Sweet Tooth Haven

Homemade Pita

Today I used dough for the European Peasant Bread recipe in Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day and made small individual sized pitas (also in the book).  I used balls of dough a bit smaller than golf balls rolled out to 1/8 inch thick.  They were in the 500-degree oven on a cast iron pizza pan for 3-4 minutes and puffed up like crazy. 

Ruby Jewel

It was 90-degrees here for two days this week and it wasn't even spring.  When I stopped at the store on my way home from work, the heat had me craving some ice cream.  I found some Ruby Jewel ice cream sandwiches on the bottom shelf of the freezer and decided to try them. 

The flavors sounded so intriguing, I couldn't decide and took home 3 sandwiches: 

• Lemon Cookie with Lavender Honey
• Dark Chocolate Cookie with Fresh Mint
• Cinnamon Chocolate Cookie with Espresso.

A few days later and we've finished them off.  The cookies are pretty big and I ended up cutting each one in half to share (although my boyfriend was not interested in the lemon one).

All three flavors were delicious.  The ice cream was super creamy and the flavor combinations just right. 

The Dark Chocolate Mint was pretty strong and reminded me of Thin Mint Girl Scout Cookies.  This one seemed to have a more crunchy cookie than the others and was my boyfriend's favorite.

Lemon Lavender had a softer cookie with a refreshing lemon flavor. The lavender and honey added a subtle something that I found irresistible.

I'm not a coffee drinker, but I usually like coffee flavored ice creams and the Cinnamon Chocolate Espresso sandwich was undeniably good. 

Combine the scrumptious tastes of these treats with the fact that they are handmade and the owner is committed to sustainability and you've got a winner.  I'll be buying these again.

Customer Service, Defined

I would like to thank the good folks at Anchor Hocking for renewing my faith in Customer Service.  Here's my story:

I have been using ramekins covered with plastic wrap as little individual fruit bowls for at least a year.  I knew there had to be a better way, and during a recent shopping trip I found a set of Anchor Hocking glass storage bowls with plastic lids.  No more plastic wrap, Horray! 

After about a week, I was frustrated that two of the lids would not remained shut, no matter what.  Before I tried returning the entire set without any packaging or receipt, I decided (with very little hope) to try and contact Anchor Hocking for a replacement.  I looked up their website and found the Customer Service - Consumer Affairs email link. 

Here's my email dated 2/17/09:

Hello,

I recently purchased a set of glass storage containers at Target.  It was an 8 piece set containing 4 glass bowls and 4 lids.  Are there replacement lids available?   Two of the lids fit perfectly and stay on, but 2 lids keep popping off.

Thank you,
M

And the reply dated 2/20/09

Dear M:

Thank you for taking the time to contact Anchor Hocking regarding the
problem you have experienced with your glassware product offering.

Anchor Hocking strives to maintain high quality standards to produce the
finest glassware available. Therefore it is important for us to hear of
any problems that you experience with our product.

If you will provide the capacity size of the bowls or the UPC code we
will send replacement covers with our compliments. Please include your
last name and address (NO PO BOX).

We look forwarding to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

ANCHOR HOCKING COMPANY

Amy (last name removed)
Consumer Affairs


Quite surprising, right.  After I sent my last name and address I got an immediate reply that the lids would be arriving in 4-6 weeks.

And so, the lesson is, there are still some American companies that provide good, old fashioned customer service.  Thank you.

Too Much Information

Trader Joe's is getting ready for the holidays by offering some festive treats, including the adorable Gummy Tummy Penguins.  Since these would be perfect stocking stuffers for my nephews, I got a bag so I could sample them.  After eating about 10 penguins I got the idea that I should check if they were gluten free for my youngest nephew.

The second ingredient: 

pork gelatin. 

Seriously.  Do they need to be specific?  I know most gelatin is derived from animals, but when I read pork gelatin I can't help but picture pigs feet boiling away in a pot.  I couldn't eat anymore.

Incidently, the last ingredient was wheat starch, so I guess that leaves them off the list.

Pull-Apart Italian Herb and Cheese Bread

I'm living up to  the promise I made when I got my order of mixes from The Baker's Catalogue.  I baked the Pull-Apart Italian Herb and Cheese Bread and here's how it came out:

It was simple to make:  I put the mix, egg, butter, and water in my mixer with a dough hook.  It made a very soft dough.  The majority of the work is after the dough rises.  It gets rolled out, cut into 4 strips, then the strips are cut into pieces.  The pieces are rolled into balls then dipped into a seasoning mix before being placed in the baking dish.  After a second rise the whole thing goes in the oven for about 25 minutes.

Bottom Line:  Bread has a nice cheesy  flavor and is super tasty.  Along with the Italian herbs, the bread is full of sun-dried tomatoes.  We stuffed ourselves on it.  Great for an appetizer or to serve with dinner.  You can serve with marinara sauce or butter for dipping.  The fun part is pulling off bits of the bread.  It comes apart in little chunks thanks to the work you did rolling all those little balls.

Whole Grain Cinnamon Rolls

I baked these whole grain cinnamon rolls from a mix I ordered from The Baker's Catalogue.  I have a fabulous recipe for cinnamon rolls from scratch, but ordered this mix because I want to use more whole grains in my baking.  Since I love other mixes from King Arthur Flour, I thought this would be a product to try. 

