Bananas Foster Snack from Graze

Ingredients:

fudge pieces, honey almond slivers, pumpkin seeds and banana coins

I received this Bananas Foster Snack in my December Graze Box.

Tea Suggestion:

For this yummy, sweet and salty snack, I decided to go with something that was both sweet and a little bit savory:  this Genmai Hojicha from Sara’s Tea Caddie.  The warm, toasty notes of the tea accentuated the nutty notes of the almond slivers and pumpkin seeds.  A really nice tea time!

What I Think:

This snack surprised me with the very first bite.  And with that first bite, I immediately clicked on the “like” box on my Graze products page.

I sort of mindlessly grabbed a few pieces out of the tray and popped them into my mouth … and the banana – is soft!  It’s a dried banana … but it isn’t a banana chip like I thought it would be.  It’s not hard, dense and crunchy like a typical banana chip.  This is soft and chewy and delightfully banana-y!

I love the sweet and salty quality of this snack, and the varying textures: the honey almond slivers and the pumpkin seeds add a little bit of crunch.  The fudge bits and the honey from the almonds add some sweetness.  The nuts add a salty taste.  The banana adds a great banana flavor and chew to the mix.  It was chewy, crunchy, salty, savory and sweet all in one bite!

My Final Thoughts:

The more I munched on this snack, the more I enjoyed it, and by the time I finished the snack, the “like” was upgraded to “love”!  I love the different textures and the way the flavors all work together in this snack.  Yum!

Maple Fudge from Laura Secord

Photo from Love With Food.
Click on the pic to go there.

Product Information:

If Willie Wonka had a Canadian Cousin who was not only obsessed with making delicious candy, but luxurious and premium chocolate as well then Laura Secord would be her name. This delicious fudge is made with authentic maple syrup from the spacious Canadian hillside. Enjoy!

I received a chunk of this Maple Fudge in my November Love with Food box!

Tea Suggestion:

I wanted a deep, rich black tea to enjoy with this maple fudge, so I chose this Kaporet Kenya Black Tea from Single Origin Teas to drink while enjoying this amazing confection.  The combination of the robust tea with the decadent fudge was sublime!  The sweet fudge brought out some of the fruit-y nuances of the tea and made this tea taste even better (and it was pretty amazing to begin with!)

What I Think:

YUM!  Maple is definitely one of my favorite fall flavors.  One of the things that I look forward to when fall comes is the maple sugar candy that I find in Whole Foods.  However, I think I may have found a new favorite fall candy.  This Maple Fudge is outstanding.  It’s so maple-y sweet and decadent.  The texture is soft and smooth.

But here’s the thing when it comes to candy like fudge:  it becomes cloying very quickly.  Yes, I have a sweet tooth, but, even when my sweet tooth is in overdrive, I can only handle so much fudge until I start to feel that sickly feeling like I’ve had too much.  And let’s face it … fudge is so tasty that it’s sometimes hard to find that fine line from I’ve had just enough to I’ve had too much!

So I like that these individually wrapped pieces of fudge are just the right size.  One piece of fudge (or even a half a piece!) is enough to satisfy the sweet tooth.  I don’t have to “cut myself off” because there is a limit in the packaging.  And because each piece is individually wrapped, I don’t have to worry about the fudge going stale.  I like that!

My Final Thoughts:

A really delicious candy.  I like that they are individually wrapped, and the size is just right.  The taste and texture is fresh and soft and very enjoyable – much more so than the typical chunk of fudge.  This is so good!  So decadent!

My November Love with Food Box has arrived!

Yay!  It’s always a happy time when I receive a treasure in mailbox, and this month’s Love with Food box certainly qualifies as a treasure!  This is a seriously awesome box!

This month’s box had NINE treats in it, plus a bunch of coupons, including a coupon for a gift subscription to Love with Food.  I’m thinking I might treat my oldest daughter to a subscription.  In addition, I also received a $1. off coupon toward a Green & Black Organic Chocolate bar (yum, chocolate!) and there’s even a recipe card from Chef Ryan Scott (who curated this box).  The recipe is for green olive tapenade, which I will definitely try.

Anyway … on to the yummy goodies in this month’s box.  There’s a bag of Tuxedo Popcorn from Kukuruza, a bag of Sweet Potato Popchips, a sample of Rosemary and Pink Sea Salt Shortbread Cookies from Dancing Deer Baking Co., an Almond Apricot and Yoghurt bar from Eat Natural, a bag of Sweet Corn Crunch Snack from Sensible Foods, Ginger Twist Tea from Mighty Leaf (Yes TEA!), Maple Fudge from Laura Secord, a small organic dark chocolate bar from Green & Black, and Indian Spices from Arora Creations.

Wow!  This may be the most plentiful box that I’ve received from Love with Food yet!  And what’s more, I haven’t tried any of these things … including the tea!  I’m excited to start digging in!

