The Med & Brasserie 1010

I sat for 2 hours at The Med located at 1002 Walnut Street in Boulder Colorado staring at a tray of dessert (photo above) that was eyeing me through the whole dinner. After inhaling tapas, it was time to choose which dessert to devour for our girls night. We all decided on a Lemon Strawberry Cheesecake. It tasted like a fluffy lemon creamy cloud on top of a crunchy graham cracker crust. The side of strawberry sauce was good, but just a little bit too overwhelming for me, I could of done with out it personally. They got that big smile on my face when i noticed the tiny rod of white chocolate on the side of the plate! Oh my weakness for white chocolate! 

Time for dessert #2, and this one we got from Brasserie 1010 (literally across the street from The Med). We  picked up their Dacquoise, which was an almond meringue, pistachio butter cream, yogurt mousse & fresh strawberries. We took it to a friends place to give our belly a rest and get ready for this tantalizing dessert. It was Fan-f%#@ing-tastic! It was nutty, yet extremely light and refreshing! This dessert is most definitely one of those you dream about, then break down in tears when you realize you are snowed in or your car has broken down. 

His name is Jon Peot...

 I am warning you now world...DO NOT EAT DESSERT WITH THIS GUY. He will find the most tasty thing and drop it on the floor into a pile of cat fur. I give you all permission to add him on facebook, find him on the street or stand outside of his house with a picket sign and remind him that party fouls cannot be made involving dessert. You may drop beer or spaghetti, but NOT tasty goodness. He is a Violator and he will be prosecuted!!!

Agave Nectar Chocolate Nut Balls

Instead of the typical cake, cookie or sugar cane filled dessert, i decided to experiment with gluten-free, raw, and of course vegan baking. So here is a little somethin' i came up with. Its filled with protein and ingredients that you actually know where it came from, let alone pronounce!

In a food processor, grind up till in small pieces-

1 cup of nuts (3 different kinds; walnuts, pecans, almonds, etc)

1/2 cup pitted dates

Add in- 

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa

1/2 cup Agave Nectar

1/2 cup Almond Butter

1/2 tsp Pure Vanilla extract

1/4 tsp Salt

Mix well, then roll into balls, roll in coconut, and if desired drizzle with organic honey (unfortunately not vegan but so good), then Devour!

(Keep in freezer and pull one out anytime you get the craving!)

One Love <3

Living the Not So Sweet Life...

I would blame it on a taste bud malfunction or an over happy gag reflex, but I cant lie to myself, let alone all of you out there. I have found yet another, horrible bakery in the Denver Metro area. Pat came home with 3 paper bags, yes another place making you take home your desserts in a freaking paper bag,  from the  Lower Highlands bakery, Living The Sweet Life, located at 1535 Central Street. I hoped I was going to find at least something in the bags filled with $17.00 worth of sugar that didn't taste like sawdust, but I was wrong. 

We first tried the cookies, the sugar cookie in the shape of Michael Jackson's lips, was just extremely blah and this  disaster of a cookie tasted like plaster. The traditional chocolate chip cookie was better than the lips, but it tasted very similar to Otis Spunkmeyer cookies. If it was fresh out of the oven, and cooked by blind grandma, then i would say it was good, but I'm sad to say she didn't bake it. There was also a Mexican Wedding cookie, and growing up surrounded by Mexican bakeries in Carpinteria CA, i know what the best of the best taste like, but this cookie had me choking on the powdered sugar and foulness. 

Next was the Chocolate croissant, which again was a major Oops! The chocolate seemed to only be in one spot of the croissant so half of it had absolutely no chocolate and when you finally got some chocolate you almost passed out from chocolate overload. It tasted as if it had been sitting in the bakery since the morning, as it was crunchy and did have the fluffy airy texture as many croissants do and should have. 

The Cherry Brownie was up next, and seriously, how hard is it to screw up a brownie? The frosting was piled so high and tasted so artificial i almost vomited at first bite. (Oh, and please let me know where they grow hot pink cherries, thanks!)

Now was time for what they are "popular" for, according to the "space cadet" (quoted from Pat) sales girl, a Pecan Caramel Bar. And if this is what they are famous for, they must be related to the Octo-Mom, because this thing was wack! I think i might of lost two of my teeth trying to bite into this thing. 

Finally, and thank god, the last two things; Cake Balls. Frosting, cake and chocolate, where can you go wrong? Well, this bakery surely did these wrong! The Red Velvet was the worst, I don't know how they did it, but it tasted like corn bread!?!? The all chocolate one was just...well I don't know what to say, two of us didn't even come close to finishing these balls, and I'm leaving it at that!

One last thing, what cupcake shop doesn't have any freaking cupcakes to sell?!? Im done, DENIED!

Valentines Day Vegan Truffles

For Valentines Day, I made some mouthwatering Vegan Chocolate Truffles for  some of the most wonderful people in my life...

A box of traditional Chocolate Truffles....

...and some Rose Chocolate Truffles topped with a candied rose petal! 

Hope you all have a wonderful day filled with love & sugar!

One love <3

Katherine's French Bakery

            Katherine’s French Bakery is a European style bakery/café with two Denver locations (one in Bonnie Brae and the other in Aurora) that both serve traditional French pastries, quiche, crepes, coffee and much more. The atmosphere of the bakery and what the pastry cases contained didn’t do much for me sight wise, but I decided to give them a chance anyways.I got a traditional Napoleon and aTogolais (I think this was what it was called) pastry that the sales girl recommended, which honestly, I have never heard of in my life.

The napoleon cream was pretty darn tasty, it tasted how a real French napoleon should taste, as many places think whipped cream will do just fine (note to self: IT DOESN’T!).The cream was not too sweet, while not being bland at all. But, the pastry puff pastry was soft and soggy, definitely not a crispy pastry dough like it should be.

The Togolais (I think) was a cookie like base topped with a thick chocolate cream dipped in ganache with coconut patted on the sides. The cookie tasted like a marzipan-based cookie covered with way too much chocolate. It was so rich I only took ONE BITE! I couldn’t take another without feeling sick, and let me tell you, I can handle my sugar extremely well, but this was just too much.

This bakery just didn’t do it for me, in looks or in taste. I would rather of spent the extra the money to fly to France and have a real French pastry then waste the time and calories on this place.