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Desserts at the Ritz-Carlton in Northstar, Lake Tahoe

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Wednesday, February 22nd, 2012

YeeeHa! If there’s something I love more than the desserts, it’s got to be skiing. I mean, what on earth is greater than riding a flying chair in sparkling, pristine nature,only to then whiz down a mountain at full speed ahead?! And on top of that, it burns calories too?! MAGIC (my husband’s word of the year, btw). So yea, I went skiing over President’s weekend and consumed more calories than all the NFL football teams combined (watch out scale!). One lovely lunch stop we made was at the Ritz Carlton. The pasta there was freaking DIVINE. But we’re here to discuss desserts. SO, without further ado, this Apple Huckleberry Crisp with Maldon Caramel Ice Cream and Persimmon Wafer was pretty awesome. The Caramel ice cream was too salty, but when combined with the sweet crisp and a voracious appetite, it didn’t stand a chance. I licked the plate clean (literally).

The Chocolate Mousse with raspberry sauce was also well executed, but not anything extraordinary.

While I’m totally wiped out from an adventure packed February, I can’t wait to make my way back to the mountains again! Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow~

For more info on the Ritz-Carlton in Northstar, Lake Tahoe, click here.

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Top 3 Sexiest Chocolates for Valentine’s Day

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Monday, February 13th, 2012

Last week I gave you a comprehensive Valentine’s guide for any and everyone in your life (post here). But if you really want to get down and dirty with aphrodisiacs, then allow me to share with you the Top 3 Sexiest Chocolates I know!

1. ChocolatiQue

With sinfully gooey centers, colorful designs, and exotic flavors like Madagascar Vanilla Cola, Rum Runner’s Raisin, and Burnt Caramel (full list here), these titillating chocolates will surely excite your sweetie with a sweet tooth. Note: avoid the “donut” chocolates. Those are no bueno.

2. Kee’s Chocolates in SoHo, NY

These refined truffles are made by hand with top secret recipes and exotic ingredients from around the world (Yuzu from Japan, Saffron from Spain, Sea Salt from France). Creative and sophisticated options like Balsamic, Cognac, Jasmine, and a Valentine favorite, Black Rose, will pleasure even the most discerning connoisseur.

3. K Chocolatier

K Chocolatier uses as little sugar as possible in their pure and luxurious chocolates. Their fudge like truffles with whipped centers were Jackie O’s favorites (pictured below), but the K Liquors (Vodka Shots, Tequlia Shots, and Scotch Hiballs) will surely intoxicate your lover the most.

Enjoy and have a Happy Valentine’s Day!

XOXO

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Cupcakes, Cookies & Pie, Oh, My! A Darling How-To Book

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Monday, February 13th, 2012

If you’re a crafty baker, or want to be one, might I recommend this darling How-To book, Cupcakes, Cookies & Pie, Oh, My by the creators of Hello, Cupcake?! I just got this sweet book in the mail and am so psyched to add it to my growing collection of gorgeous, colorful, dessert books!

I mean, how adorable and creative are these high heeled cupcakes!?

This book also has a ton of boy-friendly dessert ideas, so it really covers the bases.

Thank you the team behind Cupcakes Cookies & Pie oh, My for my gorgeous copy of your book! I’m so delighted to have and share it.

For more info on Cupcakes Cookies & Pie, Oh, My!, click here.

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The Ultimate Gift Guide for Valentine’s Day

By Dessert Darling · Comments (3)

Friday, February 10th, 2012

With Valentine’s Day around the corner, I have ALL your bases covered with this ULTIMATE Gift-Giving Guide! Have a sweet one xoxo

1. For Him:

Though it’s traditional for the lady to receive chocolates, our men need a little recognition too. John Kelly Chocolates makes the most delicious truffle fudge bites that quite literally melt in your mouth and send you to Heaven. John Kelly’s packaging is masculine and sleek, making it the perfect present to gift your guy.

