FORT WORTH, Texas — There is nothing like a good old fashioned recipe to make you feel at home.
"The monster cookie recipe has been in my husband's family for over 40 years," Melissa Blue said.
Blue's business partner, Melissa Mehall, is also her best friend. Their friendship started around the time that monster cookie recipe originated.
"We did school all the way, we cheered together, we did mission trips together, then we both went to Texas," Mehall said.
The Waco natives each lived out her own life-- one in Austin, the other in Fort Worth. Marriage, children, corporate careers consumed their time for years, but they remained closely connected. During one of their conversations, an idea developed. Blue wanted the two to team up in order to share the family favorite with the world. The reason behind the decision? Blue's young niece had developed a gluten allergy.
"I was so excited," Blue said. "I said, these don't have any flour in them! They don't have any gluten in them!"
So, officially, they're now called Meli's Monster Cookies. "The first two ingredients are peanut butter and rolled oats," Blue said. "So it's higher in protein, it's got some extra fiber in there."
"If you have a peanut butter allergy, you can use cashew butter, almond butter, you could use a non-nut butter," Mehall added.
"And people substitute different things for eggs or butter," Blue said. "Everyone knows their little tricks of the trade for their allergens."
While Meli's Monster Cookies are gluten-free, they are not sugar-free. "[People will] say, 'You have sugar in there?' We're like, we're still a cookie! But, it's a cookie that you can feel good about serving your family," Mehall said.
"But it's still a treat," Blue added. "So, we don't recommend eating like 12 a day."
Flavor aside, there's no doubt that the ingredient making this homemade treat so special is a super-solid friendship.
The duo has developed five total products: two ready-to-eat cookies in the freezer section and three dry mixes in the regular baking aisle in the gluten-free section.