Billionaire’s Shortbread Snack Mix from Graze

Photo from Graze.
Click on the pic to go there.

Product Description:

fudge pieces, blanched almonds, milk chocolate drops and cranberries

I got this snack mix in my first Graze Box!

Tea Suggestion:

I went with a deliciously light, vibrant green tea to enjoy with this sweet “trail mix.”  The High Grade Dragon Well from Yezi Tea was an excellent choice.  The tea was refreshing and lightly grassy, and made a nice contrast to the sweet-tart cranberries.  The natural nutty flavors in the Dragon Well married deliciously with the blanched almonds, and the chocolate and fudge … well, they just made the tea time that much yummier!

What I Think:

I was so excited to start digging in to my snacks in my first Graze Box!  And of course the first snack I had to try has chocolate in it!

I was very interested in the Graze program when I first heard about it, mostly because I love trying gourmet foodie subscriptions like this, as well as the uniqueness of this particular program (You can’t get these mixes anywhere else … unless you make them yourself!) … but what else I really liked about this program was that the kind of snacks that it offers is exactly what I was looking for … something healthy to snack on while sipping on tea.  Because I drink a lot of tea.  A lot of it … and I like to find foods that are healthy and easy to snack on while I sip the tea.  Something tasty and preferably, something I didn’t have to make myself.  (Big bonus points for that one.)

This “trail mix” has four ingredients:  blanched almonds, dried cranberries, chocolate drops and fudge bits.  I would say that in my tray, all four ingredients were fairly represented.  I didn’t see like 75% of one ingredient, and scarce little bits of other ingredients.  

It’s a tasty combination of flavors.  When each item is eaten individually, the ingredient I like least is the blanched almonds, mostly because they’re blanched almonds, and I prefer my almonds toasted, roasted, salted … but not so much blanched.  Even so, these aren’t that bad, especially if I happen to scoop up one of the other ingredients and pop both the almond and one other ingredient in my mouth at the same time and allow the flavors to meld together.  My personal favorite with the almond is the cranberry.

But what’s really delightful is if I pick up one of each item in the mix and pop all four ingredients in my mouth at the same time. The combination of these four ingredients at the same time is quite tasty.

The cranberry is tart and chewy.  The fudge is sweet and chewy.  The chocolate is sweet and creamy.  The almond is nutty.  It’s a tasty combination of sweet, tart, chewy and nutty with a hint of creaminess.

My Final Thoughts:

I liked this alright, but I don’t know if I like it enough to “like” it on the Graze website.   But I ‘am glad I tried it.  I like the size of these snack trays!  This is just the right amount of trail mix to satisfy me when I’ve got the munchies … it works great as a tea-time snack.

Bourbon Pecan Brownie from Cacao Sweets & Treats

Photo from Knoshbox.
Click on the pic to go there.

Product Description:

The perfect balance of fudgey and cake, moist and chewy, these brownies are infused with pure Bourbon Whisky. Hints of Bourbon notes beautifully highlight the bittersweet chocolate flavors. The roasted & salted pecans add a crunch and burst of flavor that can’t be matched.

I received this brownie in my November Knoshbox.

Tea Suggestion:

The flavors in this brownie are really intense … you don’t need a tea with flavors that will attempt to compete here.  Instead, I found something that helped bring out some of the dimension in this tea.  I chose this Unsmoked Lapsang Souchong from Townshend’s Tea.  The hint of smoke from this tea accented the bourbon in a really delicious way, and it also helped reduce some of the cloying qualities of the brownie just a tad.

What I Think:

OK, the first thing that excited me about this brownie … besides the fact that it was a brownie … is the SIZE of the brownie!  It’s HUGE!  Seriously, it is approximately three and a half inches long by two and a half inches wide!  It’s almost an inch thick too!  Thick, rich, fudge-y goodness!

The brownie is indeed fudge-y.  Brownies are usually either cake-like or moistly fudge-y, this brownie is somewhere in between … fudge-y, yes, but there is a certain cake-like texture to this too.   It is deliciously decadent and chocolate-y, and so rich that I could not finish the confection in one sitting.

After consuming approximately one-fourth of the brownie, I started to get that “overly sweet/cloying” kind of feeling from the brownie.  This enormous brownie is best enjoyed over several sittings – or perhaps shared with someone (or a couple of someones!)

I taste a note of Bourbon here, but, it acts to accentuate the sweetness of the chocolate more than serve as a distinct flavor of its own.  Although, I won’t deny that I did feel a little “warm” after I ate it, as if I had just imbibed a wee bit of alcohol (or perhaps indulged in something sinfully chocolate-y).   And the pecans added a nice crunch to the brownie, although I found myself wishing that the pecans had been stirred into the brownie batter rather than just sprinkled on top of the brownies.  That is to say, I wanted more pecans in this brownie.

