I certainly did, with a little help from the nice people at Emily’s Chocolates, who sent me some of their Dark Chocolate Covered Cherries to sample.

Emily’s Dark Chocolate Covered Cherries are part of their Every Day Treasures Line and come in a 6 ounce bag that retails for around $3.99.  The company also offers various other chocolate covered fruit, nuts and cookies.

The chocolate covered cherries are nice and plump, about the size of a fresh cherry but flatter.  The chocolate coating is a rich glossy brown (not dyed red like some other brands of chocolate covered cherries I have previously tried) because Emily’s Chocolates contain no artificial colors or flavors. The dark chocolate coating can best be described as semi-sweet and does contain some milk fat, which may contribute to its smooth mellow taste.  In a nice change of pace, Emily’s uses dried sour cherries, instead of the more traditional Bing cherries, for their center.  The center is soft and moist with a nice tart flavor that contrasts well with the dark chocolate coating.  The candies have a good chocolate to cherry ratio, allowing the flavors of both the chocolate and the dried cherries to shine.

As you can probably tell, I truly enjoyed these simple but delicious chocolates, and would recommend them to anyone looking for a reason to celebrate National Candy Month, or just any old day.

* Photo courtesy of Emily’s Chocolates.

The vanilla ice cream was between chocolaty wafers and only 140 calories. The new Skinny Cow line of ice cream is the dieter’s new best friend to beat the heat with a delicious treat.  The ice cream sandwich was a decent size and very fulfilling. I am going to try the mint ice cream sandwich because I’m sure it is going to be so refreshing and scrumptious.

Another craving fix for an ice cream treat are their Skinny Dippers. The fudge bars are only 100 calories and the vanilla with caramel is only 80 calories. The ice cream cones are kind of like a drumstick, just without the calories. Chocolate with fudge on top of a crisp sugary cone, or vanilla with caramel.

On their website, they have a skinny calculator that shares the difference in calories. For example, instead of eating a glazed donut with 242 calories, eat an ice cream sandwich for 100 calories less.

I am going to call my mom now to see if I can go swimming…

Pictures and website: http://www.skinnycow.com/.

While I am confident it will turn up when I finally get to my summer clean-up, I sadly realized the other day that I have misplaced that recipe.  But, I was prepping to make a Tiramisu.  What to do …. what to do.  Then I thought, Alessi!  Vigo and Alessi’s Italian products are wonderful for bringing a little bit of Italy into an American home. 

Thank goodness Publix carries Alessi’s Biscotti Savoiardi, also known as ladyfingers.  The cookies made my Tiramisu delicious!

For more information about Alessi products, click here. For a good ladyfinger recipe, click here. And, for Tiramisu recipes, check this list out. 

Their batches are “cleverly” (or obnoxiously) named based on what phase of testing it’s in, what flavor profile it is, and where the beans are sourced. Blame the fact that the company got its start-up money from the founder of Wired.

I’ve never tried TCHO, but Cybele did. You can also read more about the company at The Chocolate Life.

Of the 50g bars, I prefer the plain milk chocolate, while my mother tends towards the roasted almond and rice crackle varieties (I assume the roasted almond bar will not be around for much longer, seeing as the products are now nut free). I am currently on the lookout for the new Carob Deluxe variety, as carob is something I am entirely unfamiliar with. I also have the Not Nuts bar and the chocolate spread ready at hand, the former of which uses soybeans for crunch and the latter of which I’m hoping will make a nice substitue for peanut butter in my oatmeal.

However, I must admit that while each of these chocolates items have been in my room for a week now, I have been so excited by another of the new Sweet William chocolates, the White Delight, that I ate two in a row without trying the Not Nuts or the spread. I know, I know, that contravenes the unspoken moral code of the chocolate reviewer who should be constantly on the hunt for the new and untasted, but what can I say? Dairy-free white chocolate? For your sake, readers, I had to double-check that it was really a viable treat.

I am well aware that the jury is still out as to whether white chocolate is, technically, “chocolate,” and it seems that Sweet William has skirted this issue by calling its product White Delight and describing it as a white chocolate product. Personally, I am so impressed by the ingredient list that I feel quite happy calling it white chocolate; the first ingredient is cane sugar, the second is cocoa butter (at 29%), and these are followed by rice flour, soy flour, inulin, emulsifiers, and natural flavors. That’s all. No partially-hydrogenated oils, no PGPR, in fact, no vegetable oils of any kind, which is more than can be said for many of the “chocolate” candy bars on the market today.

