Final Goodbye to Summer Cookies

It's been insanely hot down here in North Cakalacky - this weekend the high was close to 100.  I almost melted at the Peanut Festival (but that's the next post!).  So it might as well still be summer.  The perfect time to finish up the summer treats.

Flathau's Fine Foods has more flavors of gourmet shortbread cookies.  Here is lemon:

Again, maybe a tad overcooked - see the darker brown at the base?  I so want to like these, but I find them a little bit dry and not that flavorful.  Sorry guys!  I really, really liked the folks from Flathau's so I hate to not love these. 

Another flavor is Key Lime:

The verdict is the same - just not that great.  I want them to be a little less dry - maybe undercooked?  And to have a little more sweetness and flavor.  I like the candy bits, but overall - these just don't do it for me.

I keep trying to like Dancing Deer cookies.  The packaging is cute, they use all natural ingredients.  They get a little too kumbayah with all their mindfulness (They say on the label "we think it's better to share a cookie than gobble one".  Whatever.) and community project stuff, but I do want to like them.  Unfortunately, most of the time, I'm disappointed.

These are adorable Lemon Daisy cookies:

And while not horrible, they sure aren't anything special.  Cute, but completely boring.

If you want a lemon flavor and a great shortbread - this is the cookie for you!  Walkers pure butter Shortbread Lemon Thins:

Nice design, buttery delicious taste, and a hint of lemon.  Walker's recommends serving with a tart lemon mousse and fresh cream. (They don't say anything about sharing or homelessness.)  I think they might work great with a raspberry something.  Or a blueberry something.  Or just handfuls out of the box.  Gobble, gobble.

Not to be left out, Harry and David is in the mix!  With their Tangy Citrus Shortbread:

There's lemon, orange and lime - all three in one box!  And let me tell you - you gotta love citrus to love these.  The flavor to me was overpowering - way too lemony, way too limey and even way too orangey.  More like a Starburst than a cookie.  The worst of the lot!  Harry and David - what the hell?

But, there's hope!  Check out these babies!!

Creme filled (and you can see - they aren't kidding around - look at all that filling!) shortbread in lemon, lime, orange and strawberry.  These are all good - the cookies are great - buttery and delish and the filling is - well, can you really go wrong with frosting?  Strawberry was by far my favorite - orange had a funky aftertaste.  Lemon and lime were both good.  But in all honesty, I like the fruit filling of the galettes better.  Those things are just so damn good!

And look at these - are they not the most adorable cookies evah??  (Snagged them on sale!  Of course, since the Halloween cookies are out now):

They are simple frosted sugar cookies, but I love the sugar cookie!  These are great, not rock hard - just perfect!  And the perfect size.  What a perfect end to summer.  Here's to fall!!!!  And the Peanut Festival!

Cuckoo for Coconut

Ah - summertime! I hope everyone had a great 4th! The weather here was downright amazing for this time of year - temps in the 80s! Unheard of!  I really thought I was in the islands, mon.

I found these crazy things in T.J. Maxx.  You know, I had no idea TJ Maxx carried such a strange array of gourmet treats.  They have candy, chocolate, cookies - but in random weird quantities and, depending on the store, in kind of beat-up condition.  TJ Maxx stores seem to range from okay to kinda ghetto. 

Anyway, these are butter pecan and toasted coconut Jordan Almonds from Maggie Lyon Chocolatiers:
http://www.maggielyon.com/index.html?cart=12755409484409486

Maggie Lyon is a company in Atlanta, Georgia, and if the rest of their candy is as good as these, we should plan a road trip.  Seriously.  These are not rock hard like a lot of Jordan Almonds and have a really meaty almond center.  And the coconut and butter pecan flavors are good - subtle, not overpowering.  A perfect addition to the almond.  VERY well done - I LOVE these!!

Of course, if we're gonna talk coconut we have to cover the classics:

Now, I actually prefer the Almond Joy to the Almond Joy Egg.  And it's the same reason I prefer the Reese's Egg to the Reese's Cup.  I just love peanut butter WAY more than coconut.

