Heaven is a Gü

Long, long ago back when I was studying in London (for the second time), a little gift from above happened along my path. It was known as Gü and could be found in the refrigerated desserts aisle at Waitrose. Mmm.

While I had a meal plan Regents College, Alex lived in an apartment a few streets away and lived like a normal Londoner, going to the grocery store every day or two. There was this nice little Waitrose around the corner, down Marleybone High Street, that we would shop at. They have *the* most amazing Chicken Tikka Masala in the world at their deli, but that is a story for another time.

The British are big on their 'puds' aka 'puddings' aka desserts and they really did not let me down with these little treats. We kept seeing these and finally just had to try them out. I don't remember what variety we first got, but it was yummy... we then found the Cheeky Sauce Pots aka 'choco pots' and were hooked on those. I can't say how many nights we would sit in his little flat, eat Chicken Tikka Masala and have Gü's for dessert. It was even nicer than sitting in some fancy, expensive restaurant downtown London. Such fond memories!

Anyway, Alex recently taunted me because his step-father brought him a huge, huge bunch of Gü's back to Dhaka, and I was in mourning for the melty choco deliciousness while he got to enjoy as many as he wanted. So unfair, and he wouldn't ship us any!


However, there was a light that came on when Julie said she was off to England again... I demanded she bring me home some Gü! She was skeptical at first, since they need to be refrigerated... but she had developed a love for them as well, and finally gave in. While she was visiting, she apparently ate a bunch of them, and even got a Gü Chocolate Torte Cake for Easter! Boooo.


Sooooo... when she came back, she brought me a great treat, two Gü Chocolate Souffles. I was a little disappointed that they were not the Choco Pots, but apparently the Tesco she stopped at only had this kind.


So chocolate and delicious. Tasted like happy memories of my nearly-forgotten youth. There is still one in the freezer that I'm saving for a rainy day.


Just look at that! Apparently, Gü products might be available in the US now at select Shaws and Whole Foods... I've written to the company for locations and am still waiting to hear back from them. It's been a week... get on it people!

Chocolate Ninja

I don't know how this keeps happening... my Bobosaur is a NINJA. A chocolate ninja.

I was in the kitchen washing dishes earlier, and when I finished I realized Arin hadn't eaten anything (he wasn't hungry for breakfast), and I felt like a bad mommy so I grabbed a nutri-grain bar figuring at least he would have something in his stomach.

I walk into the living room to give him the tasty snack and was shocked to discover that my sweet boy, who had been playing so nice and quietly so I could clean up, had somehow snuck into the kitchen (the gate had been up all weekend to prevent him from getting Valentine's treats), grabbed a big box of turtle chocolates and snuck back into the living room stealthily, where he helped himself to a chocolate coma!



He just looked up at me with this glazed-over expression, and held up his hand for me to clean off! He was literally drunk off chocolate. You can see it in his face here, he was just laid out, barely able to suck the chocolate off his fingers. I think he only had one, but I guess they are strong... Oh, and of course he had spit out all the nuts all over himself and the floor. They get in the way of chocolate, you know.

So much for the Nutri-grain bar.

Valentine's Oreo Truffles

Instead of buying people chocolates this year I made some Oreo truffles, after seeing them on Bakerella's website. They looked SO good I had to make them. I kind of winged the recipe, and since I was crushing the cookies by hand ended up adding some heavy cream to make them easier to crush, which I wouldn't do again they came out kind of mushy.

Here is what I came up with after mushing up about 3/4 a package of Oreos, a big pour of heavy cream and four ounces of cream cheese with a potato masher. They're shiny because they're gooey and damp, just like you dipped your Oreo cookies in milk. Mmm, oreos and milk...


Then I melted various types of chocolate and had one heck of a time dipping and dripping, in the end they came out lumpy and messy but that makes them more fun to eat, right?

Arin loved them, as you can see he was the one eating these while I assembled the little festive boxes. He managed to snag two, the peanut butter one and a dark chocolate one.

I added some heavy cream to the dark chocolate and the peanut butter when I was melting them, so the coating is a bit mousse-like, which made them easier to 'frost' and more light and fluffy. The milk chocolate ones came out with a traditional hard-shell coating.

This is what Arin has looked like this for the past three days, I swear. No chocolate is safe.

And here is the updated Valentine's table with just SOME of our assorted goodies on it. Minus the strawberries which are chilling on the porch, and a bunch of delicious from-scractch chocolate cupcakes. Those cupcakes there are Julie's attempt to make red-velvet. :)

How's this for Romance

Everyone in my family had a nice Valentine's Day planned. Mom and Carl went down to the Cape, Julie and Lauren went down to stay in Provincetown, Arin ate a TON of chocolate, and me... well, this about sums it up:


I got to spend the day cleaning toilets, doing laundry, dusting icky stuff and finally, cooking a big dinner. And I had a monster pile of pots and pans waiting for me bright and early this morning. Oh well, at least there are tons of yummy treats hanging around the house for me to feel better with!

I did get to make some chocolate covered strawberries (still haven't been eaten, except for the two that 'didn't make it' through the fudge dipping ;) and some of Bakerella's Oreo Truffles.

Mine came out very... rustic looking? I added some heavy cream to my Oreo stuffing so they were a bit moister than I think they technically should be, so dipping them was a challenge. Oh, and I didn't use white chocolate, not a big fan. I dipped some in milk chocolate, some in semi-dark chocolate (the strawberry dip) and some in melted Reese's peanut butter chips. The peanut butter is VERY yum!