Taste Test - Wawa Cookie Dough Parfait

The last thing you probably need to get yourself started in the morning, or to go along with your salad at lunch is to get one of these calorie and sugar laden, decadent cookie dough parfaits from wawa. The good thing about that is I've done it so you don't have to, unless you really want to.

Buying this the cashier asked if I had already had one because they were selling but no one had come back for this, it was all first time trials. that leads me to think they did a great job coming up with and packaging this parfait to make it look ultra appealing. By itself the cookie dough was cool, slightly sweeter than I'd like it, especially being that you end up mixing it into a sweet chocolate pudding. The cookie dough could be a little 'sharper' so that there is some contrast.

The pudding fell a little flat as well. It wasn't a strong chocolate, but it was indeed creamy and milk chocolate smooth. It gets points for that but once it was mixed with the cookie dough, the chocolate chips don't really do anything and the entire parfait becomes just one note and boring. I like a lot of wawas products but this one didn't do it for me.




Rating: 1/5

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Taste Test - Steve's Southern Banana Pudding Ice Cream

So in continuing the warm weather treat trend, I saw this small premium looking container and flavor of ice cream and it caught my eye. Don't let anyone tell you packaging doesn't work! There were a couple of decent flavors but this southern banana pudding caught my eye. One thing is that several of the other varieties all have different sets of ingredients to be both environmentally responsible and friendly to a variety of different diets such as gluten free, non-soy, coconut milk based, etc.

This one I chose was one made with more traditional ingredients. Now these things are high quality and the taste is really clean and fresh. Ben and Jerry's is a little heavy, and haagen das is especially rich. Steve's is in another lane of it's own, taking off from the Ben and Jerry style I would think. I could see this company expanding with their niche being the types of ingredients that are more controlled for quality and freshness as well as variety.

Now this ice cream is off the chain. It might possibly be a little bit more banana flavor than some would like possibly, but not I. I mean it is banana pudding and when you make your bowl and dig in with your spoon you can get a good balance in most every bite. There is a great mix of the ingredients into the ice cream with not too high or low a ratio of ingredients. This is definitely a personal indulgence with a regular price of 7 bucks so if you try it, and like it , keep it a secret so that no one asks for some.

Rating: 5/5

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Taste Test - Edy's Snickerdoodle Custard

Summer is just around the corner and as such it is time for the ice cream companies to bring out the new stuff to get in your wallet as you grab something to cool down with. Custard is getting big as an off-shoot of the gelato craze of the last few years and as people are looking for more unique items for their taste buds.

So Edy's has several new flavors, of course vanilla is one, but to step outside we grabbed the Snickerdoodle variety which is a nice cinnamon flavored cream, but it isn't very strong, with snickerdoodle cookie pieces in ribbons through the dessert. The custard has a nice consistency and while it isn't as hard as some ice cream can normally be, it isn't a really soft custard either. It fits in a nice little space as far as consistency.

This is a simple, review, because honestly it's a premium style of ice cream. Very creamy and made with rich ingredients, the taste is on point and it is just what you would expect. The only beef might be with the size of the container because you don't get a whole lot. You won't be giving this to the kids at their birthday parties. This is for the close family and friends only.


Rating: 4/5

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Taste Test - The Cookie Dough Cafe - Cookie Dough

So I'm not sure where I saw this product at but I did and I had to go on their website and find out where I could get it and luckily Harris Teeter carries it in Maryland. Now people have asked why would I need to buy special cookie dough for eating, and one of the main reasons is a big warning that is normally on traditional cookie dough that tells you it is expressly not for eating raw. I'm pretty sure there are some other things in conventional store bought cookie dough you might not want to eat raw and a lot of people aren't going to make some expressly to eat, and apparently that is indeed a thing that people do.

It's not cheap, but it is pretty good, though you can tell something isn't quite there all of the way which is why you can't use this for baking. It is identical to any other cookie dough you're going to eat whether you make it yourself, by it from pillsbury, or get it in your ice cream. A good sweetness is in the dough as well as a little bit of salt to offset. This version I tried also had bits of Oreo cookies mixed in. Overall this is a cool little product and one that might be nice to eat with your ice cream as a treat to step things up a little bit.

Rating: 4.5/5

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Recipe Review - White Chocolate Mousse

So Valentine's day was around the corner and my wife doesn't care for chocolate covered strawberries unless it's white chocolate covered, and apparently it's ridiculously hard to get only those the week of valentine's day. I mean you can get them striped with regular chocolate or mixed with regular chocolate, but the simple white chocolate is a no-go for the most part. Even High end Wegman's at the godiva counter couldn't guarantee them so I had to improvise.

What I did was I had a recipe for chocolate mousse from Food Network Magazine All Access which I adapted using another recipe which I found in Sugar Rush: Master Tips, Techniques, and Recipes for Sweet Baking , which is a great book with a lot of good baking ideas. The mousse was really good and I topped it with some fresh strawberries which i topped with sugar and let sit for a while and a piece of puff pastry for texture. The recipe might be even better with a salted caramel perhaps, or a graham cracker layer to break up the texture, although the flavors with the berries and mousse are just perfect.

 First step was taking 9 ounces of white chocolate and melt it using the double boiler method. In my case I don't own a double boiler because using a bowl and a small pot works just fine.

 Melt the chocolate down until just melted and slightly above 95 degrees.

 Take 1.5 cups of heavy whipping cream and heat until just bubbled and warm then turn off. Mix into white chocolate a little bit at a time until completely mixed until it looks glossy.

 Take another 3/4 cup of heavy whipping cream and beat until it forms soft peaks. Once that is done, fold it into the white chocolate mixture carefully.

 Put into vessels and cool off in the fridge for at least 2 hours.

 While the mousse cools take out some puff pastry and follow the directions for it to allow it to thaw. Then use a cookie cutter or a knife and cut out your shapes and bake in the oven at 425 for about 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Slice some strawberries and sprinkle with sugar and put in the fridge until ready to put things together.

 Take some cut strawberries and puff pastry to top your mousse and serve. Enjoy.

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