Klingers again?

Yep, it's true - but once again - this one came to me. Got to thank AM's family for coming in to visit him and, surprise, bringing in a huge box o' cookies from Klingers with them.

So here's what I picked out of the box, filled chockablock with sugar cookies, chocolate chip cookies and more.



This cookie had some surprises. First, It looked like it was a chocolate cookie with white chocolate chips. It wasn't. Second, it looked like there were chocolate chips scattered through it. They weren't. And third, well - third was just that it had all these great tastes and aromas going on that just were a great surprise.

So the first surprise - they weren't pieces of white chocolate, nope, they were pieces of maple candy. That's right - our own state favorite of Maple Syrup in its crystallized candy like form. Yum! The second surprise were those pieces I initially thought were chocolate chips. They were dried cranberries. Now I know - you're wondering how I could make that mistake - all I can say is they were in a box and I just reached in and picked it fairly quickly - snapped off a shot or two with the camera and sat down to nibble - all while talking to my boss, who was behind me in line wondering why I was taking longer than I needed to by taking pictures of cookies. How odd, right? The third surprise, well - nothing I could nail down exactly. It tasted of mulling spices. I couldn't tell if it was just an aroma, or if it was in the taste. The cranberries and maple syrup just excited me so much that when I forgot about them and decided I better look for the other tastes... well at that point I was nearly done. I could smell them the entire time, but just am not sure if they were kept near them or if there were some subtle flavorings hidden in this cookie. Either way - get there. Go get a cookie. Why are you still there? Go, go.. shoo!

Oh, for those who are eating while they're sitting there, and don't need to leave to get a cookie - you're in for a possible surprise. I know I was. Apparently the Burlington Free Press is going to do a story and might actually mention your humble blog/blogger in it. Yep, I run with an interesting crowd at the full time job, and someone decided it might just be newsworthy.

My camera is misbehaving, as a result pics are delayed, but coming shortly!

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.

No,no, no... It can't be. Can it?

Have you ever done something that was pretty much out of character for you, taken that road less travelled (usually for good reason) and found something... good? Well, that happened to me recently. Ok, just moments ago actually.

So, ok - I admit it, I made another trip to the vending machine. But this time it wasn't because I was starving, it wasn't because I had that growling beast in me that, oddly enough, fake creamy filling can only satiate. That only happens a few times a year, so it's not something I'm all to worried about, but still - why do I crave that stuff, and nougat? Some day science may help me to understand, but for today - I'm just going to have to be ok with it and try to eat desserts that are good, well made and healthy. Strangely - today's foray to the vending machine seemed to fit all of those. Today I made a trip to the vending machine because it was recommended. I'm as surprised as anyone. Truly.




The 'Broad Street Bakery Apple Turnover' is today's trial, with no error and no guilty verdict. It's a snack that is very flexible, and really could fit into the dessert category, because it really could be many things to many people, or even just one person. Breakfast, dessert, mid day snack or late night nosh when you can't sleep, but don't want to turn on the lights or appliances to make anything. I could easily see myself bringing these home, putting it in the oven to give it a bit more color while warming it up, dressing it up with some cinnamon and sugar, a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a dollop of whipped cream. For sleepover nights with my daughter - this is a dessert her friends would be very happy with, I'm sure, and because they could really do all the prep and serving, I wouldn't make a mess of my kitchen - which is something I'm happy with.

So - after that - how does it taste, right? Well - damn good. It's better than the faint memories I have of going to the store with my meager allowance, or hard earned lawnmowing money of my childhood to buy a Little Debbie or Hostess Apple Pie, comic book and pack of Big League Chew or Hubba Bubba (I liked blowing huge bubbles with that stuff.) I always remember the Apple Pie Turnovers of yore tasted sweet at first, but then they had this bitter or preservative filled fakeness that would creep in. I shortly thereafter switched to nougat almost full time (thanks Snickers), and fell into it's grips for many a year. If I had Broad Street Bakery as a choice, I might never have fallen in love with chocolate. Ok, I'm sure I would have - but it would have been at least a bit of a challenge to pick my purchase. I actually bought this because I heard some co-workers talking, raving about how good it was when I was getting a cup of coffee. Thanks Carl - I owe this one all to you because someone you told, told someone else about it - and I overheard it while they were buying it in anticipation of it's tasty goodness. How pleasantly surprised I was that Carl was right on target. Man knows his vending machine choices, while I, on the other hand, get lost - make a poor choice under all the pressure of people behind me and walk away with buyers remorse before I even eat. Speaking of which - there really should be a way to return a poor impulse buy before opening the little trap door, or a 'the thing I bought is stuck on the coils, please shake it loose' button - but I digress.

