Desserts

Take the best Gummy Beards ever. Now, mess with them. Add cool flavors. Real juice. Whaddaya get? Absolute SHITE. Just kidding, tee hee!

1. For the first time in… years? I didn’t get rainbow sprinkled cone on vacation. I’M GROWING UP. 2. Remember a few months ago when I talked about wanting these sunglasses and the vast majority of you told me I’d look ridiculous and if I had any fashion sense at all (which I don’t) that I shouldn’t do it? Well… I found them on sale this past week and – did it. 3. I want to go to this lady picnic and be best friends with them. I just hope I don’t really have to be a lady. 4. My brothers, cousins and I have a long running group text that is so atrocious that it gives me anxiety. Like instead of texting one of them back, I’ll accidentally tweet something horrific. This is my only exception to the group text rule as I generally think they are the most annoying things on Earth. Right next to the “reply all” function on email. 5. If Sookie and Eric don’t end up together by the end of the True Blood series (whenever that may be) I will probably hurt someone. I don’t care about ANYTHING else on that show and haven’t for about three years. Can’t it be the anna paquin/alex s show? Yes yes. 6. Spring garlic pancakes: for some reason I cannot stop thinking about these. Maybe it’s the whole pancake thing. 7. So. It’s quite possible that I have exhausted my buffalo chicken pizza obsession. Well – let me clarify. I haven’t exhausted the buffalo-style infatuation but just the specific pizza we have been getting, like, once a week. I can’t be sure though, so check up on me in seven days. 8. One thing that has not died down though is my burger obsession. Dying over these aloha sliders. So freaking cute and delicious. 9. Because I can’t share enough in my Tuesday things, I’ve started sharing some of my current favorite links on the weekend. Things like food and maybe even makeup and general internet crushes. !!!! 10. Oh look, it’s my life: what it’s like shopping at Sephora. 11. The above is a perfect example of why I make a terrible sales associate. Unless I’m selling something I believe in, like sprinkles or shoes – I just can’t push people to buy something. However, I on the other hand am a marketer’s dream. I want to try all the things. 12. This week’s things are brought to you by a rainbow sprinkle-less photo. My husband is concerned at the amount of sprinkled doughnuts and sprinkled ice cream cones I constantly share. Like as if I might be boring you. What is he? The instagram police? ©2012 How Sweet It Is

