Party – All Things Gourmet

The Doctor Is In… With Mousse!

This post is about two things: Dr. Oetker Mousse stuffed into Kane Candy Party Cups! Well, maybe three… It’s National Mousse Day (thanks again to Foodimentary.com)! Time to make ourselves an extravagant and simple treat to celebrate! And since the holidays are upon us, I thought it would be a great day and special way to perhaps show what we can do with some of these products to make our holiday season more festive! And maybe it’s actually about a fourth thing… I do think a doctor also needs to help ME with my decorating skills, at least my holiday decorating skills! As you’ll see in this post, I had high hopes, but I had a great attempt!

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Who doesn’t love a good chocolate mousse and who doesn’t love a chocolate candy cup? Put the two together and it’s a party in your mouth! Party, party my people! My youngest helped me prepare the mousse, which is super simple and easy! Just add one cup of cold milk to the Dr. Oetker mix and blend away with an electric mixer for about 3-5 minutes. I find the best way to fill the Kane Candy Cups is to just fill a pastry bag with the mousse and then fill from there. I also leave the Kane Candy Cups in their tray they were packaged in, it helps to keep everything secure while trying to add the filling!

What’s perfect about this combination is that the mousse is four servings and you get four cups. Perfect! So fill those chocolate cups to the top and decorate! This treat took less than ten minutes to pull together, so if you find yourself in a rush to make something, put two and two together and you’ve four! Four servings of chocolate bliss! And what’s even cool about the Kane Candy Cups is that this particular package, the Dark Chocolate Party Cups, come with chocolate shavings included – so if you were last minute on prepping the dessert to begin with, they’ve also got you covered in the decorating area as well! What a bonus!

My best work came by just using the shavings that came with the package:

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And if you want to see my holiday attempt, here you go! I tried to do a reindeer, but it looks like a sad form of bunny rabbit. I think I will need to use the mini-sized candy canes. The larger ones I think are too bulky, heavy and large for this size cup! So here we go, and feel free to laugh at my reindeer attempt, because I did!

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If you find yourself making a fun dessert or treat with Kane Candy Cups or with Dr. Oetker, share your photos and recipes with us! Share here in WordPress or feel free to drop us a photo in Facebook, or tag us in Instagram, or Twitter… post in Pinterest or wherever! We want to see what other people are creating around the world!

And by the way, just in case you were wondering… how did it taste? DELICIOUS! Nom nom nom! I am ashamed to say I had one for breakfast!! Well, no, I should say I ENJOYED one for breakfast as I celebrated NATIONAL MOUSSE DAY!! 🙂

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Something to Warm You Up.

Baby it’s cold outside! Well, it’s trying to get cold outside here in Michigan! Slowly, but soon, we hope to see some more snow flying around! The weather here is erratic at best, from windy rain storms, to some bursts of random snow, to warm temperatures reminding us of spring time. Just give it five minutes and the weather will change! The expected high temperature today is 57° F on this November day! Say whaaaat?!

To keep us warm and toasty (or at least to get us in the mindset of a wintery scene), I found this cranberry-orange punch from Gerstacker. You simply warm it up and enjoy! Perfect for enjoying some nice gingerbread, pastries, stollen and other treats this holiday season and it comes alcohol-free! Best when served at 58-62° C (or 136-143° F), this fruity punch will warm you and your guests up in a jiffy!

When you first open the bottle, you get that cranberry scent followed by what smells like fresh orange juice. Carefully warm up the punch on the stove top, keep mind that you don’t want to cook it, you just want to warm it up. If you’re in a hurry, I suppose quickly putting it in the microwave would be okay, just don’t let it go too long. Preferably, you want to gently warm this on the stove. There is a lot of flavor in this punch – from the cranberry to the orange for its fruity base, there are spices that are blended in that soothe the taste buds as you enjoy a sip! It has a hint of sweetness and then at times there is an underlying hint of herbal tea. It sounds weird, but it tastes great!

If you have a winter get-together or holiday party, be sure to have this handy. Your guests will enjoy this beverage, and best of all, even the youngsters can enjoy this as it is non-alcoholic. Seriously, grab a warm cup of this Gerstacker punch and get some gingerbread! Or maybe stollen. Or maybe both. Yeah, both. Your taste buds will thank you! Well, they should thank me, since I gave you the idea! Eh…! I know, I’m lame. Nibble, nibble!

A Little Taste of Denmark.

