My Gilt Taste Purchase

Hey...this week has already BEGUN & I'm super busy. Today I have a new assistant coming in, it's her first day, so I'll be busy training & getting her acquainted with all things MadeByGirl & Cocoa & Hearts, should be interesting! But, now let me tell you about a site I came across this past weekend.

Some of you may know I'm MAAAAAD for chocolate. Dark chocolate to be exact. I can't stand milk chocolate, it tastes annoyingly sweet & it's not even good for you!  Anyhow, I came across a site called Gilt Taste. It's a division of the popular site GILT, where you find all things fashion. I love fashion, but GILT Taste was impressive. My husband introduced me to the site - showing me these magical chocolate covered figs. I instantly fell in LOVE & wanted to purchase them!  So, I did. Talk about impulsive shopping. 
 
Ok, they weren't the CHEAPEST sweets around, I paid a total of $62 for 16 chocolate covered FIGS.

Have you ever had chocolate covered figs???????? Call me crazy, but it is chocolate & figs, 2 of my favorites! 

My husband COULDN'T believe I bought it... but I will bet he changes his mind when they finally get here & he has a taste. Ha! So, to explain more about GILT Taste, it's a site that sells artisanal food products ranging from meats to sweets, produce & even seafood! 
 
The interesting thing about Gilt TASTE is that the products are not easily found in any kind of grocery store & they're sold for cheaper that retail but they're only available for a limited time on their site! Cool huh?

 

I'd love to know....What's your fave chocolate?? Dark, White or Milk?? & have you ordered from Gilt Taste??

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Food: Cookie Hearts

Hello Friends!!! It is Lori and Michelle from pure2raw. 


Today we have a super easy and super tasty Valentines Day inspired dessert!  It can be made ahead of time too! And another great part about this chocolate dessert is that there is no baking required, so whipping these cookie stacks can be done easily!

 

This dessert is made out of cashews for the cookies and is layered with a creamy banana cocoa mousse. Perfect for those chocolate lovers at heart like us. And any amount of chocolate screams Valentine's Day right? These may look difficult to do but promise they are not. An exquisite looking healthy dessert that anyone can do! Just our kind of recipe! We pulled out our Valentine day heart cookie cutters and decided to use 3 different sizes to make a cookie stack. 

We love desserts with layers. What about you? Recipe: Cashew Banana Cocoa Mousse Triple Cookie Heart Stacks prep-time: about 10 minutes the amount of cookies it makes varies depending on what size cookie cutter you use.  

Cashew Cookie Ingredients:

• 1 cup cashew pieces
• 1/2 cup coconut flakes
• 1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup agave nectar (maple syrup or honey would be fine, or even a few pitted dates)

Directions: Place all your ingredients into food processor and pulse till combined. You want the batter to be holding together but without being to wet. 

 

 

Place cashew cookie batter onto a cutting board and roll out. We used a rolling pin. You can use your hands (great for kids) 

 

Once the cookie dough is rolled out grab your cookie cutters and start cutting into the shapes.

 

Set aside the cookies. And the hard part now is trying not to eat them all.

   

Now time to make your banana cocoa mousse for the filling. Banana Cocoa Mousse Ingredients:

• 2 medium bananas
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 3 tablespoons coconut oil
• splash vanilla

Directions: Place bananas, cocoa powder, coconut oil, and vanilla into a blender and blend till smooth. Pour filling into a bowl and let sit in fridge for 5 minutes to set. This makes it easier to use on cookies for layering. Once you have everything ready time to begin building the stacks. We got three stacks with a few extra cookies. 

 

Place one cookie down on the bottom and top with some mousse. Repeat layers till you get a stack of 3 cookies. With our cookie stacks we did 3 different sizes of hearts so we started with the large cookie heart on bottom followed by the medium size heart and then topped with the smaller heart.

 

We feel with the 3 different sizes really helped give this dessert more personality and depth. But if you only have one size cookie cutter that is totally fine too. The stacks will still look amazing!

 

After building all our stacks we placed them in fridge and let them set for a few minutes. This makes them a little easier to eat. 

 

We hope you all enjoyed our Valentine Day inspired dessert! Making these cookie stacks are a perfect way to show that special someone how much you love them. 

 Enjoy! Lori and Michelle

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Traveler Upgrade!

New Traveler in the shop, with a new upgrade. Hope you likes! :)

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A SWEET change of Pace.....

Sprinkles Cupcakes located in Beverly Hills, California has made a huge splash on the dessert scene. I have to tell you that I've tasted some of their little cupcakes and they are the best I've had! The carrot cake and the dark chocolate are my faves!! Super soft and so moist! I recommend anyone visiting CA. to stop by and grab one or two or 3! Its too bad they don't deliver to Vegas, however there will be a Sprinkles shop here soon! The packaging is so pretty & colorful, love it. Happy Mom's Day.

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