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Last night I stumbled upon Nice Cream in Venice, where they make gelato with organic milk and sorbet with locally grown, fresh fruit.
The Salted Caramel delighted me and the Pistachio and Hazelnut scoops brought me back to my days as a student in Italy.
Overall, these freshly made batches of gelato have a clean and crisp taste. While they're deliciously smooth, they're not overwhelmingly rich or sweet. A perfect summer treat!
For more info on Nice Cream in Venice, CA, click here.
I feel sorry for some of these "healthy" dessert items since they simply can't compete, sometimes, with the really great decadent stuff. Nutrilicious's dairy and egg-free Spelt Flour Cinnamon Donut Holes are definitely fighting with one hand behind their back, and quite frankly, they lost the battle.
These dense little balls are dry in the center and leave a weird cinnamon aftertaste. The best part of these donuts are the glazed outsides that I eat while discarding the cardboard centers. For people with dietary restrictions, these might be a nice treat.. otherwise, pass.
To say Mrs. May's Almond Crunch is "dessert" would be a bit of a stretch. That said, it's a respectable alternative to tastiness if you're avoiding sugar, animal fats, gluten, cholesterol, dairy, wheat, artificial colors, flavors, and preservatives. In short, Mrs. May's Almond Crunch is a "healthy" treat.
I sought refuge in these sweetly coated almond clusters when I was cutting down on sugar for a week and was so grateful for their healthy existence. Mrs. May's Naturals are definitely the kind of "treats" my future children will be getting someday! HA ;)
For more info on Mrs. May's Naturals and her other great snacks, click here.
WOW. This was a Delicious cupcake. I purchased my Cheesecake Factory cupcake at a Starbucks of all places, and had relatively low expectations. But mmmm, this little red velvet cupcake pulled all the punches. Fresh, rich, fluffy, moist, great flavor, great ratios... overall, just a Really great cupcake! I definitely recommend :)
I just came home to the most amazing amazingness awaiting me in a Fed-Ex box. I opened the lovely package from Paula LeDuc Fine Catering, one of the companies I interviewed for my wedding, and discovered her home-made "Caramelitas."
Caramelitas, if you were wondering, are described as "oatmeal and brown sugar crust topped with almonds, chocolate chips, and caramel." In short.. Heaven.
Since I inhaled almost every single bar already, I must award these treats the Golden Cherry. Woo, Paula LeDuc Catering.. you are now in the lead! (Anyone else care to challenge? Ha ;)
For more information on Paula LeDuc Fine Catering in N.Cal, click here.
The last two years at the Coachella Music Festival I've had the pleasure of stumbling upon the organic and vegan dessert booth by Luscious.
Their cupcakes are both delicious and relatively "healthy" as they use the finest ingredients with no hydrogenation, refined sugars or bleached flours. Normally, this would raise an eyebrow for me, but truly, I don't even miss it in these delectable treats.
The cupcakes are delicious, but a little on the dense side, so a few bites go along way and are great to share with a friend (then again, I might have been full to start off with too much pizza and beer.. hey, it was a rock festival ;)
Kudos to Luscious for desserts that are both delicious and organic & vegan!
For more info on Luscious and their other yummy looking baked goods, click here.
Pudding is definitely the wimpy younger sister to its greater sibling ice-cream. That said, pudding can be a soothing delight, especially when it's quality stuff.
Kozy Shack does pudding best. With all natural ingredients, they dominate in every arena, covering rice, tapioca, flan, chocolate, and even soy and sugar-free options. I especially enjoy getting the single serving sizes to help with portion control.
Mmmm, 5 Cherries to Kozy Shack for all around excellence!
For more info on Kozy Shack, click here.
While the famous Doughboys Cafe and Bakery in West Hollywood closed down for rumored reasons too naughty to share on my blog, I was happy to see it recently re-opened under new ownership and management in its freshly redone venue. Oprah, after all, did love their red velvet cake.
While you might think I had to try Oprah's pic, everyone around me insisted that the Hummingbird Cake, a banana-bread/carrot cake combo with cream cheese frosting, was even better. Clearly, I had to try the Hummingbird cake!
Eh. It had clearly been in the fridge, which made it cool, dense, and a bit dry. I felt robbed of a fresh experience. The flavors were mild and the cake super chunky with it's generous serving of walnuts. It was tasty enough for me to demolish it, but nothing to write home about. Oprah always did prefer savory foods to sweets. What does she know? ;)
For more info on Doughboys, which does have Delicious food, click here.