The results? 

• Super easy to make!  All the dough ingredients went into my mixer (mix plus butter, eggs, and water).  After the dough rose for about an hour, I rolled out the dough, spread with filling, rolled into a log, and cut.  The rolls rose for about 1 1//2 more hours before baking.  When they came out of the oven, they got a drizzle of icing and were ready to eat.

Most important of all, the taste.

• I think I was hoping for more of a "You'd never guess these were made with whole grains," taste.  You can tell it's whole grain.  I notice it most in the texture of the bread.  It's just not as soft and light as white wheat dough.

Bottom line: 

• If you're serious about upping the whole grain content of your foods, this is a great treat.  If you're looking for some seriously good, health-be-damned cinnamon rolls, look elsewhere.

Alternative ideas: 

• Next time I make cinnamon rolls, I might substitute a fraction of the all-purpose flour for white whole wheat.
• I like the ease and speed of using the mix, so it's great when I don't have the energy to bake from scratch.  I might try the classic cinnamon roll mix next.

Cinnamon Streusel Muffins

These are like crumb cakes on cinnamon steroids!  They have a tasty streusel topping plus cinnamon cake, a ribbon of cinnamon roll filling, and cinnamon chips.

These are from the Cinnamon Streusel Muffin Mix I ordered from the Baker's Catalogue and wrote about in my last post.  I passed them out to 8 of my co-workers and received a review of 8-thumbs up.  The different layers provide a variety of textures and although everything but the icing has cinnamon, it's not overwhelming.  If you are a fan of cinnamon, these should be on your list.  Of course the bonus is how easy they are to make.  You add milk, eggs, and butter to make the batter.  Water for the cinnamon filling.  Butter and water for the streusel.  Layer it and bake.  Add some cream to the icing mix and drizzle it on when the muffins are cool.  Too bad the bowls don't wash themselves!

I made them in my new pop-up muffin pan which creates square-shaped muffins.  I like the shape and got several comments about how I made them, but the pan was a bit of a hassle to clean.  I think I'll invest in a scrub brush to reach into the corners next time I use it.  I also noticed that the cups must hold a bit more volume than typical round muffin cups, so if I want larger muffins I'll have to make 9 or 10 instead of 12.

Lake Champlain Chocolates

Two years ago this October, my sister got married at The Wawbeek Inn at Lake Saranac in upstate New York.  We decided to fly into Burlington, Vermont to stay overnight before taking the ferry across Lake Champlain into New York. 

While looking through a guide to the Burlington area, I noticed there was a chocolate factory.  I had never heard of Lake Champlain Chocolates, but the idea of factory tour and samples drew me in.  Unlike Rebecca-Ruth, the tour was more a history of chocolate than a trip into the actual factory.  Despite our disappointment with the 'tour', the factory store was well-worth our time.  The only problem was deciding what to get. The section of factory seconds provided a less expensive way of getting more variety.  Everything we got was delicious, and each of us had our own favorites.

Three days later when we were heading home, the taste of the chocolates was a distant memory.  There was no option but to stop by for more.  When I got home and my chocolates had disappeared, imagine how surprised I was to see an entire display of Lake Champlain Chocolates at the Whole Foods Market.  How could I not have noticed this before?  More common than not, I return from grocery shopping with at least one bar of chocolate.  Today's choice was the milk chocolate caramel you see above.  Yummy!

Baked Rice Crisps

Just so you know, I don't always go for the sweet snack.  I don't discriminate.  I love salty, crunchy snacks too.  My current favorite:  Sour Cream and Onion Crisps.

I found these a couple weeks ago at Trader Joe's.  They're made with rice.  They're baked.  They have 60% less fat then potato chips. They have 10 grams of whole grains per serving.  Despite all those things, they are delicious!  Super crunchy and addictive.  I seriously cannot stop eating them.  I am not alone.  Whenever I buy a bag, the cashier tells me how much they love them.  Trader Joe's also carries a Sea Salt and Pepper flavor that is quite tasty as well with a bit of kick from the pepper. 

For those of you without a Trader Joe's in your area.  I did some searching and I think I found a source!  Here's what I came up with:  Mr. Krisper's Baked Rice Krisps.  The nutrition information and ingredients are almost identical.  I haven't tried them, but my guess is they are identical or very close to the Trader Joe's Crisps.  Amazon sells Sour Cream & Onion, Sea Salt & Pepper, Barbecue , and Nacho.  They come in packs of 12, but the bags are quite small with 4 servings each.  Usually I buy 2-3 bags when I shop at Trader Joe's.  And that's just for 2 people.  I'm thinking about trying the barbecue.  I added them to the snacks and sweets page at Sweet Tooth Essentials.

Chocolate Pudding, Yum, Yum

I'm not vegan. I don't drink soy milk and rarely eat tofu.  I normally consume copious amounts of dairy products without regret.  However, my mom has severe allergies to milk; so when I saw these soy pudding snacks I decided to taste test them for her. They are fabulous.  Creamy and chocolaty.  I'm addicted. I don't think I like 'regular' pudding this much.  Don't ever buy them.