Popped Corn

Yes, I have a snacking problem.  Yes, popcorn is my ultimate vice.  No, I don't mean microwave popcorn (I basically hate it), or for the most part, movie theater popcorn (e.g. AMC Theaters, its just too fake tasting, and makes me feel awful afterward).  The popcorn I love is fresh kettle corn, the kind you get at the farmer's market or state fair (my favorite is from a tiny vendor in New Hampshire, Howl'n Good), or "gourmet" artisan small batch fresh popcorn merchants that make it in a variety of flavors.  In a real pinch, I'll try assorted grocery store brands (and if I have to go that route, Angie's Boomchickapop is my current acceptable solution).

My never ending quest for awesome popcorn in fun flavors lead me to Popped Corn, a brand based in Minnesota. 

"Here at PoppedCorn, we are passionate about bringing you high quality, locally made popcorn and fudge. We pride ourselves in having many unique and delicious flavors that are great for any occasion. Whether you are coming in for a snack or a gift, we want to make sure we put a smile on your face."

I haven't visited in person, but I was able to order online.  I focused on popcorn, both sweet and savory, although they have fudge too.  For just the popcorn, they have, I kid you not, 67 different flavors (!!!).  All flavors are available in 7 different sizes, ranging from mini (3 cups) up to party size (320 cups!).

I wasn't particularly impressed by the website, as it lacked most information I wanted.  Only a handful even had descriptions, even when flavors aren't entirely obvious, e.g. "Southwest Jalapeño" ... what's in that? Or what about "mac & cheese" ... how does that compare to the other cheese flavors?  There are no ingredients listed on the website for anything.  No nutritional info nor allergens either.  I still don't know, as the bags themselves didn't have any further info.

I had mixed feelings on my popcorn bounty.  The base popcorn itself was good: it was quite fresh, large size fluffy pieces, all well popped (no duds!), very well coated and seasoned.  I tried both sweet and savory offerings.  But most of the flavors I found to just be ... too much.  I'm all for strong flavors, I'm all for really well coated pieces, but most of these were hard to eat more than a few handfuls (of a single flavor) at a time.  As I'm someone who likes to eat popcorn in quantity, this cramped my style.  My solution of course was to mix and match flavors together, to balance each other out, but it did detract from my base enjoyment of this popcorn.

Savory

Since they make sooo many flavors, both sweet and savory, I won't enumerate your options here, but, they range from all your basics like salt, butter (two kinds, "Buttery" or "Movie Theatre Butter" ... no idea the difference, as again, no details provided), different types of cheese (orange cheddar, white cheddar, fiery cheddar, mac and cheese, etc), potato chip inspired flavors (salt & vinegar, bbq, sour cream & chive, etc) and then then fun ones like dill pickle (or hot pickle), pizza, and more.  There are also some blends.

I tried 10 (!) different savory flavors.  Most were good but not exceptional.  My biggest complaint is that a number of the flavors just didn't deliver the expected flavor, e.g. "spicy + hot" or "fiery" flavors were more like ... mild heat on the finish, and only if you ate a ton of it.  I wanted MORE flavor.  But the pieces were all well popped, well coated in seasoning, and the popcorn seemed quite fresh.

Also, just to note: after an initial taste test of all the flavors, I packaged up and vacuum sealed each of the bags (individually), and somehow my labels fell off, so I had no idea which was which.  As I opened each bag, it was an adventure of guessing which I had, based only on the taste and color.  I decided to make it extra fun by not looking up the list of flavors I had decided to order, to really see how well my blind taste testing would work, and only looked up the list afterwards as I tried to match them for this review.

Parmesan + Garlic.

This was the lightest of the flavors I tried.

It was still quite cheesy, but more on the normal realm of very cheesy popcorn, not as over the top nearly unbearable as the orange cheese flavors (read more below!).  My brain tasted what seemed more like white cheddar than the sharpness I associate with parmesan, but I can believe it was indeed parmesan.  The cheese level was good, very easily addicting. 

The garlic however was nearly absent. I maaaaybe could get a tiny bit on the finish if I tried really hard, but this really was just a cheese flavor with a touch more savoriness to it.  Which was fine, but if you are expecting some lovely garlic breath after it, you won't find it here.

This was most successful of the cheesy flavors in terms of actual enjoyment, and ability to down a whole bag in one sitting.  I'd get it again, even though it lacked the garlic. ****.

Southwest Jalapeño.