It’s the holiday season. We have now celebrated Thanksgiving here in the United States and now we are on to all the holidays that await us in December. With the holiday season also comes the holiday party season. Some parties you may need to bring an item to pass, or something to exchange or maybe you just want to bring something along to gift your host. What do you bring? The possibilities are endless, and I can suggest one for you!

Why not bring a tin of delicious butter cookies? You can’t go wrong with butter cookies! Kids and adults enjoy a quick bite of a little butter cookie if you pass it before them! How do I know? I did just this exact thing the other day as I was thinking about writing this post! As I was visiting my brother and the rest of my family out on some wooded property in West Michigan, I brought along a Jacobsens cookie tin. Getting in the festive mood of the season, I had the cute Santa tin along with me.

Out of 11 people comprising of 2 children and 9 adults, I passed around the cookie tin and personally offered a treat. Out of how many people do you think passed on a cookie? NONE. Every. Single. Person… took a Danish butter cookie that was offered to them! You can’t say no to a butter cookie! (And then after you have one, you’ll want to eat another! And then more!)

Jacobsens of Denmark is known world-wide for their butter and chocolate chip cookies. They are light and baked perfectly, and I have to admit, they do seem to “melt” in your mouth when you take a bite! I can never just have one!

These butter cookies, as a lot of the products I feature here, bring me back to my childhood. Along with some other cookies featured here, these Danish butter cookies were always a staple at my grandparents house growing up. I even recall my grandmother using a cleaned out, empty tin for some of her crochet and other sewing supplies! It came in handy for additional storage after the cookies were gone!

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So there you have it! You can have your cookie and then use your tin, too! Some of the Jacobsen’s holiday tins you could reuse to fill other holiday baked treats and items. You could also use it for storing holiday cards and keepsakes! A perfect holiday cookie tin you can bring to share, exchange, or gift! Give the taste of Denmark as a gift to someone you care about this holiday season! Perfect with a nice cup of tea, coffee or hot cocoa!

Star Light, Star Bright, It’s Pasta Night!

Today I present to you Bechtle Christmas Pasta! It’s fun for the whole family because it has different colored pasta shapes of Christmas cheer! Who wouldn’t enjoy eating pasta with the shapes of St. Nicholas, a Christmas Tree and a Shooting Star!? My kids of course, loved this pasta. My oldest said to me, “It’s deliciously awesome!” and the youngest, “This is the ‘bestest’ pasta ever!” I haven’t seen my oldest suck down pasta so fast than he did when I put these fun shapes in front of him! And guess what? Yes… these are made with some wholesome ingredients! This pasta is made with durum wheat semolina and seasoned with tomato and spinach powders.

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Back the train up you say? What is durum wheat semolina? Take a look at this:

Durum wheat is a subspecies of T. turgidum. Durum in Latin means “hard”. Durum wheat is the hardest of all wheats. Durum kernels are amber-colored and larger than those other wheat classes. When durum wheat is milled, its endosperm is ground up into a product called semolina. The hard grain of durum wheat is more likely to shatter into coarse fragments and offer a high semolina yield on milling when compared to other wheat types. The durum wheat is milled to remove the bran and germ, leaving the rich yellow endosperm granules called semolina. The semolina, high in strong gluten protein, offering a bright clean yellow color is used to make premium pasta, bulgur, couscous and a range of other traditional products. Source: www.appreciategoods.com

This may have been a little more information that what you wanted to know, but it’s good to learn about the food you eat and how it’s made! Take a look at the ingredient list – short, sweet, and simple. Exactly how it should be!

Some of the healthy benefits of durum what are: it can help with a balanced diet with its dietary fiber content, vitamins and minerals, is low in sodium and cholesterol. You get a boost of vitamin B-complex with durum wheat, specifically, folate and thiamine. Thiamin helps maintain the nervous system and your brain, while folate aids in the regeneration of red blood cells in our bodies. Products are made from durum flour can help with weight loss. The durum flour is digested slowly in the body, therefore you may feel more full for a longer period of time, preventing you from overindulging. The soluble fiber found in durum wheat also helps with slowing the digestion process, thus keeping your digestive system healthy. While there are a range of health benefits from consuming durum wheat, it does have a high gluten content, so it is not a wise choice for those who have celiac diseases, gluten sensitivity or have wheat allergies. (Data obtained from www.appreciategoods.com)

This pasta is packed in the perfect sized package that would be great for a stocking stuffer or placed inside a beautifully crafted food gift basket! If you are having guests over for a meal, why not add some color and shapes to your favorite pasta dish or pasta salad? The pasta is delicious and has been kid tested and approved!