2. For Her:

Gentleman, if you want to score some serious points with your lady this Valentine’s Day, invest in a gorgeous box of chocolates by K Chocolatier. Intoxicate her with the delicious vodka balls, or her delight her with the dark chocolate truffles that were once hand-made for Jackie O. When the chocolate’s all gone, the box with paper mache roses can be used for keepsakes for years to come.

3. For the Kids:

Teuscher Chocolates from Switzerland not only makes some of the most delectable chocolates, but also they boast the most whimsical and playful packaging. Treat your daughter to a small ladybug box, or your son to a lion box. But don’t forget to treat yourself to their famous, signature champagne truffles first! Totally divine.

4. For the Health Nut:

Not everyone is excited to sink their teeth into butter and sugar. Fear not, now health nuts can receive sweet love this Valentine’s day too with a box of Benchic Chocolates. These homemade, raw, organic, and vegan treats are made with only six simple ingredients that are all actually good for you! And the craziest part? The even taste extraordinary.

5.For Mom:

No one deserves a little TLC more than Mom. Honor her with these delicious and gorgeous gems of chocolates by Christopher Elbow Artisanal Chocolates.

6. For Dad:

Let Dad know he’ll always be your first Prince Charming with some exquisite chocolates from La Maison du Chocolate. These fine treats are shipped in daily from France and come in these sweet and masculine book boxes.

7. For Your Girlfriends:

Whether your friends are in relationships or not, show that they are loved with darling, cellophane-wrapped baggies of these delicious mini-cookies by Baking Betty’s. Each treat is baked from scratch and made to order. Their signature cookies sport soft and sweet marshmallows that make them effortlessly light and totally enjoyable!

8. For Your Guy Friends:

Yes, even your platonic guy friend or brother can partake in this holiday thanks to your thoughtfulness. Be their hero with a box of Cookies By Joey. These massive cookies are legendary for their extreme deliciousness. Indeed, they may be the best cookies he’ll ever have. Make sure he shares though or his friend status will be seriously jeopardized.

9. For the Office:

There’s something for everyone in a box for Fairtytale Brownies. These individually wrapped gourmet, Belgium brownies are soft, rich, and divine. With flavors like peanut butter, mint, walnut, toffee, and more, you’re sure to have a happy ending.

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The BEST Cupcakes at 2012′s CUPCAKE CHALLENGE by Drink:Eat:Play

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Tuesday, February 7th, 2012

So you’ve been waiting and the results are here! With 36 cupcakes, we have a ties in both in 1rst and 2nd place, so bare with me.

1rst place:

One of my Faaaavorite cupcakes at the challenge were these Buffalo Chicken Cupcakes by [Desi]gn Cakes and Cupcakes. Yep, you read that right: Buffalo Chicken. These cupcakes escalate the sweet & salty fad to whole new level with a sauce that is traditionally sweet, salty, and spicy. That added dimension of spice was well tempered though by thick, creamy, vanilla frosting. Overall, this was an exciting and delicious cupcake that was well executed on every level. Bravo [Desi]gn Cupcakes in Riverside!

1rst Place:

The other bakery in our tie is My Delight Cupcakery from Ontario, who made these scrumdilliumptious Red Velvet Raspberry Cheesecake Cupcakes. I normally don’t like fruit anywhere near my desserts, but this raspberry was so sweet and fresh, and blended in so harmoniously with this gorgeous cupcake, that it won me over. While the Buffalo Chicken cupcake might have beat this one by a hair, I’m escalating My Delight Cupcakery to 1rst place for two reasons. One: they use wholesome, organic ingredients, which is a BIG deal to me now that I know the truth about our food (see here). Two: My Delight was my favorite bakery last year, so they are consistently excellent.

2nd Place:

2nd Place goes to Butter Sweet Minis on Larchmont for their Mint Chip Cupcake that had wonderful texture, consistency, and the perfect balance of flavors.

