Snow, Ice and Chocolate!

We've got ice and snow in North Carolina and the capital city is shut down! Whoohoo! Of course, it's Saturday, so it's no big deal. Come Monday, we might have some issues.

In honor of the snow, we'll talk Snowflake Pretzels. My Sorbet Sistah Tracy said these were awesome, so when I saw them on sale at Crate and Barrel, that was a good enough excuse to buy them. And I love the cute tin they are in:

Here they are :

The tin says these are "wintry snowflake pretzels dipped in white confection and white nonpareils."

Now let's analyze that statement. I think all snowflakes are wintery (both spellings of wintry are okay BTW) so that's just hyperbole. (Not that I'm opposed to hyperbole in the least, mind you.) Where we run into trouble is white CONFECTION - i.e. - these don't involve anything remotely close to chocolate. Well at least they're honest. And nonpareils are just tiny sugar balls. Closely related to sprinkles.

Bottom line - these things are delicious!! Once you start eating them it's almost impossible to stop. Those lame pretzel M & Ms have nothing - I mean NOTHING on these. I hope I get invited to a Super Bowl Party so I can take these and save myself from them. A+++

Since we have more sleet right now than snow, let's talk ice. Or at least the candy equivalent of ice - mint.

Andes has a Valentine's Day offering:

It's the same old Andes mint, but I like the inner wrappers (although the outer package looks awful - I say go red or go pink, but not - what - mauve? Ugh.):

The best part is they did some different designs, not just slapping the same old mints in new wrappers:

I still am not a fan. I think these taste kinda like toothpaste.

These aren't chocolate, but they are my favorite peppermint:

Nice and chewy! LOVE these! And look at those adorable hearts:

All I have to do today to "get the sensation" is stick my head out a window, but just in case you'd prefer a more pleasant method:

Love the cute hearts on the wrappers:

And you know I'm thrilled with the heart shaped patties as well as the slightly pink mint filling. Go York! Same solid taste, but a nice holiday touch! YAY!!

Ah - love is in the air! Well, at least today, snow is in the air here in North Carolina. We don't get it much so it's something really nice to see. It's so quiet outside and it gives the landscape a gorgeous clean and pure look. We often take for granted the things we see all the time, but the unusual is easier to appreciate. I'm watching the birds hopping on the white background where I can really see their coloring. Just saw a cardinal - gorgeous!

If you're in the snow - take some time to enjoy it - and be thankful that you're warm. And try not to take the usual for granted. I mean, those white confection pretzels are unusual, but they will never replace Reese's. Ever. Not even if Raleigh and Hell DO freeze over.

Eggnog, Pecan Pie, and Gingerbread

Well I've been regaling you with reviews of cheapie chocolate, how about some of the fancier brands? Both Ghirardelli and Godiva did some special seasonal flavors.

Let me just say - WOW! This has a great flavor with that smooth Ghirardelli chocolate. This is more than just chocolate with some pecans tossed in - it smells great, just like real pecan pie and has that special pecan pie taste. I think the pecans are carmelized. Very, very good. and I live in the land of pecan pie, so I should know.

They also did eggnog:

Okay, I don't like this. I like the fact that I can taste the cinnamon, but I don't like this one. Now, I'm not a big eggnog person, so if you like eggnog, you might like it.

Godiva did eggnog (boo!) and gingerbread (yay!):

The dark chocolate one is the eggnog. and yep, I don't like it. Too eggy. I liked the cinnamon taste of the Ghirardelli, which I didn't taste here. But I did like the dark chocolate. The perfect one in my mind would combine dark chocolate and cinnamon with the eggnog. Wait, the perfect one in my mind wouldn't have any eggnog. Yuck.

The gingerbread is much more up my alley:

I actually like this one. The gingerbread taste is fairly subtle. It's good. Is it better than chocolate covered gingerbread? Not in my book? I am standing by my assessement that Godiva is overpriced. $2.25 a truffle? Please! I can get a whole bunch of Archway gingerbread men for that. And they are better!!

Two more gingerbread concoctions - the first from Crate and Barrel. is gingerbread caramels:

I had high hopes for these. I love gingerbread and love carmel. And when I first starting eating one, I thought it was great. BUT over time the spices really came out and were overpowering, leaving a terrible aftertaste. So disappointing! And so NOT good. ARGH! Not cheap and now I have a whole tin full of awful caramels. Don't get these, even if they are half price.

These are by Choxie, Target's chocolate. I haven't tried Choxie yet, so we're going to see more of them. They are not off to a good start:

The box reads: "the home-baked crunch of warmly-spiced gingerbread pieces, dipped in sweet white chocolate swirled with dark." The box lies.


These are spitters. Yep, they are so bad you have to spit them out. They have a weird salty taste that makes me wonder what really is in the middle of them - it sure doesn't taste like "warmly-spiced gingerbread". It's bad. this doesn't bode well for Choxie.

Just because a flavor is good, doesn't mean it needs to be a chocolate (or a caramel or a jelly bean or a martini.) Stop the madness!