The Broad Street Bakery is an arm of Flowers Foods Specialty Group and, they've been in The Biz for awhile. Here's what Flowers Foods said about Broad Street Bakery, "This is a collection of truly premium snacks made with the finest ingredients and baked to our high-quality standards," explained Brent Bradshaw, Flowers' brand manager, in a prepared statement. "We believe vending operators will be able to sell this new premium line of pastries at premium price-points." You can real the full article here if you like. Looking at the ingredients list, it does seem quite a bit shorter than many others I've read. Thankfully I recognize most of the ingredients, and many of the others seem like they are pretty innocuous, the strange one being Sodium Hexametaphosphate as it's an ingredient in most whitening toothpastes, and is used to help make ceramic slip - though, sadly, it was never invited into Julia Child's kitchen.

So maybe the trips to the vending machine aren't all that bad anymore. Ok - you might work in a place, or be near a place that has the amazing vending machines, the ones that are restocked with yogurts, apples, fresh made sandwiches or have coffee makers that grind beans for each and every person. While I've enjoyed those int he past - we just have two ominous looking vending machines that are stocked once a week and to have anything other than peanuts and pretzels I feel I can safely eat - huge. I mean Huge!

Lost in the mist

It seems that I've been lost in the mist for a few days, but it wasn't me - it was my Internet Connection. Frustrating though it was,it hasn't ended my dessert eating - it simply made typing and posting a blog a very frustrating experience - and uploading photos? Fuhgeddaboudit!

So over the past five days I've eaten a number of items, taking some of the pictures with my point and shoot camera, instead of the normal cellphone camera pictures, but I still have some of those too.

The first item I received last Friday, and managed to post a link to them over to the left in my "Places I love to visit" section. That, my friend, will continue to grow. Of that you can be sure. Thanks to Leann at Lake Champlain Chocolates who handed me something that looks like a snack, but is actually quite large, yummy and filling. It's one of the '5 Star Chocolate Bars'.

Yes, there it is, the peanut version. It hearkened me back to the days of stopping in at a Diner in Newport years ago for a slice of, what my friend Leo told me was, a 'world famous worthy' Peanut Butter Pie. He wasn't wrong. Similarly to the pie, this Peanut '5 Star Bar' was much more filling than I expected. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't full - but it's hearty. If you go out hiking into the mountains in your Cable Knit sweater - this is a stick to your ribs kind of dessert. Plus, it's much easier to carry a few of these, than say, a container of hot Clam Chowder. If you brought both - it might be pretty much pure joy.

I have some pictures at the home computer that I'll upload later - as I always like to get the view that I see with my own eyes posted here. I love the professionally photographed desserts, but - let's be honest - how many of us have that kind of soft lighting in the space we eat our desserts? I mean other than me. You see - I do actually have access to the lights - but they're just not set up when I'm munching on my treats.

So what did I think of it - it's very tasty, and is exactly what you would expect it to be - based on this description they gave me "Crunchy peanuts, folded into an all-natural peanut butter and rice crisp center, then covered in milk chocolate." So you get some traffic in there, but it's not rush hour - it's just enough to give it a nice texture, the rice trucks the peanut butter and chocolate flavors around in your mouth and the chunks of peanut butter are not too big. It's just a really simple, peanutty taste. Thankfully, unlike some other Peanut snacks and desserts, it tastes like Peanuts and not like the Pea-not flavorings that your more commercial producers make. I loved it, I'm going back for more - oh - and I've eaten so many of these. I think the first one was picked up long ago at maybe Pier One or something, right near the register - one of those spur of the moment, 'Yep I have enough cash to get one of those too', purchases. I was glad I made it then, and glad I had one again.

I do have to say, there's a special place in my heart for Lake Champlain Chocolates. for some extra bucks, when my 13 year old was a baby, I picked up odd jobs after my normal work hours. One of them was working at LCC. I was the guy who cleaned the chocolate molds. Pretty mundane job. Every few months, for two weeks at a time, I would find myself, nearly alone in the evenings, in the huge expanse of space that was their former home on Pine Street - which I actually enjoyed.

The best part, however, was that every day at the end of my shift I was allowed to take a paper bag, about the size of what you pack a bag lunch in, fill it with seconds and bring them home. Yep - you heard me right - a sack of chocolates came home with me every day. That two week period I worked there after their run of Easter, Valentine's Day, Mother's Day and other holidays kept me in chocolate year round. And I got paid for it. That's the time, by the way, that I really developed my love of chocolate and began to taste the subtle differences in chocolate. Until then, I never appreciated the dark chocolates, and now I seek out the 70% and higher chocolates, the untempered chocolate and varieties with lavender and other fragrant additives. Thanks LCC!

Wow, Daddy have you tried this?

Every so often, I make a trek down to a little town called Ferrisburg. Whenever I happen to be there, I always stop at the great 'Ferrisburg Trading Post' - just a great sandwich shop, with some amazing extras.

Not only do they have a great system for ordering sandwiches - where you write your order using dry erase markers on individual cards - they also have some great baked goods. One of my favorite things to do is grab an experimental looking cookie, just like I did again today, and enjoy it after my lunch. Sometimes, admittedly, I cheat and take a bite or two of the cookie before eating my lunch. It shouldn't came as too much of a surprise that I'm eating dessert first, is it?

