogger Bake-Off Announced

Sharing this neat news release from Surf Sweets! ******************                                                                                                     For Immediate Release     Winning Recipes of First-Ever Surf Sweets® Organic Jelly Beans Blogger Bake-Off Announced Three delicious and new unique new gluten-free and/or allergy-friendly jelly bean recipes are created just in time for spring   WHEELING, IL, March 29, 2012 – Surf Sweets®, the country’s leading brand of organically sweetened, fruitfully delicious and naturally good gummy candies and jelly beans, announced today the winners of its first-ever Surf Sweets Organic Jelly Beans Blogger Bake-Off.  The bake-off was held in celebration of the launch of Surf Sweets new 8-ounce seasonal mix of Organic Jelly Beans with six delicious new flavors: tropical punch, lemonade, mixed berry, pineapple, tangerine and watermelon.   Surf Sweets new seasonal mix of Organic Jelly Beans, like all of its gummy candies and jelly beans, are all natural, allergy friendly and gluten free.  To highlight these attributes, Surf Sweets invited 14 bloggers who write about allergy-friendly and/or gluten-free foods to compete in its bake-off.    Each contestant was required to submit a gluten-free and/or allergy-friendly baked-good recipe and photograph using Surf Sweets new seasonal mix of Organic Jelly Beans as an ingredient and/or decoration.  Recipes were judged based on taste, originality, creative use of jelly beans and presentation.   The following were selected as winners:   ·       Grand Prize:  Surf Sweets Spring Mix Jelly Bean Scones by Charmaine Weber of YummyAllergenFree   ·       2nd Prize:  Jelly Bean Jubilee Cupcake by Kelli and Peter Bronski of No Gluten, No Problem   ·       3rd Prize:  Jelly Bean Macaroon Nests by Alexa Croft of Lexie's Kitchen   “We found the Surf Sweets Spring Mix Jelly Beans Scones recipe by YummyAllergenFree to be exceptionally creative,” said Bert Cohen, President and Founder of TruSweets, LLC, a socially responsible company dedicated to building delicious, sweet snack brands like Surf Sweets that are better for our families and our planet.  “The recipe brilliantly incorporates Surf Sweets Organic Jelly Beans right into the scone dough, and then they’re pressed into the icing,” said Cohen.  “It’s a sweet approach to a deliciously unique and different dessert scone.”   According to Cohen, the No Gluten, No Problem Jelly Bean Jubilee Cupcake recipe was chosen for the way it cleverly incorporates Surf Sweets Organic Jelly Beans into both the cupcake batter and the frosting.  And the Jelly Bean Macaroon Nests by Lexi’s Kitchen were selected because are a tasty and colorful take on traditional macaroons.   In addition to its special new 8-ounce seasonal mix of Organic Jelly Beans, Surf Sweets offers eight unique varieties of its mouth-watering organic and natural gummy candies and jelly beans in 2.75-oz packages: Gummy Bears, Gummy Worms, Jelly Beans, Sour Worms, Fruity Bears, Fruity Hearts, Gummy Swirls and Sour Berry Bears.  Suggested retail price is $2.19 addition, Surf Sweets offers two multipacks of its 0.9-oz snack-size packs of its candy – Gummy Bears (80 calories) and Sour Berry Bears (80 calories) -- perfect for on-the-go snacking or school lunches.  Suggested retail price is $4.49.   Surf Sweets uses only the highest quality organic and natural ingredients for its candies, and they’re all free of corn syrup, synthetic dyes, artificial flavors and GMOs. All Surf Sweets candies are gluten free; dairy and casein free; allergy friendly, meaning that they contain none of the most common food allergens (wheat, dairy, peanuts, tree nuts, egg, soy, fish, shellfish); and Feingold approved. All Surf Sweets candies are produced and packaged in a dedicated nut-free facility.    Surf Sweets has many delicious options for vegans and vegetarians as five of its candies are vegan (Fruity Bears, Gummy Swirls, Sour Berry Bears, Sour Worms, Fruity Hearts) and six are vegetarian (Fruity Bears, Gummy Swirls, Sour Berry Bears, Sour Worms, Fruity Hearts and Jelly Beans). Surf Sweets Gummy Bears and Gummy Worms contain gelatin, so they are not vegetarian.   Unlike some other candy brands, Surf Sweets proudly makes its products in the USA.  Most Surf Sweets candies are currently available in mainstream grocery and natural foods stores, online, and at specialty retailers throughout the U.S. and Canada. For more information on store locations, visit http://www.surfsweets.com/buy.php.   About Surf Sweets Surf Sweets is the country’s leading brand of fruitfully delicious, naturally good gummy candies and jelly beans made with organic and natural ingredients and without any artificial colors and flavors. Surf Sweets is owned and marketed by Wheeling, IL-based TruSweets, LLC, a socially responsible company dedicated to building delicious sweet snack brands that are better for our families and our planet. The company was founded in 2008 by Bert Cohen, an entrepreneur with a successful track record of building businesses in the natural foods industry. Surf Sweets currently offers eight unique varieties of mouth-watering gummy candies and jelly beans that are available at mainstream grocery and natural foods stores, online and at specialty retailers throughout the U.S. and Canada. For more information, visit www.surfsweets.com.   #  #  #   Editor's Note:  Images of winning recipes attached.   Susan Schneider Public Relations www.surfsweets.com