Recently, I wrote up a tutorial on How to Make Oreo Cake Pops for the lovely and amazing website Craftsy.com. An important life skill if ever there was one! And naturally, they were delicious. Here's a sneak peek: and gosh are they tasty! (tutorial for those can be found here). But the process got me thinking...could I do this with other flavor combinations? For instance, could I substitute shortbread cookies for Oreos, and fancy chocolate for the candy melts? Why the heck not?, I thought, especially as I have a boatload of freebies I'd recently received from Walkers Shortbread (their Duchy Originals) and Tcho Chocolate. I thought: I'm going to make some shortbread cookie truffles, or die trying! Actually, it wasn't so dramatic. I didn't actually think death was a possibility. But I suspected deliciousness was dangerously close! So, I won't keep you in suspense. Here's how they came out: I know, beauties, right? Here's an inside shot. And I am happy to report that they taste as good as they look. Lightly salty. Very buttery. A little nutty, owing to the fact that I used part regular shortbread and part "oaten biscuits". Nice and moist inside--the shortbread didn't crumble as much as I thought it might. And the chocolate was to die for. I used the Tcho Milk Chocolate discs (from their baking chocolate series), and I can say with no hesitation that this is not your typical milk chocolate. It almost tasted...caramelly. The flavor just lingered in your mouth. Yum yum yum yum yum. They're pricey, but if you have a recipe that will really let the chocolate shine, I say go for it. Nice little morsels--decadent, but hey, that's why they're in small portions, right? Next time I try this recipe, I'd like to try using dulce de leche or melted caramels instead of the cream cheese to moisten the crumbled cookies. Yep: I have visions of Millionaire's Shortbread Truffles dancing in my head! But for now, here's the simple version. Gosh-darn are they good. Shortbread Cookie Truffles (Printable version? Right here.) Makes 12-16 2 boxes Duchy Shortbread (I used one box of the plain butter kind, and one box of the "Oaten Biscuits") 1/2 block cream cheese (4 ounces) 1 bag chocolate morsels (I used an 8 ounce bag of Tcho Milk chocolate) Prepare the truffle innards. First, prepare a baking sheet like so: lay a sheet of waxed or parchment paper on top, and set to the side. You’ll be happy to have this handy a few steps down the line. Now, you need to crush the cookies. If you have a food processor, put the whole cookies inside, and pulse several times, until the cookies have been reduced to fine crumbs. If you don’t have a food processor, place the cookies into a heavy duty plastic bag and crush using the bottom of a heavy tumbler or the side of a rolling pin. This is very fun for kids (with supervision, of course!)! Once the cookies are completely crumbled, place them into a large bowl. Add the cream cheese, and using your impeccably clean hands, thoroughly mix the cookie crumbs and cream cheese. Since the shortbread is already pretty buttery, it should be able to form nicely into balls. Clean your hands so that you have a clean surface to roll the “dough” by hand. Roll it into balls, about 1 inch or so in diameter. Maybe an inch and a half. Place them on the baking sheet. If you're lazy, you can also just put them on a plate, but they might stick a little bit. I'll be honest. While I want to tell you how to do it the "right way", I in fact did not. I put them on a plate in the freezer on top of some ice cream. Speaking of which, you do want to chill them. Place the baking sheet into the refrigerator for an hour, or the freezer for about 20 minutes. With the dough still in its chilling place, begin to melt your chocolate over low heat. It will gradually begin to melt and become smooth. Once mostly melted, the last bits will melt rapidly in the residual heat, so keep a close eye on the pan. Remove from heat, and t

Brand Castle makes Hello Kitty Cake Pops and Snow Cone Cupcake Kits which are a fun way for parents and children to get baking! The baking kits retail between $3.99 - $7.99 and come complete with all mixes, frosting and baking accessories. You can find the kits at grocery stores across the country. I plan to make some for the fourth of July weekend, and I will post a review here.

Jelly Belly didn’t have a totally new candy product to show off at Sweets and Snacks this year (last year was all about Snapple Jelly Bellies), but they did have some fun tweaks on existing products. One especially eye-catching tweak resulted in these Jewel Jelly Bellies (photos without my watermark are from Jelly Belly): They took their blueberry, bubble gum, sour apple, cream soda, berry blue, orange, and very cherry flavors and added a gorgeous pearlescent sheen to them all. The result was incredibly eye-catching, and they look even better in person than they do in these photos. They’re currently only being sold in bulk, so they didn’t have photos of the future official packaging to send me. They did have some example packaging at the Expo, however, as Disney Princess Jelly Bellies, which I thought was great cross-branding.

Got Danish dough in the fridge? You've got coffee cake. RASPBERRY-LIME DANISH COFFEE CAKEINGREDIENTSFor the dough1/4 piece of Danish Dough. Click HERE for the recipe.For the filling1 8-ounce package of Philadelphia Cream Cheese, room temperature1/2 cup confectioner's sugar1 teaspoon lime powder (optional)1 egg yolk1 tablespoon all purpose flourzest of 1 lime1 cup fresh or frozen raspberriesTo finishegg wash (1 egg whisked together with 2 tablespoons water)1 pint fresh raspberries2 tablespoons confectioner's sugarzest of half a limePROCEDURE•Preheat the oven to 375º.•Roll out the Danish dough into a rough 8" x 16" rectangle.•Along the long side, cut 1 1/2" - 2" strips along either side of the rectangle, about 1 inch apart.•Place all the filling ingredients in a stand mixer fit with the paddle attachment. Mix until smooth.•Spoon the filling onto the middle of the danish and spread evenly. Place the frozen raspberries on top top of the filling. Fold the strips over, across the filling, pressing gently (It's ok if the strips overlap, they'll still open a bit in the oven). Brush the dough with egg wash.•Cover the Danish with plastic wrap and proof for 1 hour on your kitchen counter. Egg wash again before baking.•Bake for half an hour to 45 minutes or until the outside of the Danish is golden brown.•Allow the Danish to cool and place fresh raspberries along the open center of the Danish.•Sift confectioner's sugar over the coffee cake. Lightly zest a lime over the finished coffee cake.