2nd Place:

Also in second place is Debiteful Cake Pop Shop from Chino for these sassy little Pastelitos Caliente, which is Spanish for “Awesome.” These cornbread based cupcakes had bacon, a hint of spicy (there’s that spice again!), and frosting that even featured cilantro. This sweet and savory combination could have been a total disaster, but Debiteful pulled it off brilliantly. Note: these were some of the last cupcakes that I had, so it’s possible that this savory option was just a very refreshing change of pace after 34 super sweet selections. That said, I loved them.

3rd Place:

Even though I had this Buddafinga by Double “D” Cupcakes at a point where I could barely breath from so many samples, I still swooned over the wonderful combination of fresh ingredients and playful textures. The chocolate based cake featured homemade Caramel and had a Crunchy Peanut Butter Chocolate Buttercream. Got that? No need, just know it was delish.

4th Place:

Finally, 4th place goes to these playful Girl Scouts Somoa cupcakes by Cake Mama’s in Glendora. I loved everything about these fun and flavorful cupcakes except the slippery icing. If you’re an avid DD reader (and I hope that you are!), you know that I don’t like overly whipped, high sheen, oily frosting. Indeed, it disturbs me. A less glossy icing would have made these cupcakes a home run.

CONGRATULATIONS to all the winners!!! To stand out amongst 36 cupcake options is an incredible achievement. Your bakeries all rocked it!

Thank you Lynn Chen for taking such awesome photos for me!

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Shari’s Berries, Chocolate Dipped Strawberries for a Special Treat

By Dessert Darling · Comments (3)

Monday, January 30th, 2012

With Valentine’s day around the corner, I thought I’d try some chocolate dipped Shari’s Berries. These treats impressed me with their juicy, high quality strawberries and equally delicious chocolate coating. The stark white chocolate made me nervous at first, since chocolate that blanched can taste like toxic wax. However, this white chocolate was simply sweet and delicious. The only gripe from my book club friends was that Shari’s is a bit heavy-handed on the chocolate. They would have preferred a more delicate treatment. I for one, am never one to complain about too much chocolate, but if you’re looking for a healthy substitute to chocolate truffles, these berries are probably not it. Overall, Chocolate Dipped Strawberries are tricky treats to pull off well and Shari’s does an excellent job.

For more info on Shari’s Berries, click here.

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The Pizookie at BJ’s Brewhouse in Westwood

By Dessert Darling · Comments (6)

Friday, January 20th, 2012

If you’re familiar with the BJ’s Restaurant and Brewhouse chain, you’ve surely had a run-in with the Pizookie. For those who don’t know what I’m talking about, a Pizzokie is a Pizza Cookie, of course! Also known as one of the greatest dessert inventions ever. However, as beautifully conceived as this concept is…a hot, melting, gooey cookie in your own little pan, topped with heaping scoops of vanilla ice cream, BJ’s falls short of brilliant by using crappy ingredients. I could tell that they didn’t use real butter in the cookies and the vanilla ice cream could not have been more bland. Really, it’s hard to mess up vanilla ice cream, people. Alas, I did nail the order by getting half Chocolate Chip cookie and half Red Velvet Cookie with White Chocolate Chips. The combo was awesome and the Red Velvet cookie better masked the poor quality of the ingredients. After the Pizookie, I went across the street to Diddy Riese for a good ol’ comparison. Ooooh, Very interesting. Tune in next week for the results!

PS: Freak-out alert- the Pizookie has roughly 1,120 calories. WTF!? I NEVER count calories or fat, but freaking BJ’s has it right there on the menu. I would have totally inhaled the whole thing had I not known. (Sigh) Ignorance is Bliss~

For more info on BJ’s Restaurant and Brewhouse, click here.

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Organic Gummy Bears by Yummy Earth, DD Approved!