This is my Brain on Marshmallow

Happy New Year! I hope you all had a great New Year's Eve! I was out dancing to a great rock band AND was wearing three inch heels. Hip replacement? What hip replacement?

Anyway, my Sorbet Sistah, Sassy and I were out till three last night and as a result, my brain is somewhat marshmallowey today. Thus our theme - holiday marshmallow.

I went by Crate and Barrel a couple of days ago and all their holiday candy is on sale - so you might want to check it out. I have several of their treats - let's start with their S'mores:

These are nothing to rave about. The marshmallow is not evenly distributed (as you can see in the picture) - it sits in a blob roughly in the middle. The chocolate is okay. Real s'mores are better. Hell, Goldfish S'mores (reviewed months back) are better. There are much better treats out there.

They also have these mini mighty marshmallows - and the tag line reads - "drenched in milk chocolate - perfect for dunking in hot chocolate or for eating right out of the bag."

,

These would probably kick butt in hot chocolate - what a great idea! And as far as chocolate covered marshmallows go, they are good. Exciting? Nope. I just can't get really excited about the chocolate covered marshmallow. Unless......




Do you see that? It's peanut butter!!! Let's just check these bad boys by Harry and David out. There are three kinds in the box - dark chocolate and marshmallow:

Eh. Okay.

Let's do milk chocolate caramel next:

Looks good!! I have some high hopes!! Okay, NOW we're talking. These have delicious and not skimpy caramel which makes them awesome! The only ones worth eating yet. Very, very good - awesome chewy caramel, good milk chocolate, and the marshmallow really works - outstanding!

And the one I've been waiting for (drum roll please).....milk chocolate and PEANUT BUTTER!

Hmmm......while these are not bad, I don't think the marshmallow brings anything to the peanut butter. In fact, I think it takes away. Booo!!! I hate marshmallow. Now I want a Reese's Tree.

Harry and David also has these caramel marshmallow bars billed as "fluffy clouds of yum, wrapped in caramel":

These remind me of Modjeskas (blogged about in another post) and I won't lie to you, these are pretty darn good. But I prefer the Modjeskas I had that were completely covered in caramel. If you like marshmallow, you will do back flips for these. If you don't, pass and just get some caramel. These are super sweet, but somewhat light due to the marshmallow. Wow.

Look at these crazy things I found in World Market:

These are made by Tunnock's, a Scottish company established in 1890. And they are god-awful. They are covered in coconut and are filled with that whipped marshmallow - kind of like Fluff - that stuff some people put on sandwiches. They are very rich, yet at the same time have very little taste. They have a thin layer of something that tastes vaguely like coco and holds the thing together. Awful in a weird fascinating way, like when you can't help but look at a car wreck.

And now I have marshmallow fluff on my keyboard. Great.

You all are very familiar with how much I despise Russell Stover. But I can't seem to walk away. (Sounds a little like my love life - I keep going back to the same guys thinking they are going to be different). Anyway let's move to the world of festive marshmallow shapes:


Well, at least it looks like a snowman, pretty amazing for RS, King of Blobs. But when I performed the autopsy, look at that:


Chocolate marshmallow! Any good? Well, better than white marshmallow, but still not really worth anything. Caramel still way better. Crate and Barrel Mini marshmallows have better chocolate. RS just never really makes the grade. I wonder how much longer they are going to be around.


Speaking of blobs, check out this "Santa" by Georgia Nut company:




Are you kidding me? What the hell is that?

The Christmas Blob is filled with something with the same consistency of marshmallow fluff, but they call it "whipped vanilla cream". It's sinful. It's totally sweet and if you bite into it, you will eat the whole thing, even if you don't want to. I can't explain it. It's good, but it's also so sickeningly sweet that after you eat it, you immediately want to eat green vegetables. It's over-the-top.

The next one is chocolate covered marshmallow Santa's made by Brach's:

This Santa is just plain weird. I don't know how they make it, but you can see that it's kind of detailed, but the chocolate coating is so thin the white shows through and the whole thing looks weird. The taste is not horrible, just boring. At least these are cheap. I am reminded that I still don't like marshmallow and again want a Reese's Tree.

Before we go, look at these chocolate covered cherry cordial flavored marshmallow reindeer treats by a company called Melster Candies:

Okay - these are actually reindeer, not reindeer treats. But, what the hell. Again the weird detail, the thin chocolate, and this time, pink marshmallow peeks through. If you like cherry, you may like these, but it was too much for me. Cheap marshmallow, cheap chocolate, and overpowering cherry. Well, at least we have a different shape and some wildly colored marshmallow.

The take away?

What a celebration of marshmallow creativity! We had different shapes, and coatings, and flavors and fillings. Are you this creative with how you view yourself? Are you someone with a bad hip or a dancing queen? Are you too old to do what you want? Too fat to wear that? Or are you someone who does what makes them happy, convention be damned? You get to decide who you are - only you and no one else. Who will you be this year?

Your life is as sweet as you decide to make it. Happy 2010 - make it your year.

Does Chocolate Make Things Better?

My dear readers, I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas!! I hope you ate loads of cookies and chocolate and other goodies. YAHOO!!

