Koochikoo, L.L.C. has introduced all-natural, sugar-free cookies that feature monk fruit as a natural high-intensity sweetener. The Seattle-based company is working with KeHE Distributors out of Chicago, said Sally Cox, founder of Koochikoo.
Monk fruit, also known as luo han guo, is about 200 times sweeter than sugar and has 0 calories per serving. It took a year of research and development to figure out the right amount of monk fruit and other ingredients to use in the cookies, Ms. Cox said.
The new cookies come in four varieties. “Chocolatey” brownies and “chocolatey” chip cookies have such ingredients as monk fruit extracts, stevia plant extracts, erythritol (a polyol) and dietary fiber (resistant dextrin and inulin). The company uses the world “chocolatey” because the definition of chocolate in Food and Drug Administration packaging regulations requires chocolate to contain sugar. The “chocolatey” chips in Koochikoo cookies are made with cocoa and sweetened with stevia plant extracts, but they contain no sugar.
A strawberry cookie has such ingredients as monk fruit, erythritol, soluble corn fiber and organic strawberry powder. An oatmeal cookie has such ingredients as monk fruit, erythritol and soluble corn fiber.
