Tasty Treats for Holiday Eating and Gifting. Select Your Favorites and Order! Part 1
It’s the holidays and one of the easiest- and nicest– things to give someone as a gift is incredible treats that they might not have known about or don’t always indulge in. Here are a few of my favorite brands that are definitely worth checking out and some specific things you need to gift ( or even buy for yourself) From Chocolate Covered Everything— there pretty much isn’t anything you can’t find dipped in chocolate (well maybe not brussel sprouts!)
The array of great treats from this company that truly believes that great chocolate means products and treats made without any preservatives, chemicals, food coloring, lard, hydrogenated oils, or high-fructose corn syrup. They have a specific chocolate blend they have created and here are a few of the treats meant to tempt your gifting or personal tastes. Choconuts are amazing– dark chocolate covered peanut butter and organic coconut– inside and out. Innards are dark chocolate covered crunchy peanut butter for the purist who wants to have just PB & C. PB Eddie’s are the best homemade organic peanut butter cookie you’ll ever taste! Bottomed with dark chocolate & topped with dark chocolate covered crunchy peanut butter. Eddie Burgers are a riff off PB Eddies. Think of it as the best homemade organic peanut butter cookie you’ll ever taste… turned into a sandwich! Middled with peanut butter & dark chocolate. Bria Berries are amazing fruit treats:dark chocolate covered organic cranberries (regular and apple infused). Find these great treats at www.chocolatecoveredeverything.com Choclatique is an amazing line of gourmand chocolates and treats. From chocolate covered marshmallows, bark and ingots to boxed assortments, there’s a ton of great — and tasty- things to try (or give). However my recommendation is the Designer Donuts— a honest chocolate that isn’t really a donut but Choclatique has managed to duplicate the taste and pretty much includes some of the texture of a donut without it being a donut. o Jelly Donut – a strawberry filled donut in Prestige Milk Chocolate sprinkled with sugar o Chocolate Sprinkles – a rich, deep dark chocolate cream filled donut in Prestige Milk Chocolate, glazed with white chocolate and topped with dark chocolate sprinkles. (This one is yummy! I ran across the brand at Unique LA event and they were handing out free samples. I decided to try this one!) o Almond Coconut Flake – almond butter and coconut filled donut in Choclatique’s Private Reserve Dark Chocolate o Carrot-Cream Cheese – A tasty blend of carrot cake ganache and sour cream-cheese cake filled donut in Choclatique’s Private Reserve Dark Chocolate o Johnny Appleseed’s Apple – buttery caramel and spice apple filled donut in Prestige Milk Chocolate o Marshmallow Mint Chip: mint-mini-chocolate chip ganache filled donut enrobed in Choclatique’s Private Reserve Dark Chocolate Another thing that I think would make a great gift is the Cinnamon Chocolate Drink Mix Whip this baby up and serve it warm with a shot of great dark rum, brandy or cognac or because it’s cinnamon– use a fine aged tequila with a bit more spice of chiles added to it for a real killer cocktail. It might sound strange to some but this one screams cocktail to me and there’s so much one could do with this (*even Chambord!) In case you are the DIY type, then you are truly blessed because there is a Choclatique cookbook that you can play with or gift to the foodie in your circle of friends. Choclatique: 150 Simply Elegant Desserts. It’s all about Ed’s travel adventures and making desserts using chocolate ganaches as a building blocks. In case you want to try other things, explore their website — because the choices are amazing. http://www.choclatique.com/ Cake Pops are a fun treat during the holidays and make a great dessert, stocking stuffer and even– if you buy enought of them– a fabulous hostess or gift for that hard to buy person on your list. Cake Pop Fusion is an amazingly creative site that sells amazingly creative cake pops. They go beyond just cake but into other types of pops and will do customized pops for any occasion. Holly Pops The Marshmallow Snowmen are marshmallows (find them on the Etsy page for easy and fast ordering!) and the Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownie Blast is a brownie. Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownie Blast. The faces and features on the babies, Marshmallow Snowmen, and cake pop Snowmen are all hand-painted. The rose is sculpted out of candy clay with a cake pop center. This is more than just an cake pop! These are incredibly artistic desserts that are worthy of attention. Find them at http://www.cakepopfusion.net/ Last but most certainly not least is Karen’s Country Kitchen— a killer of a location for desserts that will remind you of true home-cooked desserts from your grandparents (or stuff you read about in cooking magazines). Karen Bolt has the enthusiasm to fuel a stadium of cooking fans. Karen Bolt gives you directions to create your own melt- in-your-mouth peach cobbler the easy way– with things you have in your pantry or cupboards and it’s DIVINE!! So go watch it here. If you were smart enough to watch this video, then you will realize you have seen a natural born cook and learned how to cook from her. Now you don’t have to do it yourself. She will ship most things to you– some are local only to LA like thisSweet Potato Soufflé Pecan PieHere’s Karen’s description:
Cousin Agnes’ Slammin’ Yammin’ Sweet Potato Soufflé Pecan Pie. A rich combination of golden yams, sweet “potaters”, some of my bubblin’ brown sugar, pecans, buttery crust and of course, lots of love! Betcha can’t stop nibbling once your tongue gets a taste. *Local Deliveries Only*
However for those of you a bit farther away from Los Angeles and the outer parts of LA County, here are a couple other items you can get shipped to you: Rum Cake!!
We’ve been told it’s like “relishing that first soulful kiss.” Like you, each cake is unique. Our Rum Cakes are a blast to the palate–not for the delicate. Made with 151 Rum. Yes, you can have your cake and drink it too.
Butter Pecan Cookies!!
Sweet Dreams are made of Belgian chocolate, creamery butter, pecans from Mother Dear’s backyard, a spoonful of love and a pinch of passion. You can never be too rich or have too many light, crispy, melt-in-your-mouth cookies