Moon Cycle Bakery Is a Snack Service Designed to Upgrade Your Least Favorite Time of the Month
No one likes swollen, crampy, grumpy feelings that accompany a period.
While there are all types of remedies out there, I'd never heard of snacks that alleviate those nasty symptoms until I stumbled upon Moon Cycle Bakery. They specialize in sweet snacks with PMS-soothing natural ingredients.
That sounded like a dream come true, so I reached out to Moon Cycle Bakery, who were sweet enough to put together a personalized box for me to review.
The Service
Moon Cycle Bakery is all about crafting tasty treats that satisfy all of your wildest cravings, minus the sugar crash and plus ingredients to help you overcome your least favorite period symptoms. These ingredients include matcha, ginger, cacao, peppermint and turmeric, so they're also designed to taste really good.
Getting a box from Moon Cycle Bakery is a totally customized experience. When you set up your profile, you include notes so that they know exactly what to place in your kit every month. You can list any negative symptoms you usually experience, what flavors you like and dislike, plus any allergies you have so you don't get something in your kit that you can't eat. From there, they work with you to hand-select which snacks you'll receive. There's also a cycle tracker built in so they can send out your treats exactly when you'll need them most.
The prices vary depending on how many snacks you want each month and how long you're willing to commit. Their Full Moon package contains three treats every month, while the Half Moon contains two and the Crescent Moon contains just one. These subscriptions can be purchased in monthly, six-month and annual packages, with more savings the longer you commit—or you can grab items a la carte in a one-time order if you just want to test things out.
The Experience
I was very extremely excited to see what was in store for me when I received my Moon Cycle Bakery box. Within my box were four very different treats in parchment paper bags, each with a little card describing the treat and listing each of its ingredients. The timing was also just right when it arrived, so I was eager to dig in and see if they tasted as good as they looked—and if they could really help me feel slightly less horrible.
Golden Mylk Ginger Bookie feat. Live24k
After discovering my love for turmeric earlier this year, I was really excited to see the spice featured in a cookie. This one incorporates Live24k's "Golden Fuel" Golden Mylk blend featuring turmeric, collagen and coconut milk powder, plus black pepper, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, vanilla and pink Himalayan salt.
The result is a big, fluffy dessert with a texture resembling that of a crumbly sugar cookie. It managed to satisfy my sweet tooth without being overly sweet, and the sea salted added extra richness to the earthy flavor. Best of all, it was topped with a sweet, spicy bit of candied ginger. I could eat those little ginger pieces all day.
The cookie is formulated to reduce inflammation, which wound up being a tricky metric for me to measure accurately. I wasn't feeling particularly bloated or puffy at the moment, and I'm not sure that it did anything in that department. However, the tasty cookie did make me feel warm and fuzzy inside, and I think that's what matters most.
Sweet Potato Brownie With Chocolate Chunks
At first glance, this treat looked like a completely traditional brownie, but when I bit into it, I found out it was anything but. It wasn't chocolatey throughout, and instead tasted almost like a less sweet pumpkin pie, full of spices and earthy flavor, with a hint of maple syrup thrown in.
Occasionally, I'd bite into hunks of rich dark chocolate, which really brought the flavor of the brownie together. If you don't enjoy the flavor of sweet potato, chances are you won't like this brownie at all, but I found that it totally hit the spot and would be just the thing if I were craving brownies but didn't want to load up on sugar.
This treat is full of omega-3 fatty acids, which are said to help with cramping pain. I didn't wind up experiencing any cramps that day, so maybe it really did the trick!
Matcha Coconut Bites
These green-tinged coconut rounds have a slightly odd appearance, but after my positive experiences with the first two treats, I was confident I'd enjoy it. Indeed, it only took a nibble to realize that it tasted like a nutty, scrumptious macaroon, with just a hint of the light bitterness of matcha green tea. While the taste was totally wholesome, it was anything but bland. The almonds gave it a nice bite, making it fulfilling with just the right amount of sweetness.
This treat also includes cramp-fighting omega-3s, and the matcha's antioxidant properties provide energy without adding tons of sugar. After eating this one, I felt great. I had another cramp-free day, and was bursting with energy without crashing afterward.
Chocolate Cup Sweetened With Honey + Ginger
While I expected this treat to be something like a peanut butter cup, it wound up being like an extremely decadent cup of gingery fudge. It got a little bit melty along the way in shipping, but I didn't expect anything else from a rich hunk of chocolate. It wasn't super sweet, and tasted more of rich cacao than a typical chocolate, but it was delicious with the heat from the ginger. I don't think that flavor will be for everyone, but I enjoyed the healthy taste and found that it remedied any cravings I was having for sweeter chocolate.
Its recipe adds in natural sweetness, in order to prevent the eater from becoming even more tired after eating it. It also contains magnesium (a nutrient we lose a lot of during our periods), which helps relax the muscles, including ones used during digestion. While it's hard to say whether the magnesium helped me out, I did benefit from enjoying a chocolate treat without feeling terrible afterward.
Bottom Line
Whether you enjoy Moon Cycle Bakery's treats or not will depend entirely upon your tastes and whether you can acclimate to desserts made with healthier ingredients, but in my experience they did seem to alleviate my symptoms and satisfy my cravings without leaving me feeling gross and groggy.
The bite-sized desserts reminded me to take my time and nibble at them, rather than scarf them down, so I could savor every little bite. Plus, I found them quite filling, and never wound up needing to have more than one at a time after anticipating that I'd want to down them all in one go. While the smile size of the treats and the price points might dissuade some, if you're in the need for a monthly service to get you through the worst parts of your cycle, I think it's a must-try.
Want to get into healthier snacking? Click HERE to read my review of Moon Juice's craving-busting Cosmic Provisions collection.