Now time for some spice.

I really wish they gave the ingredients, or at least a description for this one.  It was ... different, and I still can't pinpoint the flavors.  What is "Southwest" flavor anyway?

I don't think I really liked it though.  The jalapeño did give it a real kick, but there were a lot of other flavors going on.  Savory, zesty, but somewhat muddled?  Vaguely cheesy, but not actually cheesy.  Maybe like sour cream?  The pieces were extremely well coated in the seasoning, and it just was kinda too much.

I ended up mixing this with 1/3 plain sea salt popcorn + 1/3 caramel corn, and together with those elements to mute it (the former) and compliment it (the later) it worked, but as served, this was really **+ for me, and not a flavor I'd get again.

Hot Pickle.

My first of the many orange dusted flavors.  This is where things started to get a bit complicated.  I thought, from looks, that this would be a cheesy flavor, or perhaps bbq.  But the very first bite and I knew it was far, far more complex than that.  It was certainly a savory flavor, that veered in the direction of cheesy, but more like sour cream, or just some kind of creamy dairy component.  It also had a mild heat, not a jalapeño style with kick, but more subtle, that built with time.  And a bit of herbs on the finish, which were amplified by my visual inspection that had little flecks on the pieces.  

"Buffalo wings", was pretty much what came to mind, dipped in ranch or blue cheese.  But ... not quite.  It was a confusing flavor.  I believe that it was actually the hot pickle, although I didn't taste pickle exactly.  I'm not quite sure what expected hot pickle to taste like anwayy.

The pieces were well coated in the seasoning, and it really was quite rich.  I found myself wanting a sweet or plain component to balance it, like a Chicago mix with caramel corn balancing the cheese, or perhaps a kettle corn.  Overall, it was definitely a fascinating, and complex flavor, but I probably wouldn't get it again.  ***.

Southwest Hot Wing?

Next up, another orange one with little flecks of green, and another that looked like it would be cheesy, but I think wasn't.  I don't know which flavor it was, but I *think* it was the Southwest Hot Wing as it was dark orange, very well coated in powdered orange seasoning, with some little green flecks.  It had no real spice to it, but the green flecks were there. 

Was it the "Spicy + Hot Cheese" just not actually spicy? The "Fiery Cheddar" but not actually fiery?  But neither of those had the herb specs in my photos I took before diving in, so it couldn't be those.  It looked the most like the Southwest Hot Wing but ... I guess it just wasn't really hot?  I don't know.  It had to be one of those, and the only real flavor I could identify was cheesy.  Which makes me think it was likely fiery cheddar, just lacking fire?  Although again, it had herb flecks, and that one doesn't.

Regardless, it was good savory popcorn, cheese (?) level high, base popcorn quality high, and I enjoyed it (although like all the orange flavors, I wanted to cut with either plain or caramel corn ...).  ***+.

Sour Cream & Chives.

Next up, Sour Cream & Chives.

This one, much like the previous, had lots of little flecks of herbs.  It tasted herby, although not strong in the onion/chive flavor exactly.  This one, again, much like the previous, had a sorta creamy dairy component to it, which I had called "more like sour cream" with the previous flavor, and in this case, was definitely sour cream.  And again, like the previous, the pieces were extremely coated in the seasonings, and as a result, were really quite rich.  I just couldn't eat more than a couple small handfuls at a time ... or mix it with a sweet flavor, which I did of course.  

This flavor was pretty true to what they were aiming for, although the chive wasn't super strong, sour cream & herb definitely was.  A decent flavor, but, as with the others, suffered from being too much.  Low ***, and another I wouldn't get again.

Barbecue.

Next, another potato chip style flavor: barbecue.  Easier to identify as it was more red in hue.  And once I took a single bite, it was quite clear.  Yes, yes, this was barbecue.  All the essences of barbecue, very well captured in this.

When it comes to potato chips, barbecue are generally my goto, so this was a flavor I was really quite excited for, and I'll admit, a first for me in popcorn form.  I loved it.  It had a great smokiness to it, mesquite style.  Lots of savory barbecue spices.  Well coated pieces.  Like all the flavors, it was kinda a lot in quantity, and I liked to mix it with plain if eating a lot of it at a time, but this was no question my favorite.  Loved the flavor, the smokiness in particular.  Very true to the flavor I'd expect from it.  I'll gladly get it again. ****.

Mac N' Cheese.

