How We Came to Know The Cadbury Flake

Cadbury Fake is one of the all time best British candy bars and this classic British chocolate bar has been a favourite in Britain for almost a century. From the first moment it was produced, Cadbury knew it would be a hit, and so much so they knew that they would have to keep its formulation a closely guarded secret, and so it remains to this day.

This delicious chocolate bar was first developed in 1920 and was founded by accident by an employee of Cadbury. This clever employee noticed that when excess from the moulds drained off, they fell off in a stream and created a folded flaking chocolate.

In 1930, every childs dream was realized, Cadbury began to produce boxes of loose half-length Flakes that were distributed to ice cream vendors across the UK. The premise was that the Flake could be placed at a 45-degree angle at the top of an ice-cream cone, and this would become known as the ’99 ice cream’. Although there have been many different claims as to where the name ’99’ originated, its origin is unknown, and some vendors now often refer to it incorrectly as the ’99 with Flake’.

“Only the crumbliest, flakiest chocolate, tastes like chocolate never tasted before.” Continue reading “How We Came to Know The Cadbury Flake”

Cheesecake Wedding Cakes

Cheesecake may automatically make us think about the Golden Girls or The Cheesecake Factory, but soon it may bring weddings to mind instead. Cheesecake wedding cakes have taken receptions by storm for a few reasons: allergies, fun and originality. Let’s look at each of these.

Food Allergies and Sensitivities

The first and maybe most important reason that many bridal couples are choosing cheesecakes is that food allergies and sensitivities are on the rise. Many people are now realizing that they are sensitive to gluten and sugar. Offering cheesecake at the wedding may help guests enjoy have their desert and eat it, too.

Gluten allergies and sensitivities are being diagnosed a lot more often than in the past. What does this mean to those wedding attendees who cannot eat gluten? Simply, those sensitive to or allergic to gluten should not or cannot eat wheat. Which means they cannot eat flour or cakes made with flour. Thankfully, cheesecakes can often be made without flour, and they can become the perfect solution to the cake conundrum at the wedding reception. Continue reading “Cheesecake Wedding Cakes”

Homemade Chocolate Chip Cookies – A Little History

There’s nothing that makes a person feel more at home than homemade chocolate chip cookies (CCC). It’s the kind of treat most kids grew up loving and it’s the kind of treat that most people consider as their comfort food.

The thought of homemade chocolate chip cookies almost always bring a smile to most people not only because of how good they taste but because of how it became a part of their growing up.

Most people look back at their childhood with fond memories whenever they get to take a bite out of homemade (CCC). They’re easy to make and for some reason mothers (and fathers) love baking them for their little kids, hence, people’s fondness for this delightful treat.

What many people don’t know about this delightful treat is that they were accidentally created by Ruth Graves Wakefield back in 1933. Ruth was the owner of the Toll House Inn, which was located in Whitman, Massachusetts. Continue reading “Homemade Chocolate Chip Cookies – A Little History”

Chocolate Decadence Cookie Recipe

I am always looking for easy and rich dessert recipes to try on my family. Baking is one of my favorite things to do, but I always like to keep it simple. The best part about chocolate decadence cookies are that they look elaborate, but they are a breeze to make. If chocolate is your indulgence, these cookies will do the trick. I am a chocolate lover myself and am always looking for a cookie recipe that combines chocolate and nuts. I find this combination to be my guilty pleasure and chocolate decadence cookies have quickly become my favorite dessert.

Great With Ice Cream

Not only do I love chocolate cookies, but I also enjoy pairing them with ice cream for a filling family dessert. These chocolate decadence cookies taste great with vanilla bean ice cream. I find that making homemade ice cream to pair with these cookies only makes for tastier treat. My kids can’t get enough of the rich chocolate taste of these cookies combined with the ice cream flavor. So instead of making brownies and ice cream, I opt for chocolate decadence cookies and ice cream. Continue reading “Chocolate Decadence Cookie Recipe”

Ice Cream Vs Gelato – What’s the Difference?

Some think that “gelato” is just the Italian term for what we Americans know as “ice cream”. While they are both frozen dairy desserts, there are enough differences between them to make a clear culinary distinction from one another. The differences mainly stem from the ingredients and processing methods.

Ingredients

Ice cream includes much more fat (or butterfat) than gelato. By lawful definition, ice cream includes a minimum of 10% fat, and can have up to 18%, defined by its higher cream content. Gelato recipes call for milk (low-fat to whole), and generally use little or no cream, making the fat content between 3% to 8%.

Egg yolks are used in higher quantity in gelato; more so in the custard based variety, such as chocolate or caramel flavors. Eggs aid in thickening the milk base for frozen desserts. Continue reading “Ice Cream Vs Gelato – What’s the Difference?”

We All Scream for Ice Cream

We may think of ice cream as a modern creation because it’s frozen, but ancient flavored ices date back to those inventive Chinese, who started eating their version as far back as 3000 B.C.

Originally it was snow or ice mixed with honey and perhaps a few berries. And once again, that adventurous explorer Marco Polo may get credit for bringing back the idea from China to his native Italy, where the royal court of the Medici family embraced it. These ices were the forerunner of our modern day Italian Ice, sorbet and sherbet. In 1553, Catherine de Medici married French king Henry II and introduced him to the frozen delight. It was a big hit at court, but like so many other specialties, ices were available only to the elite, and the masses were left out.