As you can see, the Almond Joy egg has only one almond and more coconut than the standard Almond Joy bar.  I prefer two almonds and less coconut (more chocolate).  The Reese's Egg has a higher peanut butter to chocolate ration than the Cup and I like that!  Peanut butter is way better than coconut in my book.  But again, it's all a matter of taste.

This is the Bounty Bar made by Mars in the UK.  I got this one at World Market.

It's okay.  I found the coconut a little dry.  And no almonds.  I really like the coconut almond combo.

Another classic - Kris - I know you love these!!

Me?  Not so much.  I like milk chocolate better in this case - don't know why.  Like the dark chocolate better with the Godiva Truffles.  I have no explanation.  Maybe it's the almonds.  Maybe it's childhood memories.  Maybe I'm insane.  Another chocolate mystery.

Anastasia Confectioners in Florida specializes in coconut.  They have some crazy flavor combinations - some of which I've reviewed before.  Here's Key Lime:

Regular coconut:

And those two naked with almond at the far right:

I'm not a big key lime person (heresy to some, I know) but in the world of candy, lime just doesn't fall anywhere near the top for me.  But, as I've said before, if you like it, that's all that matters for you.  You can have all my Key Lime pie, cookies and candy from here on out.  Unless that's all there is, then we'll have to negotiate.

My favorite is the regular old coconut.  And you know what, if you are a die-hard coconut fan - this is the "bar" for you.  It is all about the coconut - serious chunks of coconut with chocolate only as an accent.  Kris - you have got to try these - I think you'd LOVE them!  The back of the "slice" is coated in chocolate as well.

Almond is actually pretty good.  The flavor is less overpowering than the lime and the mango and works great with the coconut (IMHO anyway).  In fact, it's pretty hard to choose between this and the plain coconut.  I just love that almond coconut combo!!

I recently found a box of the mango and I didn't like these:

The mango just tastes kind of funky.  I'd much rather have just plain coconut.

Are you enjoying our island excursion?  We have more coconut to come!!! 

Tips for having a great life:

Just remember - what you like best is the best for you.  Your opinion is the most important for you.

Try a lot of different things - the thing you thought was the best might not be that great at all!

Try it even if you think you won't like it - sometimes you will be wrong.  (I find I'm wrong all the time.)

Stay open to new flavors, new experiences, new people - the best is yet to come!

The Sorbet Sistahs Go to Florida!

This will be the last post before the big surgery!!! I go in at 5:45 am Monday and Lord knows when I'll be back. But don't go away! I have scored TONS of great holiday chocolate to share with you!! And you know I'll have some great stories from the hospital!

I brought back some treats for my Sistahs from the great state of Florida and we checked them out today. First was a milk chocolate Key Lime:

Ripped off from the chocolate orange, we decided this was way too limey. It took a minute to taste the lime, we gave a slice to our waitress and she said, "I don't taste..." and immediately stopped. Once the lime kicks in, it kicks in.

Let me show you Terry's orange:

This one was too orangey for me. These chocolate fruits just don't do it for me. But the orange is a Christmas tradition. Both have to be broken open:

I was totally cracking up when Tracy had to slam this thing on the table - twice! I was flashing back to my beating the orange with a stapler last year.

Here's what they look like naked:

First the lime from the top and then from the bottom:

I think the orange looks better - there's no extra blob of chocolate holding things together:

It looks like a million times better, right?

The lime is the top image - the orange is a cleaner break. It's just made better. And the chocolate was better too as I recall. Overall, none of us were impressed with the chocolate key lime. Sorbet Sistahs say pass. Better than sorbet, but far from great.

These, however, were a different matter entirely:





These are delicious, moist coconut patties with a base and sides of chocolate. I bought pina colada and almond, but they come in lots of flavors:



Here are the patties:



Pina Colada was not so great. I thought the pineapple was too strong. We all thought it was okay until we had the almond (on the left). Almond was fabulous!!!!! The coconut was really moist, the almond and chocolate enhanced it, the balance of the three was perfect. Bravo!

I knew I had a winner when the Sistahs wanted an almond patty for the road. YAY!

Good thing Nicholas Cage has made the seas safer - I would hate for pirates to stop all the shipments of cacao and coconut. Keep the chocolate faith, and I'll be back with you soon!!!!

And Happy Thanksgiving!! I really am thankful for all of you who take the time to read this!!