Not Your Everyday Cookie.

Do you enjoy a tasty treat while enjoying your morning coffee or afternoon tea? Do you want a different cookie that is not like the rest? Look no further because Ambrosiana cookies are coming your way in this very post! These cookies are all the way from Italy and are GMO free! Ambrosiana also has a variety of holiday selections, perfect for your party planning! Check out the different varieties available for your holiday party below!

These cookies sure are beautiful in presentation, but how do they taste? Keep reading as we’ve got several different reviews! One from a local salon and one from yours truly and my handy cookie helper!

We thought we would ask local Rosie Bella Hair Salon to switch out their regular cookies for some of Ambrosiana’s to see which cookies they liked better. We heard that immediately upon replacing the original cookies, the Amborsiana cookies were an instant hit! Delivered to the salon were Ambrosiana’s Ferri Di Cavallo Shortbread with Dark Chocolate and Fior Di Neve Chocolate Hazelnut Cream Shortbread. When pressed for a favorite, we were told, “We really can’t choose… but if our hair depended on it, we’d say the shortbread Cavallo for dipping into coffee, and the hazelnut filled Fior di Neve for… 24/7.” Thank you Rosie Bella Hair Salon for letting us share our cookies with your customers!

Ambrosiana Ferri Di Cavallo Shortbread with Dark Chocolate.

Ambrosiana cookies on display at Rosie Bella Hair Salon.

Ambrosiana Fior Di Neve Chocolate Hazelnut Cream Shortbread.

I decided to pick up three different boxes of Ambrosiana cookies at Kingma’s Market in Ada. As always, I had my little handy taste testing helper along with me as I dove into the set of cookies. The three different kind of cookies that were tasted: Ferri Di Cavallo Shortbread with Dark Chocolate, Pralinati Hazelnut Cream Shortbread and Fior Di Neve Chocolate Hazelnut Cream Shortbread.

If you are looking for a cute little cookie to dip in coffee or tea, I suggest the Ambrosiana Ferri Di Cavallo Shortbread with Dark Chocolate. These cute little horseshoe-shaped cookies are the perfect bite size for a hot morning or afternoon beverage. Just enough chocolate to pair with the shortbread makes this cookie a tasty treat.

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If you are a fan of nuts, chocolate, hazelnut and shortbread, then the Ambrosiana Pralinati Hazelnut Cream Shortbread is for you. I think this was by far my favorite cookie of the three. I really like the creamy hazelnut center, plus having the chocolate covered shortbread with nuts gives it a nice little crunch!

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I think my youngest offspring had said that his favorite was the Ambrosiana Fior Di Neve Chocolate Hazelnut Cream Shortbread cookie. While I do have to admit the box shows more powdered sugar on the top of the cookie than what actually came from the box, it works well with young children! My youngest loved this cookie and kept asking for more! This cute shortbread cookie has hazelnut cream filling inside and then is coated by powdered sugar to top off a sweet little zing.

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So what are you waiting for? Go get yourself several boxes of these cookies, brew some coffee or steep some tea and get munching on these delicious treats! It’s time for YOU to get out there and NIBBLE on these cookies!

Treats, Not Tricks, Up Our Sleeve!

Are you dressing up for the occasion? Are you tricking or are you treating? What are some of your favorite Halloween pastimes or favorite treats? What do I remember from growing up that I loved… let’s see. I used to get dressed up with both of my brothers and we’d stop over at our grandparents house and quick stop in and see them and then we’d head home and trick or treat in our neighborhood. We eventually moved to a very busy street with no real trick or treating adventures to be had, so as we made friends at our new house, we ended up trick or treating in their neighborhoods. I can recall several good Halloween parties growing up and staying out late and bringing home a pillowcase filled with candy! Oh the memories, and ooooh the sore bellyaches I had days after Halloween!

Now to this day, my own kids trick or treat in the same general area as my husband I did when we grew up. I can tell you, it’s been either super windy, wet, cold or a combination of all of those elements together each year we take the kids out trick or treating! I think I have more fun dressing up in my usual Gumby costume, which makes the adults have a laugh and the youngsters wondering what the heck I am! And as you continue reading, and browse through the images here – you can see I had waaaaay too much fun playing with candy!