Now for the real cheese flavors.  All the orange ones with no flecks.  At least this one I did have properly labelled.

Well, this was a cheesy flavor.  No doubt.  Like all the other flavors, very very covered in the coating.  But if you gave it to me and asked, "what flavor is this?", would I say, "Oh! I know this!  It is mac and cheese!"?  Yeah, no, no I would not.  It was cheesy, and it wasn't quite one clear type of cheese, e.g. I wouldn't confidently tell you it was cheddar or gouda or anything like that either, but I'm not sure what was supposed to be "mac and cheese" exactly about it.  If anything, maybe it did taste a bit like Velveeta?  Which I guess is a vague Kraft brand processed cheese flavor, so, sure, that is what some majority of Americans identify as mac and cheese I guess.

Anyway, I digress.  Flavor name aside, it was good.  Cheesy, so very cheesy.  Like the others, just a bit too much, it hurt my stomach to eat a giant bag full in one sitting, so alas, I either had to mix with another flavor (plain or caramel ...) or just eat more normal human portions.  Perhaps this brand is trying to teach me a lesson?

***+ as it did really deliver in cheesiness.

Spicy + Hot Cheese.

Fiery Cheddar.

Here is where things got the most confusing.  I had two remaining flavors.  "Spicy + Hot Cheese" and "Fiery Cheddar".  They looked identical.  Dark orange, no flecks.  But also, the flavor names pretty much sound the same.  Was "fiery" supposed to be hotter than "spicy + hot" perhaps?  Does "cheese" have a combo of cheeses, not just cheddar?  I don't know.  As no flavors have descriptions on the website, nor ingredients listed, I had nothing to go on.

So how were they?  Both were, well, cheesy popcorn.  Well coated, cheesy, yadda yadda.  Not as Velveeta-like as the previous, more muted neutral cheese.  Good cheese level.  Mild, mild, mild spicy though.  Certainly not "spicy + hot", but even more certainly not "fiery".  Fine, but like the others, extremely rich and well coated, cheesy popcorn that I wanted to mix with another flavor.  ***.

My notes for both bags were identical really.  I never could tell them apart, in looks, in taste, and frankly, even in product name.  Slightly cheese-y, lightly sorta spicy, flavor.  Neither was more spicy than the other.  Neither was more clearly cheddar than the other.  Spicy + Hot Cheese or Fiery Cheddar, take your pick.

Sweet

The sweet flavor lineup is actually even more extensive than the savory.  Here again you have the basics like kettle or caramel (or sea salt caramel or caramel with nuts or toffee almond), and then a slew of fruity flavors (blackberry, blueberry, black cherry, cherry, craisin cranberry, grape, green apple, orange, raspberry, strawberry), chocolatey flavors (regular chocolate, peanut butter chocolate, s'mores, dark chocolate, dark chocolate sea salt, butterfinger chocolate, tuxedo chocolate), and plenty of other, well, just sweet decadent things like white chocolate (plain, or with Oreo, or with pretzel), birthday cake, cotton candy, cheesecake, cinnamon roll, cinnamon toast, or even a "confetti" mix of 18 flavors.

I tried 7 kinds.

Red Hot Cinnamon.

For some reason, when I ordered this, I was thinking cinnamon as in cinnamon rolls, cinnamon and icing and all that, even though it was called "red hot cinnamon".  I had just finished off my final bag of the limited edition Cinnamon Roll Drizzlecorn from Annie's Boomchickapop (that I adore), and I wanted more of that.

It was not that.  It was, well, *red hot* cinnamon.  As in, one bite, and all my brain could think was, "well, I know this.  It is red hots!".  The sweet-spicy cinnamon candies.  A very, very different taste than cinnamon roll and icing.  The flavor was spot on in that regard, and it was a candied style corn.  But so sweet, it was the style that made you very aware of how much sugar was used, and your teeth sorta screamed at you.

I appreciated how red hot candy flavored it was, truly true to the name, but it was just not a flavor I found myself gravitating towards as it was too candied.  **.

Cinnamon Toast.

"A customer favorite, Cinnamon Toast is made with Cinnamon and sugar over buttery popcorn. Delicious and crunchy."

I did have another, totally different, cinnamon flavor in my lineup too.  Cinnamon Toast.  Now, that isn't the same as cinnamon roll drizzle corn either, but I had more hope for this to be what I was craving.  