Taste-wise, the White Delight is very sweet, but this is to be expected of white chocolate. It’s very smooth, seems to have a coconut-like aroma, and is just perfect for when I want something rich and decadent at night without having to worry about the effects of caffeine. The Sweet William line does lack dark chocolate varieties but, as most good quality dark chocolate is dairy-free and vegan friendly, I do not see this as a strike against the company. Instead, Sweet William offers milk and white chocolates suitable for a wide range of dietary needs and, most importantly, ensures that despite all the “free froms” on the packaging, the chocolate inside remains very tasty.

Photo courtesy of www.sweetwilliam.com.au

For those of you not familiar with the company, Newman’s Own Organics was founded by actor Paul Newman’s daughter, Nell Newman, as a division of Newman’s Own.  It became a separate company in 2001. The company focuses primarily on offering improved versions of the products most Americans loved as kids, by taking them one step further and using organic ingredients.

The Peanut Butter Crème Filled Chocolate Cookies are the latest addition to their line of Crème Filled Cookies, which include: Original Crème, Chocolate Crème, Mint Crème, Crème Filled Ginger and Wheat Free, Dairy Free Crème.  All the Crème Filled Cookies will be available in the original 16 oz. size, as well as a new “inflation fighter” 9 oz. size.  The smaller size is being marketed as more economical and is geared towards smaller families, but it can also be a great way to practice portion control for those of us with a sweet tooth.

I have considered both taste and nutrition in my review since Newman’s Own Organics line of cookies is geared towards a more health conscious market.

Taste – Upon opening the package I was struck by the intense aroma of peanut butter. The cookies themselves are composed of two chocolate wafers with a peanut butter crème sandwiched in between.  The chocolate wafers are crisp and crunchy with an intense and slightly bitter cocoa flavor that is not very sweet and can be described as having a more mature taste.  The wafers easily twist open to reveal a nice slab of peanut butter filling that has a slightly salty, all-natural roasted peanut flavor.  I found that the quality of the ingredients really came through in the intensity of all the flavors; this is not your typical overly sweet mass-marketed cookie, and as such, should most easily appeal to an adult audience.

Nutrition – 2 cookies (28g) are 120 calories and have 5 grams of fat: 1.5g saturated fat, and 0g trans fat.  While not a low calorie food, the cookies do offer the advantage of being trans fat free since they are made with organic palm fruit oil instead of partially hydrogenated oils.  They are also made with unbleached wheat flour and organic sugar, instead of enriched white flour and high fructose corn syrups often used in processed cookies.

All this leads me to wonder why more companies are not following Newman’s Own Organics’ lead, since they have clearly demonstrated that it is possible to make a cookie without using processed and artificial ingredients.  Wouldn’t it be nice if all our favorite treats were made with natural ingredients, and we could feel good about indulging?

* Photo courtesy of Newman’s Own Organics

If you like a little chocolate with your peanut butter (who doesn’t?) try subbing some chocolate chips for peanut butter chips. For crunch, throw in some salted peanuts. My secret ingredient, not reflected in the recipe, is a little bit of cinnamon. It’ll keep everyone guessing!

Peanut Butter Cookies
adapted from Magnolia Bakery Cookbook

Ingredients:
1-1/4 c. flour
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
8 tbsp. butter, room temperature
3/4 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. sugar
1 egg
1 tbsp. milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1 c. peanut butter chips
2 tbsp. sugar, for rolling

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Cream the butter, brown sugar, and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg, milk, and vanilla. Stir in the dry ingredients, just until incorporated. Stir in the peanut butter chips. Roll tablespoons of dough in the extra sugar, then place the ball of dough on a greased baking sheet. Flatten slightly with a fork to create a crisscross pattern. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Remove from oven and let the cookies stand on the baking sheet for 2 minutes before moving to wire racks to cool completely. Yields about 3 dozen cookies.

If you did, you thought wrong, as I seem to be overly willing to waste perfectly good money on candy that I know will turn out to be perfectly unappetizing.