In addition, the close up photo of these brownies show flakes of what I am guessing is sea salt, I would have liked a little more of that in my brownie … I didn’t see any sea salt flakes atop my brownie.  I think that the extra salt would have helped to cut through some of the sweeter/cloying notes, while helping the flavors to better express themselves.  I got a wee bit of a salty note as I ate the brownie, but, there really wasn’t enough of it to call this a salty/sweet kind of treat.

My Final Thoughts:

I absolutely loved this brownie.  I love that it was so enormous that it was actually two servings rather than one!  It was delicious, I could feel the effects of the Bourbon a few minutes after eating the brownie (seriously, I am having to correct some typos as I may be slightly tipsy after eating this brownie!) and I could also definitely taste the Bourbon but I liked that it wasn’t a strong, protruding flavor that overwhelmed the rich chocolate flavor.  And it is indeed a delicious, dark chocolate-y delight.  More pecans would have made this brownie a “10” … as it is, I’d rate this an 8.5.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownies from Blissful Brownies

Product Description:

Everyone’s favorite pairing

A truly classic flavor combination. It is the brownie equivalent of a chocolate-peanut butter cup….and who doesn’t love a peanut butter cup? A layer of creamy all natural peanut butter runs through the middle of this rich chocolate creation.

Learn more about Blissful Brownies on their website.

Tea Suggestion:

I recommend a good, solid black tea, something rich and full-bodied like this Organic Black Andean from Drink T.  I found that the rich, chocolate-y flavor of the brownie was enhanced by the natural chocolate-y tones within the tea.  A really delightful match.

What I Think:

This was the first item I grabbed from this month’s Valentine’s Box.  Mostly because I felt it was the most perishable, but, also because I couldn’t wait to sink my teeth into a luscious, fudge-y brownie!

The brownie is huge!  It measures about 5 inches long by 2 inches wide by 1 1/2 inches thick.  It is so big that I cut it in half with the full intention of sharing it with my husband when he got home from work.  Whether or not that will actually happen … well, it will be at least another hour before he gets home.  So we shall see!

Oh goodness … this brownie is a chocoholic’s paradise!  Rich and chocolate-y.  There are big chunks of chocolate in the fudge-y brownie, and a creamy layer of peanut butter.  Sweet, a little chewy and deliciously decadent.  So sweet, in fact, that I do think I will be able to reserve this other half for my husband (or at least a quarter of it).

This is just the way I want a brownie to be.  There are typically two types of brownies:  the cake-like brownie, and the moist, fudge-like brownie.  This brownie is the fudge-like brownie, and that’s the way I like them.  It is thick and moist.  And even though it is a peanut butter brownie, the chocolate is still the main event.  The peanut butter is an accent flavor, helping to cut through some of the richness of the deep, dark chocolate.

This is so good!

My Final Thoughts:

These brownies are so chocolate-y that they are sure to satisfy even the most demanding chocolate craving.  Seriously yummy!  I may just have to visit Blissful Brownies’ website soon and try some other flavors!

Chocolate Moose Dragons from Liz Lovely

Where to Buy:  Liz Lovely on Foodzie

Price:  $3.99 for a package of two very large cookies

Product Description:

We take deep, dark, fudgy brownie dough with organic dark chocolate chips, roll it in organic cane sugar, and crush fairly traded cacao nibs on top. It’s a true chocoholic experience.

What I Think:

I opened my review of Liz Lovely’s Ginger Snapdragons like this:  Oh.  My.  Goodness.

Well… that goes DOUBLE for these cookies!  These are the best chocolate cookies I’ve ever tasted.  And that’s coming from a former Mrs. Field’s employee!  (Yes, I worked there many years ago, back when we actually mixed the cookie dough ourselves instead of using pre-made frozen cookie dough)

These are incredibly rich and moist and dense – just like a brownie.  Maybe even better than a brownie!  The chocolate is a dark, sweet chocolate with a hint of bitter – a very intense chocolate flavor that is two-fold with the addition of the dark chocolate chips.  Very indulgent – they transcend this chocoholic to a state of sheer euphoria.  The sugary coating take this cookie over-the-top … and might be a little much, but, I am enjoying the texture they give to the cookie.  I also like the crushed cacao nibs on top… they add just a little crunch and a nice bitter undertone to this sweet confection.  These are amazing.

I might have to order more of these to keep on hand when I have a chocoholic craving – these are sure to satisfy.

I don’t know if Liz Lovely takes “requests” or ideas from her customers, but, I am thinking that a cross between this and the Ginger Snapdragon would be absolute heaven…  I mean, this cookie is already heavenly… but the combination of the two would be bucket-list worthy!

My Final Thoughts: 

If you’re a chocoholic, you really MUST try these cookies.  They are pure chocolate nirvana in cookie form.  The only way these could be any better is if they were still warm from the oven.