This one I really, really did not like.  For context, I don't actually like Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal, but I do like, well, cinnamon, sugar, butter on toast.  This didn't taste like any of those things.  I didn't taste buttery popcorn as the base, just kinda plain.  I didn't really taste cinnamon that strongly, although it was there.  It was sweet-ish but not cloying, not anything like the candied nature of the red hot cinnamon (or others, below), just vaguely a bit sweet.  The cinnamon and sugar were really masked by this really off-putting taste that got even strong as an aftertaste.  I don't know what it was, but I really didn't like it.  It kinda tasted like bad coconut oil.

I tried this a few times, and just truly hated it every time.  I couldn't bring myself to finish it.  *.

Blueberry.

Next up, the brilliant blue blueberry flavor.

This was ... candy corn.  Well, candy popcorn.  Think of the shell of a candied apple (not a caramel apple, a candy apple), and that is what you had covering the pieces of popcorn.  It was very vaguely blueberry flavored I guess, but mostly, just candy flavored.  It tasted much like cotton candy, in that yes, there are different flavors of cotton candy, but mostly, there is sugar.  So.  Much.  Sugar.  And every piece was extremely well coated, so there was just no break from it.  It literally made my teeth stick together to take a big handful.

I liked it, but it was just too much candy.  I needed to make my own mix with some of this and some plain or other savory just to balance it out.  And really, the blueberry flavor was sooo muted.  Fun to try, and of course I finished it, but I wouldn't get this again.  **+.

Birthday Cake.

"Vanilla candy-coated popcorn, covered in White Chocolate and Cake Mix with Sprinkles!"

I thought that I would love this.  I adore white chocolate.  I put sprinkles on everything.  And I do love decadent popcorn.

But ... wow, this made me sad.  It literally hurt my teeth to take a bite.  It was just so far over the top in sweetness that it physically hurt.  I eat a *ton* of sweets, I have a very high tolerance (and love of!) sweet, but this was just ... too much.

It seemed to be a candied base, then covered in white chocolate and cake mix, so it was just sweet on sweet on sweet.  I didn't even taste white chocolate actually, or even cake mix really, just, cloying sweet that was extremely off putting.  The pieces also had a strange texture, sorta soft inside, mushy almost, but more firm outside.

I tried crumbling it up to use as an ice cream topping, but even then, it was just not a taste I enjoyed. *.

Raspberry Lemon Cake.

"Delicious Raspberry Candy-coated popcorn, covered in White Chocolate and drizzled with Lemon-flavored White Chocolate. Sprinkled with wedding cake mix. Perfect for a wedding, party or great snack."

When I ordered, I was drawn to this flavor, but after having the previous flavor, I was far less interested in trying this.  Another one with white chocolate and cake mix that was going to be too much?

This one turned out to be a delight compared to the previous.  The raspberry flavor was reasonably strong, the lemon subtle but added a dimension to it, and it did taste like white chocolate too.  Just a very complex flavor, and although it was sweet, definitely sweet, it just felt like a nice dessert item, rather than cloying as others were.  Definitely not a snack flavor, but, a good element to put on my nightly dessert platter.

Best of the sweet popcorn flavors, no question.  ***+.

Peanut Butter Chocolate.

My final popcorn selection was perhaps one I was most looking forward to.  But ... another one where I wish they gave description!  Because I adore peanut butter and chocolate, both together and separately, but if I had read a description of this, I likely would not have purchased.

Why?  Because it seemed to use caramel corn as the base.  So the pieces were actually covered in fairly thick, sweet caramel corn, and THEN the peanut butter confection and drizzle of chocolate.  The result was a popcorn with only a muted peanut butter flavor, as the caramel corn dominated.  Yes, sweeter than I'd like too, but really, I wanted to taste more peanut butter, and less caramel corn.  I also would have loved for a pop of salt to really accent the peanut butter.  Overall, just sadness, as it was an ok flavor, but should have been so much better. 

**+ because it was still peanut butter and chocolate after all, but a flavor like this, with salted popcorn base instead of caramel corn, would have been a 4 star or more!

Update Review: after having this several more times, I realized what it reminds me of.  Snickers.  A Snickers is a fine candy bar.  A popular one even.  But when I want peanut butter and chocolate, a Snickers is not the candy bar I reach for.  Yes, it has chocolate and peanuts, but, the caramel and nougat are the dominant elements of Snickers, as the same was true here.  Peanuts and chocolate take the backstage to the caramel.  And that's just a shame.

