Thursday, October 2, 2008

Strawberries, kiwi and chocolate crust - Oh My!

I occasionally get sandwiches at this little shop around the corner from work. Ok - I get sandwiches from all the shops around where I work. On the cold days, I often stop by Klingers Bread Company to get myself a panini. Other than soup, it's a damn good way to enjoy lunch. After desserts, I'm a huge fan of sandwiches. Probably why I like Ice Cream Sandwiches so much. When I stop in at Klingers, I get coffee, sandwiches, chocolate croissants, muffins - you name it. I always look into the dessert window - but I worry I'd become like a moth to the flame, and run the risk of buying everything, so I tend to buy nothing. one thing that amazes me, and I must go back, to get for the cookie loving work crew, are their great frosted cookies. They're absolutely stunning today - frosting showing off our lovely fall colors and in the shape of maple leaves. Maybe others too?

Today, something different happened. Only one struck me. it had loads of fruit on it. I think I must need my vitamins, hope I'm not running deficient of any, because I grabbed a lemonade too. A friend pointed out to me, right away, that her only possible gripe about this dessert is that it doesn't include anything in season. Sure it's got Kiwi, Strawberry, Blackberry, Red Raspberry and blueberry all represented - but it's true - not an apple in this bunch. Course, they would have to spray it or something to preserve it - otherwise you have brown bitter slices piled on the top, or worse, an entire apple plopped on top of this three inch wide by 3/4 of an inch high snack. Yeah, I know - I measured it. Just curious I guess. With the fruit, by the way - it's about 1 1/2 - 2 inches tall.

There's a lot of traffic in this. In fact - I don't believe I can't eat anything past the blueberries without pulling it apart. Since I don't have proper cutlery here - I'll have to do just that, and take nibbles of the crust and peachy custard contained therein. Oh, almost forgot, it has the drizzle of dark chocolate across the top. Yum!

The crust is very good, quite a bit of chocolate flavor. I think there must be bunches of bakers in here. Good quality too, though I think it could use a touch more salt - just a personal preference to carry it across the tongue. The crust was, overall, nice and flaky, not too crumbly and held up nicely around the edges of the cuplike shape it had been baked into.

What I thought initially ( by appearance) was a custard is actually a mousse inside, and is absolutely divine. As a mousse I do believe this dessert wouldn't last long once made. In fact, there were a few parts of the bottom of the crust that were softening and absorbing some extra moisture. The mousse didn't taste much of a peach flavor to it, but it's got a great soft and fluffy texture to it - melting nearly immediately on impact.

My vote - this is definitely a repeat. There fruits were all great, the strawberry was sliced to allow for easier nibbling. The one fruit that seemed a bit out of place were the blueberries. I love blueberries, and maybe I'm too picky, but if they're cold they just lose so much character. Good work Klingers, I'll be back for more.

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