I was out today and actually purchased my first Valentine's Day candy. God help me. If you saw how much Christmas candy I still have you would drive me to the mental institution. I'm telling you - watch for me on an upcoming episode of Hoarders - the Crazy Candy Lady.

I have to show you these cookies just because they are my fav of the season and if there are any left you should buy them. Immediately.

Cute box. Cute cookies. If you like almond shortbread cookies - these are the best. Ever.

Are you still reading? Get in your car - go to Trader's Joe's! They can't last forever - go NOW! I'll still be here when you get back.

Today we have a serious issue to cover. Does chocolate make everything better?

I'm going to say, "YES!" and "no." Do you like how I made the no in lower case? It's a no, but a quiet no, a subtle no. This is Motivation by Chocolate, after all. Hang in there, munch on an almond snowman and watch my philosophy unfold.

In the case of gingerbread (yes, more gingerbread), the answer is HELL YES!!! Chocolate and gingerbread are a match made in heaven.

Bahlsen (www.bahlsen.com) (check out http://www.germandeli.com/bachco.html also) is a German company that makes some great, great gingerbread. These guys are cute:

You know me, I love all the different designs. But what really makes them good is:

Oh yeah, baby! The layer of dark chocolate on back. YUM!! Soft, cakey and spicy offset by the dark chocolate - these gingerbread men are my new boyfriends. I love them.

Now, I typically prefer men to boys, but in this case:

The white chocolate works too. By Nikki's Cookies, this guy was nice and moist and the white chocolate was a much thicker layer than the dark chocolate on the Bahlsen men. But he was great too - not as spicy as the German cookies, but still good. The chocolate seems to help keep the gingerbread moist. It's a kickin' combo.

These cookies started my love affair with gingerbread. They still rock my world. I have these stashed everywhere because I can only find them around Christmas so I bought like a million. They are in my pantry, my cookie jar, my cupboards, even my silverware drawer. They are everywhere. They are sooooo good!!!

I know - you think - whatever. Here's the deal - they are like cakey spice cookies. They have a wonderful fruity, spicy flavor that is so fabulous with the dark chocolate I can't even explain it. I can only find them in World Market and A Southern Season. And you may not be able to find any because I have bought them all. Bwah, ha, ha! Just call me Moriarty (yes, I saw Sherlock Holmes last night).

This is Harry & David's Gingerbread Cookie Boy "coated in chocolate flavor" (which means mockolate). But I don't care - he's really good too! I'm telling you, this gingerbread and chocolate thing is very, very beautiful. Gingerbread needs a little help and chocolate is just the thing. Although H & D's GBB is a little dry. The German's are kicking our butt on this I'm afraid.

Look at that cute smile! And that swirl of hair! Awwww!

These beauties were made exclusively for Williams-Sonoma by Two Hearts Bakery in San Francisco. They were insanely expensive - the box of eight was $25:

And you have about a week to eat them before the marshmallow starts to get hard and yucky. They "do not recommend refrigerating or freezing them." I read that as "Don't refrigerate or freeze." And they are not big:

With a winter Oreo

with the H & D Gingerbread Boy. Damn.

Now according to Williams-Sonoma, these Gingerbread Boy S'mores are well worth $3+ each. Listen to this:

"Two Hearts Bakery in San Francisco creates these "boys" for us by hand, one batch at a time. Their graham crackers are baked with a touch of wildflower honey and Saigon cinnamon, then dipped in a silky blend of Guittard couveture milk and dark chocolates and piped with vanilla icing buttons. Sandwiched in between is a fresh, hand-cut marshmallow flavored with Nielsen-Massey Madagascar Bourbon vanilla beans."

Well good God! Was Martha involved? Where are my maps? Did they drive these cookies through the Holy Land too? Where they blessed by the Pope?

Okay, I did notice that the chocolate on these babies was super delish. However, the wildflower honey, Saigon cinnamon, and those vanilla beans with four names went right by me. Didn't even notice. Liked the milk chocolate better than the dark. Glad I tried them, but you won't find them stashed in every nook and cranny of my kitchen. And I won't buy them again. A little too rich for me, both in taste and cost.

For $25 I can assemble an Archway army and go kick some Nielsen-Massey Madagascar Bourbon vanilla bean butt. Wow - first I decapitate Santa, now I'm assembling a gingerbread army. What will be next?

Here's the "no":

These are from Crate and Barrel - yep - they have Christmas Treats in their catalog. They are Rice Krispy treats covered in milk and white chocolate and sprinkles:

The white chocolate was the better of the two, but the chocolate didn't work here. Too much, too heavy. A drizzle of chocolate or chunks of chocolate are okay, but this was way too much. Rice Krispy treats are pretty damn good on their own. They don't need this much help from chocolate.

So sometimes, YES, chocolate makes things better. And sometimes, no, chocolate doesn't make things better. There is no single solution to every problem. What works for a vanilla bean may not work for a hazelnut. Some days even chocolate can't solve your problems. But as long as you know that things WILL get better, you'll be okay. Chocolate may not be able to solve all your problems, but you can. And if you don't think you can, call me - I'll bring my army.