The Idaho Spud is made by the Idaho Candy Company. They have a link to the Idaho Spud Fan Club on the site; I find it difficult to believe that people actually like this stuff, but I suppose someone is buying them and keeping them in business. I think quite a bit of their business must come from people succumbing to Candy Nostalgia Syndrome, in which they associate terrible-tasting candies of their youth with the joyousness of youth and therefore actually want to eat said terrible-tasting candies.

The Idaho Spud has been around since 1918, so it’s high in the nostalgia factor. According to the website, “the popular Idaho Spud Bar is a wonderful combination of a light cocoa flavored marshmallow center drenched with a dark chocolate coating and then sprinkled with coconut (Sorry, no potato!). The potato shape and unique blend of ingredients appeals to both young and old, making the ‘Idaho Spud’ one of the top hundred selling candy bars in the Northwest.”

Don’t you love that “top hundred selling candy bars in the Northwest” bit? Not exactly a jaw-dropping statistic there. Basically, the Idaho Spud is this weird sugar/coconut goop with a chocolate coating, which is then covered in bits of coconut. The inside goop is strange in texture and flavor. It’s sort of foamy, like a marshmallow, but also dense and gooey, making it unlike any marshmallow I’d want to eat. The whole things tastes like bad chocolate and waxy, fake coconut and has the most unappetizing mouthfeel. I’m not a big fan of coconut, but I can tolerate and even enjoy it when it tastes fresh. The Idaho Spud definitely did not taste fresh.

Points off for texture, points off for flavor, and points off for appearance (I’m not even going to go there). Sometimes a confection can be so bad that you just have to try it to believe it. Trust me, it’s bad, and you’re better off having never tried this.

Flipping through you’ll notice that all of the recipes come from the early 1900s and have been republished in their original form. At times you’ll have strange measuring notes mentioned like “teacup” and “gill.” But don’t worry, the introduction to the cookbook goes well in-depth into the recipe changes and notations you need to watch out for. So while in a novel you might skip the intro and jump right into the story, this is certainly one where a little author explanation is a must.

The recipe I finally settled on was for a basic custard that came to me all the way from the year “1937,” which read as follows:

• 8 egg yolks
• 2/3 c. sugar
• sprinkle salt
• 1-1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 1/4 tsp. almond extract
• 3 c. milk
• 1/4 c. milk

Beat yolks, add sugar. Mix in rest of ingredients. Pour into a buttered baking dish. Set in pan of hot water. Bake for 50 minutes in a slow oven (about 325F). Remove pan from water. Cool and chill. I often baked this custard along with my angel food, since both require the same oven.

To be honest I haven’t had custard in years, and any memory I had of its taste or consistency had been forever lost. Nonetheless the recipe looked simple enough for me not to screw up, and it didn’t deal with using bacon fat, an ingredient you will come to notice in many a recipe throughout the book.

The result of my mixing and stirring is what you see here.

It smelled like cake batter with a similar consistency. I was pretty optimistic. Who doesn’t like cake batter? Forty five minutes later this is what came out of the oven.

Since my experience with custard is far from extensive, I was concerned that it was too watery in the center. The outer edges were more jello like, but when I shook the pan the center would sway back and forth. I hoped an overnight in the fridge would do it some good so I set that in motion.

The next day the custard of my labor was taste tested by myself, the custard-newbie, and by other people in my household with more experience. To me it tasted of melted vanilla ice cream and the others shared a similar reaction. As for its thickness it perhaps could have done with some more cooking, but overall I had successfully made custard!

I’d give it another try in the future. Maybe making the banana custard listed under the recipe I chose, and even making the angel food cake recipe at the same time, something the recipe itself recommended.

Sprinkles Cupcakes started in Beverly Hills, which means very upscale and trendy. These fancy cupcakes have spread their icing into neighborhoods from Atlanta to London. They have touched the mouths of Martha Stewart, Regis and Kelly, and Oprah. These cupcakes take two hands and a ravenous appetite.

On their calendar, different cupcakes are made on certain days. Some of the tantalizing flavors are carrot cake with cinnamon cream cheese frosting; Vanilla cake with lemon-vanilla frosting; and Peanut Butter Chip with peanut butter frosting. Even though these enticing delectable cakes do not come cheap ($3.25 each), it is worth the splurge for that sweet tooth craving. For thirty-six dollars a dozen, try decorating them for a wedding or shower.  

Photos courtesy of http://www.sprinklescupcakes.com/.