Ice Cream Sandwiches

After eating lunch at The Meatball Shop, we ordered four Ice Cream Sandwiches so we could try all the combinations of cookie and ice cream flavors. There was Chocolate Chip with Mint Ice Cream, Chocolate Chip with Vanilla Ice Cream, Peanut Butter with Chocolate Ice Cream, and Chocolate Fudge with Oatmeal Ice Cream (this was my favorite!). They were all so great, and it was fun to be able to mix and match your picks!

Chocolate Pears

Another gift box that I took from my Father was this set of Pear Chocolates from Harry & David. They are best known for their fresh pears, so these chocolates perfectly represented their company. Each one is centered with a different filling, such as Pear Brandy, 5 Spices, Raspberry Creme.. They were all delicious.

Payard

Payard is one of the great French bakeries of New York City, and since they just opened a small cafe in the Plaza, I had to try something...This was a very decadent triple chocolate mousse. Despite the high price, it was one of the best things I've ever had. First of all, anything topped with a mini macaron has me sold, but the actual quality of all the chocolate layers were beyond amazing.


In the center of all the mousse was a thin caramel crisp, a mini cookie and an mini brownie. This brownie alone was incredible! It was all topped with a chocolate ganache. YUM.


One of the best things about the Holidays is gift baskets of food! My father received this as a gift, so clearly I needed to claim it as my own. I tried every flavor, which ranged from Cinnamon Ganache to Earl Grey to my favorite Praline... Can't go wrong with any of them!

Momofuku Truffles

When I saw a Momofuku bar opened uptown I had to try just a little taste of something.. These truffles were perfect!


They were very similar to my own Funfetti cake balls, but these were a little more crumbly, like coffee cake.

S'Mores Cupcakes

A friend brought these cupcakes over from Gotta Have S'More and they were such an unusual treat!


The cake part is made of graham crackers, the consistency is very much like the bottom of a cheesecake - very crumbly. The base is dipped in some kinda of green candy melt, to hold it all together. In the middle of the cake is a layer of chocolate, much like a Hershey bar. And finally on the very top is a torched marshmallow. It was delicious. Plus, nothing beats Christmas decorations.. I ate that part too...

DeLuscious

I've been hearing a lot about these DeLuscious cookies, so I was glad when I was finally able to try one!


It is very similar to the Clementine chocolate chip, in the way they are both bendy, but this was thicker. It was pretty good.. There are so many more flavors I need to try!

Macaron Café

I think I can officially say French Macaron's are my favorite little treats, so when I stumbled upon the Macaron Café I was very excited.

It's a very small but adorable space, fully decorated in pink and white.

They had one of the largest varieties of macaron flavors I'd ever seen.

I loved all of their boxes and packaging, it's very girly, and their modernized Marie Antoinette is the perfect logo.

These macaron's are not as amazing as Ladurée's or even Paulettes, but they were great! I liked the raspberry a lot.

Yura's Mini Cupcake

I love mini cupcakes, because you can eat two! This one from Yura on the Upper East Side was really good. I actually liked the cake part better than the icing, which never happens. Chocolate, simple, good.

Nutella Pizza

After eating a real pizza at Olio in New York, I decided to order a second for dessert... This one, however, was filled with Nutella. It was so good! It was a lot of bread to eat, which is why I wish they used even more Nutella inside, but the sweet and savory combo was great. The vanilla gelato was definitely the best part - I usually don't swoon over vanilla, but this was seriously amazing.

Jean Philippe

The Jean Philippe Patisserie in The Aria Hotel was something out of a Food Network Challenge.


Not only was is a sight, but the desserts were amazing!


I bought Butterfinger sticks, which was a bread stick, covered in Butterfinger, covered in chocolate. They're wonderful.


They had a million things to chose from, and everything looked amazing...

Mix at THEhotel

Despite having eaten a ton at this very chic Vegas rooftop restaurant, we ordered the Chocolate/Praline Bush for dessert. It was beautiful!


The outer chocolate leaves contained salted caramel mousse and feuilletine praline that sat on a cookie bottom. It was insanely salty and sweet, almost overwhelming, but very good!


Of course after we ate the dessert we ordered, the chef sent us each a lemon Madeleine right off the baking pan with a cup of warm Nutella... Yum.

21 Choices

21 Choices was the best (and only) yogurt place in Claremont, so you can imagine I went there a lot in college. I love it because it is so unique. It's like a Coldstone for fro-yo!


First you pick your flavor... (Most of them already have a bunch of things mixed in to create the flavors of the day.)


Next you pick your toppings or mix-ins.


I chose the Snickerdoodle with Reeces Cups.


It was SO good!! The cinnamon and peanut butter combo was amazing. The only problem with this is that since it's not real ice cream, it's soft and therefore melts easily. So you have to eat it quickly - Ok by me!

The Farm's Brownie

The Farm of Beverly Hills is famous for this brownie, as it should be. It's truly one of the best brownies of all time!


I don't understand how they get the inside SO soft and moist and the outside SO crispy and flakey! It's a mystery... and it's amazing.

Cobra's & Matadors

Cobra's and Matadors is one of my favorite little restaurants in LA, but whenever I eat there I'm usually too full for dessert! This time we tried two:


These churros were incredible! My favorite of the two. They were super gooey inside and crispy on the cinnamon sugar coated outside. The chocolate dipping sauce however, took it to another level. I don't know what kind of dark chocolate this was, there was a spice in it, but it was unreal. I definitely didn't let a drop go to waste.


This french toast was also great. It's a little bready for a dessert, but the cinnamon sugar, along with the delicious whipped cream made it work. I enjoyed dipping this in the churro sauce.

Sandy's Cookies

This oatmeal chocolate chip cookie is my friend's mom's specialty. She sent us the dry ingredients from New York, so we baked them ourselves!


When hot right out of the oven, they are SO chocolately and gooey!

My Homemade Cake Pops

After having Sweet E's Cake Pop's I was so tempted to try to make my own! I followed Bakerella's recipe and although it was more time consuming than I thought it would be, it was such a fun process. They came out pretty sweet, but the Funfetti flavor still was potent enough under all that candy coating. They are really tasty and so cute!

Here's How You Make Them:

Bake a full cake, I used Pilsbury's Funfetti Mix.

Crumble the entire cake into a bowl and mix in 3/4 a container of frosting (I used the whole thing and think would be better with slightly less). It will turn into a dough like texture.

Roll the cake dough into balls with your hands and place on non stick paper.

Stick the lollipop stick into the ball and dip in the melted candy melts. This needs to be done quickly before the melts harden.

Place the dipped pops back on the non stick paper.

While the outer shell was still wet, I decorated them with candy pearls.

Any type of sprinkles will look good!

I individually wrapped each pop in a mini plastic bag tied with a bow. They make a great gift!