Damn Good Cookies and (not so) Ugly Truffles
Product Review that Even Your Mother Would Love
Apr 22, 2009
First impressions, as Mom always said, count for a lot. Judging by these delicate treats, maybe we should have been listening more.
Hey Chubby Wubby! Messed up Mocha! Cookies with Attitude and kick*ss Names
Receiving requests for product reviews is often a mixed a bag. Sometimes you get a new product that is a delight to discover. Sometimes you have so much other work to do and let’s just say you’re not dying to write it up. Mom always said, if you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything at all.
Mom said not to use bad language, and not to call someone ugly. Well this changes a lot, Ma!
What is it with all the lessons from Mom you ask?
Names Mom Would Not Approve of, Cookies She’d Love
Mary Winslow bakes wedding cakes and recently branched out into cookies and truffles. Not just any cookies, nor any truffles. Perhaps it was her experience with Mothers of brides, but these confections all have pretty interesting names. They also come in a discrete brown cardboard box. Could be a sex toy, could be a cookie. Who would know?
Anyone with a nose would know. These boxes arrive. They are simply but nicely wrapped, and when you open the shipping box, then the mylar sac enveloping the two tiers, the smell of chocolate greets you like an old friend. A very rich, very welcome old friend.
The wave of chocolate scent washes over you as the unwrapping begins. The items are described both in the brochure and printed on the inside of the box. Weeks later the catalog holds the faintest scent and still, a few crumbs.
Part of the appeal of these cookies and truffles are the names, just a little sassy and maybe hinting at a Woody Allen script. "Maternal Macadamia" was crisp as a starched shirt but tasty, sprinkled lightly with sugar. "Precocious Peanut Butter" were crisp and crumbly. The white chocolate peanut butter cream was an unexpected treat.
Overprotective Pecan, Controlling Coconut, Save Your Appetite Apricot...it's food that's beautiful to look at, heavenly to inhale, and delicately tantalizing to eat.
Rugelach were uncharacteristically light and the fruit combinations were rich, not cloying. The toasted chopped nuts were a perfect foil to the rich chewy fruit and light cookie dough. Too often this sort of humble cookie is rendered with a cookie dough too thick and dry. Or a filling too sweet. These rugelach solved the two most common disappointments of these cookies.
Ugly Truffles
"Homely Hazelnut" truffle - very nice ratio of chocolate to hazelnut, quality of the chocolate was good. Dense in good way.
"Hairy Coconut" - Not hirsute at all, but toasty and creamy. White chocolate confections are often sneered at by chocolate purists. This creamy coconut ganache was enrobed in a crisp and high quality white chocolate shell and perfectly toasted flaked coconut.
Piece a few of these names together and you've got a party game:
First, Campy (think s'mores in a truffle - marshmallow, milk chocolate and smoke-infused graham cracker crumbs). Then it got Oozy Boozy Caramel, and Put your Clothes on Chocolate before the final: "Morning After Merlot" - Red Velvet Cake, merlot ganache surrounded by bittersweet chocolate. Cake crumbs provide a nice textural element to the truffle.
In fact, one of the stand-out features of Winslow's work is evident in both her cookies and her truffles. It is her attention to textures that elevates these treats above the crowd. A mother could kvell over these - they're that good.
Creamy, toasty, crisp, crunchy - all in perfect harmony and obviously chosen and executed with the experience of mouth-feel in mind.
Giftable Treats
For weddings, for corporate gifts, birthdays, Mother's Day...these delicacies would delight even the most hard to please Mother or Mother-in-law.
Remember, these are shipped the day they're baked so orders must be in by eleven. Click here for more info.
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