In an earlier blog post, our Vice President, Monica, stopped off at Riegelein in Cadolzburg, Germany. We were able to view some awesome Christmas displays, as well as, some of their more popular novelty varieties. Since it *is* Halloween, we thought we’d share with you some of their Halloween collection! They are super cute, yet very super spooky at the same time!

Some of these are solid mini chocolates, some are hollow and some are eyeballs filled with milkcream! They are the perfect size and the perfect treat for any of those ghosts and goblins that may show up at your door! We hope you have a safe and happy Halloween! If you are going out, please be sure to dress appropriately and make sure you are visible to other vehicles and people! Trick or Nibble!

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Dreamy Chocolate Cone Treats from Italy.

Looking for a tasty chocolate treat wrapped up in the cutest cone package? Look no further because we have it here for you! I was recently introduced to these delicious little cones not long ago and I have fallen in love with them! Messori, from Italy, makes these chocolate creations. They have many different innovative chocolate treats and today it’s the Messori Cono Snack that we are sharing with you!

What is this Cono Snack and what’s inside it? The Cono Snacks come in three flavors: Hazelnut, Caramel Milk and Choco Parties. Today we have the hazelnut Cono Snack for you to check out. This cone is ALL chocolate, perfect for any chocolate lover!

Once unwrapped, you’ll find a puffed rice on top.

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Take your first bite and you’re chewing on some fine Italian hazelnut cream.

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Under that hazelnut creamy chocolate you will find some premium dark chocolate.

Cross section of the Messori Hazelnut Cono Snack.

And how does the cone taste? So crunchy and perfect! It’s the perfect Belgian wafer cone to go along with this mix of hazelnut cream and dark chocolate! YUM! There is chocolate literally ALL THE WAY THROUGH the whole entire cone – with the very bottom of the cone being filled with chocolate as well!

The hazelnut cream is very smooth the puffed rice is a great compliment to that flavor. The Belgian cone is perfectly made and has the perfect crunch. Don’t believe me? Go try one for yourself! You will love this chocolate party in a cone! These are great for parties and holiday celebrations! The Messori Cono Snacks are on my list of treats that I approve for my family as it is GMO free, has no artificial coloring or dyes, free of artificial sweeteners and preservatives and more. Check out Messori’s quality information for more about their quality standards.

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If you find yourself snacking on this treat, please do let us know what you think! I, for one, can vouch that these are super dreamy! Nibble, nibble!

Who Wants Meatballs?

Who doesn’t love meatballs? I cooked up this recipe last night to share with you – and it’s not your average recipe! And not your average ingredients! I used Hela Curry Spice Ketchup (Original) to flavor up the meatballs from a recipe that they had posted on their website. I have to say, I was a little nervous pulling this meal together, but I am so glad I did and so glad I tried something different! And you know what, it’s pretty darn good! I would definitely make this dish again and I’d save it in my recipe box! It is a really easy meal to pull together, if you have someone help you out in the kitchen, like I did, the meal comes together quite quickly.

The prep for this wasn’t too terrible, and since the website from Hela lists the ingredient measurements in metric, I am loosely converting what I used to pull this meal together! Feel free to look at the original recipe here on the Hela website if you’d like to convert your own measurements! And in some instances, there wasn’t any type of measurement provided, so I ad-libbed!

Meatballs

Ingredients:

1 pound ground beef
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg (roughly!)
1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt (roughly?)
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper (eyeball it..I pretty much did with the peppermill!)
1 large onion (original recipe calls for 2)
1 medium-sized apple
1 3/4 cup (14 ounces) Hela Curry Spice Ketchup Original (just shy of one whole bottle)
1/2 cup cream

Directions:

Mix meat with egg and spices, form little balls and fry in a pan.
Chop the onion(s) and the apple, fry in another pan.
Mix Hela Curry Spice Ketchup Original with cream, add meatballs and fried apple and onions
Heat for five to ten minutes.

Goes well with rice.

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What type of apple did I use? Well, to mix up my flavors, today I chose a Red Delicious apple. It turned out great! The recipe says it serves four people, which I could guess to be close. I have left overs and I am hoping that they gel together over night and taste delicious for me later when I need to eat! ENJOY! Nibble, nibble!

Travels Through and Near Nüremberg.