So this week, I decided to pick up the Peppermint Fudge cookie that was staring back at me. On the top, it was covered with broken up pieces of Andes Chocolate Mints - the kind you get when you're finished dinner at some restaurants. Very tasty little niblets they are. How, then, could I refuse this tasty looking morsel with the minty chocolaty goodness dancing across the top? Note to self - get milk next time!

The flavor of this was, as Miss M described it from the other room when she bit into it, "Wow! Daddy have you tried this? It's amazing!" She perhaps uses fewer words to describe her experience with desserts. Things are, of course, always 'the best ever' or 'not the best ever' when she describes them. She's a teenager, and I'm just happy she's using more than the one word responses that I so frequently used at that age.

Kidding aside, she was right. When I bit into it, there was the fudge, but almost immediately the mint just absolutely flooded you with that cool rush. I recalled those Peppermint patty commercials where the person saying, "when I bite into a York Peppermint Patty I get the sensation that I'm..." You know the ones.

The thing that was wrong with the cookie was my lack of forethought. I ate mine before I got home and didn't have that necessary glass of milk. The cookie was so rich, and s minty delicious, but would have done well with the slight tempering that a cold glass of milk can offer. Instead, I ate the cookie very slowly - which wasn't bad either. Warning, if you're not a huge fan of mint, this actually could be overpowering without the milk. It definitely came borderline for me and the large first few bites I took, before I realized I didn't get milk, and had no coffee left in my travel mug. I held steady and made it to live another day, and eat another cookie. I'm hoping to travel again to Ferrisburg next week and see what cookie might be on the shelf. If necessary I'll stick a note to my forehead saying 'Make sure he buys milk'.

Finally - my brownie and cookie prayers have been answered

The heat is on, as Sweet Science brought in another lovely sample a cookie - Lemon Rosemary in fact - kind of a buttery shortbread. It was deliciously crisp and the buttery lemon hits you right away while you get an immediate fragrant sign of the rosemary - which softly joins in as the other flavors begin to melt away. Downright tasty! Their website is almost fully up and running, with more info and online ordering on the way, there is some basic contact information there as of the time I'm writing this along with an email address you can send to for their full catalogue (which will be online soon.)



Now, on to Vermont Brownie Company, who I'm also mentioned before. On Sunday I had my first 'official' sample. I tried, for the first time, the Maple Toffee Crunch (Whoa!) - as they say on their website. It's really damn tasty. It was good enough that I sampled it more than once. I also signed up to win a box of them at "Shelburne Museum Goes To The Dogs". I just happened to be there doing some MCing duties for Pet Food Warehouse who organizes SMGTTD.




Now if you're a person who likes a somewhat dry and non-fudge like brownie, I'm not sure this is for you. It's not so much that the brownie itself is fudgey - but the maple toffee, or the one I'm sampling right now - the Espresso Dulce de Leche, have ingredients that meld with the brownie and give it a similar texture in certain areas. I don't have any issue with fudge, or anything reminiscent of it. If you don't think you like fudgey brownies - try this anyway. It's really kick ass. The sea salt on the Dulce de Leche is absolutely a welcome addition that just kicks the flavor of this concoction (with espresso beans in it btw) right into high gear. Now before you do anything else - plan your dessert dates accordingly to sample some of these tasty treats from Sweet Science and Vermont Brownie Company.

No, it's not from my bellybutton!

Today's special dessert isn't really a dessert - it's another treat. I know, I know. I feel like I should be saying some hail mary's or something - but I'm not Catholic. The guilty pleasure of it all!

Today I'm blogging about a special Lindt Chocolate that was dropped off to me by the lovely lady who owns Queen City Ghostwalk. Did you know there was a Queen City - There is, it's Burlington, VT. Were you not aware that there was also a Ghostwalk? Well, again, there is! Queen City Ghostwalk used to be a halloween treat for all of us people who do believe Ghosts exist to get together, get all spookified and get some exercise too.

So she's been getting the word out this year as she's started doing the walks much earlier. Her way to entice people to pay attention (yep, it worked) was to give me some of these chocolates.



Ok, so I have a weakness. This is nothing new - I've been aware of this and chosen to do nothing about my weakness for chocolate. It's a personal choice, it's how I live and until I spiral down into a pool of chocolate in a factory led by a man with a funny hat and a cane, then get stuck in a tube like Augustus Gloop - which I think would pretty much be rock bottom in the scheme of things - then I'll live with my addiction. *phew* Gotta remember to breathe.

So yes, I had a number of chocolates that are the typical Lindt dark chocolate on the outside, then it's like a white chocolate truffle inside. Not generally a fan of the white chocolate, which is interesting because Vanilla is my favorite Ice Cream. I digress - it was yummy and delicious and I wanted more, and had more. They're cute little chocolates with little ghosties on them. See - now you're picking up on the theme aren't you? I took some other pictures, but they're pretty fuzzy. Here they are for you to take a peek at.