By Dessert Darling · Comments (2)

Thursday, January 19th, 2012

You may have seen my recent posts about Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) in our food and my deep sadness over how sick they are making our nation (for more, click here). When I was a kid I ate my share of sugary cereals and Candy Candy Candy everyday! Yes, everyday I would go to am-pm after school to buy a treat!! And then go home and eat Lucky Charms! And while it wasn’t “good” for me then, it wasn’t the same grade of poison that today’s candy is with its High Fructose Corn Syrup made from corn seeds that were cross-bread with insecticides by Monsanto’s scientists. Bleh! I wonder how I’ll feel someday, letting my future kids go trick-or-treating when I know how detrimental today’s candy is to their health. It really bums me out as Halloween is a holiday that is near and dear to a DD’s heart! In this vein I’ve kept my eyes peeled for candy that children can have now that won’t alarm their systems with a barrage of chemicals, artificial colors, unpronounceable substances, and GMOs. I came across these Organic, Gluten Free Gummy Bears by Yummy Earth at Whole Foods and they are totally delicious! They even have that perfect, tough consistency that a Haribo Gold-Bear has (my childhood favorite). Sure they don’t come in the same technicolor rainbow as other candies, but they also don’t have those toxic colors that contribute to ADHD (see here). I’m really glad that I found Yummy Earth. They carry other organic candies that I hear are phenominal… particularliy the lolipops. Yummy Earth is DD Approved with 5 Shiny Cherries!

Ps: I like to freeze my Gummy Bears. It takes longer to eat them and I enjoy how my mouth has to melt each one.

Pps: Click here to ask the FDA to label foods with GMOs so that you don’t have to shop in the dark.

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Elaine’s Toffee Company makes Seriously Addicting Toffee

By Dessert Darling · Comments (3)

Friday, January 13th, 2012

CRIKIES, is this CRACK!? A twitter friend sent me some seriously addicting toffee by Elaine’s Toffee Company and I CANNOT stop eating it. I think I have to march myself to the garbage can right Now and throw it away before I consume all 8 servings. Yikes, what to do?! It’s so yummy, crunchy, fresh and homemade. Can you blame me?! Ok, I’m wrapping up this post to hop on the elliptical machine. I’ve been indulging in way too much yumminess!

For more info on Elaine’s Toffee Company, click here!

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Design Your Own Cookies with The Mason Jar Cookie Company

By Dessert Darling · Comments (1)

Thursday, December 22nd, 2011

I love this concept! The Mason Jar Cookie Company allows you to custom design your own cookie mix which they then ship to you in a darling mason jar. These jars not only make super cute gifts, but also, they make it incredibly easy for you to whip up your own batch of sumptuous cookies.

I designed a batch called DD’s Winter White which consisted of traditional cookie base with white chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, and marshmallows. I love how you get to even give it your own title!

The cookies were a cinch to make and the dough was some of the most utterly, delicious substance I have ever consumed (Yes, I eat raw cookie dough- Lots of it. I can’t help myself!) Check Charlie out.. how jealous is he!?

And finally, the cookies turned out to be a huge success. I brought them to my girlfriends who insisted that they were the Best (I was a bit too cookie-doughed out myself to really know left from right by that point.)!

These darling mason jars would make the perfect hostess gift or personal indulgence.

I just got word that they are closed for shop during the holidays, but in the new year, you get 10% OFF by being my reader and using the code: TENOFF Woo! The code expires Jan 31.

To build your own custom mix in 2012, visit The Mason Jar Cookie Company (or click here now just for fun ).

XOXO

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Archive for Other Cities

Desserts at the Ritz-Carlton in Northstar, Lake Tahoe

Top 3 Sexiest Chocolates for Valentine’s Day

1. ChocolatiQue

2. Kee’s Chocolates in SoHo, NY

3. K Chocolatier

The Ultimate Gift Guide for Valentine’s Day

1. For Him:

2. For Her:

3. For the Kids:

4. For the Health Nut:

5.For Mom:

6. For Dad:

7. For Your Girlfriends:

8. For Your Guy Friends:

9. For the Office:

The BEST Cupcakes at 2012′s CUPCAKE CHALLENGE by Drink:Eat:Play

1rst place:

1rst Place:

2nd Place:

2nd Place:

3rd Place:

4th Place:

Shari’s Berries, Chocolate Dipped Strawberries for a Special Treat

Organic Gummy Bears by Yummy Earth, DD Approved!

Elaine’s Toffee Company makes Seriously Addicting Toffee

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