Just off Notting Hill’s bustling Portobello Road lies a small oasis of chocolate. Somewhere to escape the tourists, drink tea and immerse yourself in an extensive selection of chocolate from around the world. Alexeeva & Jones feels like a continental chocolate shop even before you walk through the door. The shop window is elegant and minimal and some carefully placed tables & chairs outside provide a place to stop and watch the world go by. Walk inside and the feeling of relaxed sophistication surrounds you. Loose chocolates are beautifully displayed in marble and glass boxes and the walls are covered in some of the best chocolate bars in the world. It feels stylish and welcoming, without being overly formal. I feel like I could spend a couple of hours here. And that’s exactly what I end up doing. Retail manager Helen greets me as I enter. Helen is a veteran of chocolate retail in the UK, having been store manager at the likes of William Curley, La Maison du Chocolat and Rococo. What she doesn’t know about chocolate isn’t worth knowing, and that’s immediately obvious. She can tell you every detail about each and every chocolate, bringing the stories to life – and unfortunately making me want to buy everything. Loose Chocolate Collections The beautiful displays of loose chocolates are the focal point of the shop. Eight international chocolatiers are featured, some of which you may have heard of, others that might be new to you. Not being reliant on a single chocolatier means that they can vary the collections depending on season and quickly introduce new chocolatiers. Currently, they have a house selection, along with chocolates from Davenport’s, Franck Daubos, Centho, Beschle and British chocolatiers Paul Wayne Gregory, Damian Alsopp and Iain Burnett. It’s a great mix, with something for everyone, from Davenport’s sweet fondants to Damian Allsop’s divine water ganaches with a healthy dose of European sophistication in between. I have to admit, I found the choice a little overwhelming, but I tried a small selection from the Franck Daubos and Centho, two European chocolatiers I hadn’t encountered before and found them impressive. Bars Of The World I’m very much into artisan bars at the moment, so as beautiful as the displays of chocolates are, I was most excited to see a range of bars from some of the world’s best chocolate makers on display along the wall. I don’t know of anywhere else in London – or the UK for that matter – where you can buy the likes of Friis Holm, Åkessons, Pacari and Amano under one roof. Some of my favourite bars like Friis Holm’s Chuno and Amano’s fantastically powerful Morobe are there, along with others like Larent Gerbaud’s beautiful looking bars that I’d not yet had a chance to try. I quickly realised that a single visit to Alexeeva & Jones wasn’t going to be enough. I couldn’t leave without buying a bar of Morobe along with a Laurent Gerbaud yuzu bar and a couple of Damian Allsop’s “Eat London” range. Needless to say, I left satisfied. Notting Hill is fast becoming a chocolate destination in itself, with the likes of Melt and Artisan du Chocolat just around the corner. It has a different vibe from some of London’s more well known chocolateries, but if you’re into artisan chocolate, the area – and Alexeeva & Jones in particular – is well worth a visit. Alexeeva & Jones 297 Westbourne Grove, Notting Hill London W11 2QA www.alexeevaandjones.com Information Filed under alexeeva & jones. Tweet This The post Alexeeva & Jones, Notting Hill appeared first on Chocablog.

Friends and family gladly share garden-fresh zucchini with me so I can make and give away many batches of these cookies. I keep shredded zucchini in the freezer so we can enjoy them in winter as well. A cream cheese frosting makes them especially delicious.

This recipe from my sister originally made a pie. But I decided to turn it into a cookie with mouthwatering results. They're so easy to make and very tasty.—Jessie Bethune, Trion, Georgia

I simply love oatmeal cookies. I've added a variety of different goodies to the batter and think this combination is by far the best. It's especially tasty in autumn.