By the mid-seventeenth century, chefs were using dairy mixed with ice and called it “cream ice.” Lacking freezers, some Italian cooks had “runners” who were sent up into the mountains for snow, racing back with their precious cargo before it melted. The frozen concoction was reported to be a favorite of Julius Caesar and his buddies. A commoner had no chance of sampling the royal treat until the first known ice cream shop, Café Procope, was opened in Paris in the year 1660 by a Sicilian named Procopio. He added eggs and cream to his recipe, and the world’s love affair with this frozen treat began. Italians eventually created their own version and called it gelato. Continue reading “We All Scream for Ice Cream”

The Origins and History of Gin

Gin is a juniper berry-flavored grain spirit . The word is an English shortening of Genever, the Dutch word for juniper. The origins of Gin are rather murky. In the late 1580s a juniper-flavored spirit of some sort was found in Holland by British troops who were fighting against the Spanish in the Dutch War of Independence. They gratefully drank it to give them what they soon came to call “Dutch courage” in battle. The Dutch themselves were encouraged by their government to favor such grain spirits over imported wine and brandy by lack of excise taxes on such local drinks.

A clearer beginning was a few decades later in the 1600s when a Dr. Franciscus de la Boë in the university town of Leiden created a juniper and spice-flavored medicinal spirit that he promoted as a diuretic. Genever soon found favor across the English Channel; first as a medicine (Samuel Pepys wrote in 1660 of curing a case of “colic” with a dose of “strong water made with juniper”) and then as a beverage.

When the Dutch Protestant William of Orange and his English wife Mary became co-rulers of England after the “Glorious Revolution” drove James II from the throne, he moved to discourage the importation of brandy from the Catholic wine-making countries by setting high tariffs. As a replacement he promoted the production of grain spirits (“corn brandy” as it was known at the time) by abolishing taxes and licensing fees for the manufacture of such local products as Gin. History has shown that prohibition never works, but unfettered production of alcohol has its problems too. Continue reading “The Origins and History of Gin”

Do Not Try Killing Candida With Alcohol – What You Must Know

Many people have some how developed the idea that alcohol can kill Candida and yeast infections. This is probably due to it’s long time use to help ease pain and fight infection. However, killing Candida with alcohol will only cause you more problems, and this is why.

Candida is a fungus, and it lives in the large intestine of every person. The problem is when the fungus is able to grow uncontrolled and becomes a problem. The recent discovery and use of antibiotics and steroids in modern medicine has been the biggest cause for yeast infection and Candida problems. If you have ever taken either of the two, chances are that the Candida in your body has spread.

If you are thinking about killing Candida with alcohol, you may want to think twice. The fungus thrives and grows in your body when there is an abundance of yeast and sugar. These are the foods that it thrives on. This is why killing Candida with alcohol is not a good idea. The two biggest ingredients in any and all alcohol is sugar and yeast. Continue reading “Do Not Try Killing Candida With Alcohol – What You Must Know”

Yeast Free Alcohol – What Types of Alcoholic Beverages Are Yeast Free?

Yeast, for the majority of people, is a safe bacterium that is the major ingredient in an enormous amount of foods consumed everyday in America. Yeast leavens bread, curdles cottage cheese, and ferments wines, beers, and every other alcoholic drink. But for some people, medically prescribed diets limit all yeast consumption. This can be devastating to those who enjoy a bottle of beer or a glass of wine, as there does not appear to be yeast free alcohol.

So is there such a thing as yeast free alcohol?

All alcoholic beverages are fermented during the brewing process. This fermentation is what causes alcohol to be present in beers, wines, whiskeys, etc. In order for this fermentation to take place, yeast reacts with oxygen and alcohol is the product. This means that in order to have an alcoholic beverage, yeast must be present. Continue reading “Yeast Free Alcohol – What Types of Alcoholic Beverages Are Yeast Free?”

Alcohol’s Effect on Your Teeth and Gums

Alcohol, though enjoyable in a drunkard or even a connoisseur’s intoxicated state, is known to not only waste internal organs – but teeth as well. Alcohol is a napalm bomb of sugars, which, when metabolized by the saliva in the mouth, almost turns immediately into plaque. And situation gets worse because almost every drunkard forgets to brush his/her teeth after drinking a bottle full of spirits.

Gin, rummy, wine, vodka, whiskey, brandy and all sorts of alcoholic concoctions (and not to mention beer) have high concentrations of sugar. Sweet wines that have found their way into the mainstream liquor market are also taking center stage in being the primary cause of plaque and tooth decay on binging adolescents and adults. Sugar is the sole catalyst in defining sweet wine from dry wine.

Grapes and apples are two of the primary ingredients used in wine. Both of these fruits, when fermented, convert sugar into alcohol. Some of the fruit will not be fermented, turning some of the extract into residual sugar, which is another danger to teeth, even at a measly 1% to 3% content – meaning not even dry wine is completely free from sugar. Winemakers have also been deliberately adding sugar (sucrose) to wine to boost its alcoholic content. Continue reading “Alcohol’s Effect on Your Teeth and Gums”