I just had these for brunch yesterday.  They seem so easy to make and were absolutely delicious that I definitely plan to make them at home!   They would also be a great treat to make with kids!

Simply take store-bought cake doughnuts and lightly grill them until they are slightly charred and warmed through.  Sprinkle them generously with cinnamon sugar and serve with coffee immediately.

A new bakery recently opened near me which is making a name for itself by creating some really fun desserts! Their specialty as of late is donut-flavored soft serve, an array of different milks–like cereal milk, and milk-high layer cakes made with chocolate chips and bananas.  They seem to be taking all sweets American to a whole new level.

On my last visit, I sampled the “Jelly Donut” soft serve (tasted a little like a berry fruit roll-up) and the “Arnold Palmer” cake (appropriately named after the half tea/half lemonade beverage) which was made from layers of lemon and tea-flavored cake, lemon mascarpone, almonds and tea jelly.  After those two, I had to stop.  Unfortunately this meant that I had to pass up on the “Crack Pie” and the “Compost Cookies.”

I can only imagine what is in store for the future.  I’m hoping some really interesting takes on the brownie or rice krispie treats!

The month of may is National Hamburger Month.  While no one knows for certain the history behind National Hamburger Month, Krystal Burgers has launched www.nationalhamburgermonth.com and they are offering all sorts of prizes and give-aways for their Facebook and Twitter followers.  Then on May 27, The Offical Krystal Hamburger Day, there will be chances to win prizes during ”The Krystal Giveaway Show,” a live, interactive streaming video event.  Meantime, this month is all about the burger, so keep your eyes here for some interesting finds and information.   

I’m speechless…  Just click the link to see more wacky photos of  birds stealing ice cream.

How fun is this?!  Our eclectic Easter Basket had giant Cheetos tucked into the edible Easter Grass along with masses of chocolate and a cow that “poops” chocolate jelly beans.  The Giant Cheetos - about an inch-and-half around (those are regular cheetos asteroids alongside for perspective) - have a full-on buttery, cheesy taste and big crunch value.  Love ‘em!!

Now this is the way to eat and shop!  Lucky guy.  I wonder if I could get someone to push me around in a grocery cart?  I wonder if I could get in a grocery cart?  Hmmmm…

After reading Lorin’s blog entry on food bandages, I found myself purchasing a few boxes of those super cute cupcake bandages in the photo. This, of course, led to random internet searches for more cupcake stuff. The result: this photo of shark cupcakes, that seemed to have attacked a few life preserver cupcakes. Pretty cool, huh?!

 

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Picture 1 from 6: They even have milk chocolate sardines which are conveniently packed in a little tin box!

I just stumbled upon a candy shop in my neighborhood called The Sweet Life. It’s been in business for 25 years and carries every kind of candy imaginable! Of course they have the classics–Jawbreakers, Jelly Belly jelly beans and Pez. But what makes this shop really special is that they also have a wide variety of hard to-find-European treats, sugar-free candies, organic and kosher sweets. How sweet is that?!

Mardi Gras is just around the corner, so I thought I’d post my favorite king cake recipe. It’s a version I created while working at Emeril’s Delmonico in New Orleans.

King cake is very similar to coffee cake. In this recipe, I use a basic brioche dough that is rolled out, topped with cinnamon and brown sugar and rolled into a log before baking. The result is a cinnamon-swirled sweet bread that is iced and decorated with Mardi Gras colors.

Every year, we hosted a big Mardi Gras party at Emeril’s Delmonico and I baked dozens of these treats! If you are having a Mardi Gras party of your own, I suggest you try this recipe. It takes some time, but if you have a stand mixer, it’s not too difficult. And if you have a child who likes to bake, this is a great project to include them in!

Happy Mardi Gras!

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Molecular gastronomy, which is the popular description of food being manipulated by science instead of general cookery techniques, has recently become a very fashionable type of cuisine. Many restaurants that specialize in this type of food offer guests a dining experience more akin to theater, at a hefty price. However, some are using these methods of cooking and making them much more accessible. Just last night my friend’s 8-year old daughter introduced me to a new form of ice cream called “Dippin’ Dots.”

When she showed them to me in the freezer section of the local grocery store I thought, oh great, another wacky ploy to get kids to convince their parents to buy junk food. But, I was kind of intrigued by these candy-colored pebbles and convinced myself that I needed to buy them for the sake of new experiences…

Here’s my verdict: These little things are really cool! Although they do not substitute a good old-fashioned banana split, the banana split-flavored dots weren’t too bad! They were an assortment of banana, chocolate and strawberry ice cream beads, that went eaten, are incredibly cold and melt in a slow and peculiar way. I don’t really know how to describe the texture or mouth feel because it is so different than regular ice cream!

After visiting the “Dippin’ Dots” website, I found that in 1988 Curt Jones, a microbiologist invented this method of freezing ice cream. The process is called cryogenic encapsulation, and uses liquid nitrogen to instantly freeze into little beads. Pretty neat huh?!