While I wished I was along to take these photos, the photos throughout this post for today come from Monica, our Vice President at Gourmet International. As our team was traveling to Germany for the Anuga trade show in Cologne, they also happened to stop at the Wicklein Store in Nüremberg and at Riegelein in nearby Cadolzburg.

Wicklein store front.

“Chocothek” at Riegelein.

From one of my earlier posts, we shared that the famous German gingerbread or traditional Lebkuchen, as it is called, made by Wicklein, has arrived to the warehouse for holiday orders. The team stopped into the “Die Lubküchnerei”, the Lebkuchen Bakery. Here, one can enjoy the scent of festive spices and the fresh aroma of coffee with a tasty pastry. If visiting, and you want to learn how to bake Lebkuchen, they offer workshops! How cool is that! You get to learn how to prepare and bake Lebkuchen, take them home with you and more! Check out the website for more information. It is something you would have to plan and book ahead of time, so be sure to sign up in advance!

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Another stop on their travels in Germany, the team stopped at Riegelein to check out the chocolate shop and watch chocolate makers performing their work at “Chocothek“. Riegelein is known all across Europe and across the globe for its German chocolate products. They make wonderful chocolate figurines for every holiday: Christmas, Easter, Valentine’s Day – even New Year’s Day – and MORE! Riegelein is a family-owned company, started by baker and confectionery master Hans Riegelein and his wife Gerda back in 1953. The company, in 1998, has now passed down to the reigns to Peter Riegelein, marking the second generation running the traditional family-owned company. I don’t know about you, but looking at all those figures on display in the photos below are making me crave some delectable chocolate!

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Growing up, I recall my mom buying Riegelein chocolates during the holidays, most notably, Christmas time. The Christmas figures are what I recall from my youth, being stuffed inside my stocking or maybe mom had (or even still does!) put a little tray of mini Santas or St. Nicholas’ out on Christmas Eve for us to nibble nibble on! And I am quite sure it was a Riegelein Advent Calendar that my brothers and I were always eager to open every day leading up to Christmas! Now, who thinks that next time I should tag along…? Nibble hint, nibble hint!? (Tee hee!)

It’s Game Day! What Are YOU Snacking On?

Well, today is the official day! It’s the big showdown between the Michigan State Spartans and the University of Michigan Wolverines! It’s on at 7:30 p.m. EST tonight, a late start for a game! But most likely, many of us in the state of Michigan will be up and wide awake watching the game until the brutal end!

So the question is, what are YOU snacking on today for the game, if you are watching? Or if you don’t watch football, what do you snack on while watching your favorite sport? Okay, maybe you don’t watch sports. What do you snack on?

Normally, I’d be sitting with a bowl of potato chips, my favorite local flavor beer, maybe a spread of cheese and crackers and whatever else I can find in the cupboards or fridge. But today, we are trying something new! Lorenz Snack-World has a whole variety of munchies to choose from: pretzels, chips, nuts and more! Today’s new treat of flavor to try today are Lorenz Curly Peanut Classic and Lorenz NicNac’s snacks.

These are not your traditional snacks, but that’s okay! Who wants to be traditional? The Curly snacks are really neat – they are puffy and made from ground peanuts. It’s far better than your regular traditional choice of cheese curls! And cheese curls these are not! These puffy treats are light, nutty in flavor and will go well with the rest of your snacking treats.

Lorenz Snack-World Curly Peanut Flavored Snacks.

The NicNac’s are not your traditional peanuts! They are crunchy on the outside and crunchy with peanut on the inside! The outer shell does have a flavor profile to it – it is hard to describe, but it’s tasty! Reading from the ingredients off the package, it mentions onion powder and “smoke flavouring”, which is what I am tasting. They are yummy! Different than your regular plain dry roasted peanuts or other nut mix you would normally have on hand when entertaining.

Lorenz Snack-World NicNac’s.

If you are looking for something new to have on hand while entertaining, tailgating or just to snack on, these Lorenz Snack-World products are right up your alley! You will be pleasantly surprised at how addicting they can be! I keep finding myself getting up from the desk and keyboard to grab a handful of both in the kitchen as I type this up! I’ll have to go sit at the ice rink this evening for my oldest son’s hockey practice, I will be brining some of these along with me to share with some of the other hockey parents! Practice goes into the start of tonight’s big football game, but luckily we will only miss the first half hour or so of the game! And… this Gourmet Guru is going to say NIBBLE, NIBBLE and…

GO GREEN!! (Michigan State is *MY* alma mater!)