Those wacky Icelanders! Mixing black licorice and sugary pink ganache in one dessert? Well, to my surprise – the result is pretty delicious and even pickier eaters than me (read almost everyone) agrees – my whole office rejoiced in the treat which Grace brought back from a trip to Helsinki.
Added bonus – the adorable packaging featuring the beloved Moomin characters! I cut off the box top to save, but it was the one thing on my desk the cleaning crew decided to throw out, boo
My friend Grace impresses me greatly with her home made from scratch treats that she often brings to office parties. The latest and greatest was a Tiramisu, which comprised of home made lady fingers for goodness sake!! (pictured).
It's not a dessert I tend to gravitate towards, but this was certianly the best I've had and I loved it. You can really taste the care that went into making it. She combined recipes from allrecipes and the Joy of Baking.
If you want to impress like Grace, take a page from her book and enroll in the Institute of Culinary Education.
Dates were the fruit of choice for nobility in Medieval times. They could afford to have the exotic and naturally sweet fruit in ported from the Middle East, where the fruit has enjoyed considerable popularity for centuries.
We got the soft skinned, Medjool kind from Fresh Direct, where they recommend stuffing them with “with blue cheese or cream cheese for a knockout dessert.”
Years ago a good friend used to always insist on getting frogurt at Bloomies. She's since moved out of the city, but her love for Four Carrots frozen goodness came to my mind the other day and I was pleased to find that it's available in the SoHo location as well as the flagship.
It's not cheap – but really, what is anymore? But you do get a whole honking load of it, even when you order the small size. They also made me extra smiley by layering tons of the rainbow sprinkles between each swirl of peanut butter, which was the flavor of the day.
We stumbled across the adorable French pastry shop, St. Honore Patisserie in Queens after seeing it across the street while enjoying another satisfying meal at Taverna Kyclades. I was craving something sweet and was impressed with the selection in the window.
We opted for a passion fruit mousse cake to share as well as a frilly meringue cookie with sprinkles. Both were yummy and the staff was as sweet as their goodies.
The always winning combination of salt and chocolate is the kind of thing that makes me extra sad for everyone that's passed on before it was invented… While I'm sure that I'm wrong and it's safe to assume that the two ingredients have probably been used together to great effect for centuries by wiser cultures, I feel like this flavor combo only hit the US in the past few years.
My mom sent me a bar of Target's store brand, Choxie's, take on the trend with added almonds – yummy!
My Grandma first taught me the trick of freezing grapes (usually green) when I was a kid visiting her house on hot summer days in California. Now that we're (finally) experiencing our own hot summer days, and grapes are in season, there's no better time for this healthy sweet.
Ronnybrook Farms has thrilled me before with their spectacular milkshakes and tasty yogurt, so you can imagine my love for their seasonally flavored Blueberry Ice Cream.
We picked up this sweet refreshing treat from the local Farmer's Market (see this weeks what to do with a couple minutes) and you can too at several market locations and their Chelsea Market store.
** Since I began writing this, we have also tried their coconut flavor that features chocolate covered almonds and is equally mind blowingly delicious.
While my friend's attempt to keep her beau's birthday cake celebration a surprise was foiled – the cake itself -?was a rousing success. From Scialo Brothers in Providence, an Italian bakery that has sat on Atwell's Ave since 1916 (!), the cake was huge, chocolaty, and rich.
There is an online shop where you can get cakes, cookies and biscotti delivered, but you'd be missing out on the beautiful fine looking counter girls we were told about that work there.
Here's what my friend had to say:
“They make cakes, pies, bread, and all sorts of Italian cookies and pastries. I particularly like their soft dinner rolls, pignoli cookies, and apricot & almond paste tart. I also LOVE that the place is mostly staffed by young, girl-next-door types who are very cute.”
I seem to remember Tasti D Lite as tasteless coldness, but when my coworker's birthday arrived and we recalled her love for the calorie conscious chain, we looked into birthday cakes and after trying them, I looked on the frozen dessert with new eyes.
It was light and refreshing and the favors were far more distinct than I had remembered. It was one of the only office birthday parties (of which there are many) that I wasn't craving a sugar high crash nap after.