Photo courtesy of Diana from her blog Diana Takes a Bite. Thank you!
Summertime's around the corner and that means both ice-cream and bikini season. Yikes! What's a girl who can't stop herself from eating a whole pint of ice-cream at once to do?! Why, portion control of course. I choose to do mine the in the form of of bon bons (like these amazing ones from Choco) or Mochi balls.
Mochi is a mild but sweet, gummy Japanese rice treat that envelops scoops of ice-cream in a nice, easy-to-eat-with-your-hands kinda way. The Mochi from Mikaway (which I bought in the freezer section of Whole Foods) are delicious and at only 90 cals, and 2.5 grams of fat per ball, not too detrimental to your tush this swimsuit season. Woo!
For more info on Mikaway Mochi, click here.
Love free samples at Whole Foods! Without them, I'm not sure I would have discovered these beyond-delicious, all natural, Peanut Butter Brownies by the Dancing Deer Baking Company! These dark fudge brownies lay beneath a drizzle of peanut butter and have roasted, salted peanuts mixed throughout the batter to give it the perfect sweet-and-salty combo that makes the best treats addictive and crave-worthy. Mmmmmmmm, an easy 5 Cherries!~~
For more info on the Dancing Deer Baking Co., click here.
I'm not sure we needed this study to reveal that eating ice-cream indeed makes us happier, but there we have it, scientific Proof! Perhaps this is why I'm always smiling. I used to eat ice-cream everyday of my life (though, I've since switched to chocolate.. for the antioxidants, of course ;).
There really isn't such a thing as bad ice-cream to me. By virtue of being ice-cream, you're already my favorite dessert. That said, there's no denying the varying degrees of quality out there and I think we all know Haagen-Dazs ranks top notch.
By law, a company is allowed to whip 50% air into their ice-cream. Haagen-Dazs, however, whips very little air into their rich product, which results in a more concentrated and dense experience. Sometimes I crave this decadence while other times I yearn for a lighter, fluffier affair.
I'm awarding 5 cherries to Haagen-Dazs new FIVE line, not only for their years in excellence, but also, for creating a product that has five, simple, and natural ingredients. I love being able to pronounce everything that I put into my body!
If you're anything like me, you went through a MASSIVE frozen yogurt phase (also known known as Fro-yo). In fact, one of my daily highlights in school was discovering what new flavors the cafeteria was serving.. Ha!
I've since discarded the soft stuff in exchange for real ice-cream. However, there is one frozen yogurt joint that still makes my eyes sparkle. This magical haven is Yogurtland, a fro-yo chain that not only has the most delicious frozen yogurt EVER, but also features 16 flavors at a time that you get to self-serve, as well as an incredible array of toppings that (wait for it.. ) you get to SELF SERVE! (How much do we love self-serving? We love it.. a lot)
With fat and sugar-free options for yogurt and healthy fruit and nut toppings avail, you can make this stop as "healthy" or as naughty as you like (But! if you're like me.. you walk out with 8 different flavors packed in a cup, standing at a foot tall. Heh heh, what can I say, I'm the Dessert Darling!).
Yogurtland wins the coveted Golden Cherry for best frozen yogurt stop, hands down!
For more info on Yogurtland and a location near you, click here.
Hi fellow sweet-teeth! I'm so sorry for my little hiatus. I actually had a mini medical scare for which I was advised to cut down on sugar (GASP). The good news is, my tests came back to reveal that I am A-OK ((sigh of relief)).
During my sugar-free week, I discovered some healthy alternatives that helped scratch the sugar itch as well as gained compassion for those who cannot or do not eat desserts for medical reasons. While I wanted Dessert Darling to be a Guilt-Free zone that ignored calories and fat, I understand there's a need for people to find sweet endings that won't wreak havoc on their bodies too.
So, introducing my new "Healthy" category. I put "Healthy" in quotes because what's healthy to some is not to others. Personally, I hate artificial sugar, but if you're a diabetic, you might indulge in sugar-free pudding. And if you're avoiding fat, your zero-fat yogurt might be loaded with sugar. So for now, "healthy" will encompass everything that's altered to satisfy various dietary needs.
Thanks for checking in during my absence!!! Now let the reviews resume! xo