Other

Popped Corn, despite the name, also makes a few other items, mostly fudge and candied nuts.  

Puppy Chow.

"Delicious combination of peanut butter, Chocolate and Powdered Sugar over Caramel Corn and Chex cereal!"

My last item wasn't popcorn exactly, but, puppy chow.  As much as I love popcorn, obviously, my snack of choice 99% of the time, I ADORE puppy chow (or muddy buddies, or whatever other name you know it by).  Now, puppy chow doesn't normally have popcorn, but my mother has certain made versions for me that include it (given her knowledge of my love of popcorn!), so I was pretty excited to try another version of puppy chow with popcorn, the first I'd ever seen in the wild.  However, when I ordered this, I glossed over the fact that it was not just popcorn, but *caramel corn*,  and I hadn't yet tried the previous items to know that I didn't actually care for their overly candied style of popcorn.

This broke my heart.  Ok, let me be less dramatic: this was the most disappointing item I got from Popped Corn, and definitely the most disappointing Chex mix of any kind that I've had.  Such sadness.

Where to start.  Let's start with the extremely low volume of Chex.  Now, obviously puppy chow normally is made of a dominant Chex base, and this is a popcorn company so this was made with a dominant popcorn base, but there was very, very, very little Chex.  Perhaps 5 pieces in my entire bag.  There were no other mix-ins, no pretzels, nothing.  Just mostly popcorn.  Boo on the low amount of Chex.  (The Chex that was there was fine, well coated, although sooo sweet from the abundant powdered sugar).

Now let's get to the popcorn base.  Sigh.  I truly, truly do not understand why they would use caramel corn for the base of this.  There version is just too candied, too sweet on its own, and it entirely dominated the other coatings, just as I felt with the chocolate peanut butter flavor above.  Puppy chow is supposed to be all about the great peanut butter flavor, with a slight undertone of chocolate, and I literally tasted zero chocolate in this (and didn't see it either) and barely, barely tasted peanut butter.  I only tasted the trace amounts of peanut butter on the Chex pieces, the popcorn pieces were just cloying sweet caramel corn that was too sticky and made my teeth hurt, covered in waaaay too much powdered sugar.  Again, I like sweet things, powdered sugar is always an essential part of the puppy chow coating, but this was just over the top clumped on.  Such a thick layer of powdered sugar.  All you could taste here was sugar.

So putting it all together.  Heart broken because it contained so few Chex.  Heart broken because it didn't taste like peanut butter.  But even once I adjusted to those things, and thought of this is powdered sugar coated caramel corn (!), it just genuinely was not enjoyable - the caramel corn hurts the teeth to eat with its extreme candy layer, and the sweetness level was over the top to the point that it literally made me heart race within a few minutes of eating a bunch of it.  Biggest disappointment, and not an item I'd ever get again. *.

Arsicault Bakery

I love baked goods.  Any regular reader of my blog certainly knows this.  And yet, in its 9 years of existence in San Francisco, getting constant accolades of having the best croissants in the city, I never had anything from Arsicault Bakery.

Until now.  Finally.  I still haven't been there myself, as I was treated to goodies by a co-worker who was visiting from Australia and I sent him there on a mission.  He came back victorious, with 3 items for me to try.  He also had the ham & cheese croissant whilst he was there picking up the sweets, which he declared the second best he'd ever had, after the one from Lune Croissant in Melbourne (which is definitely more famous for their croissants even than Arsicault).

But back to Arsicault.  Yadda yadda, best croissants in SF.  The year they opened, Bon Appétit named Arsicault its best new bakery in the US.  Their first location is in the Inner Richmond, not an area nearby nor one I frequent at all, and is known for always having lines.  Even now, 9 years after opening, they have daily lines.  They have a second location near Civic Center that opened in 2020, definitely more accessible to me, but also not an area I frequent much.  And thus, yes, I somehow never had Arsicault, a fact that causes anyone who knows me to say "Wait, how is that possible?!".  (Side note: as of March 2025, they just opened a third location, in Mission Bay, which does definitely increase my likelihood of finally going in person).

Anyway, Arsicault is very well known for the croissant.  The basic plain butter croissant has won all the awards.  Fans also say the almond croissant is the best they've had had, and they rave about the slightly more unique chocolate almond croissant.  Along the these goodies, they offer a few other daily pastries (chocolate croissant, the aforementioned ham & cheese croissant, several scones), along with cookies and quiche.  The Civic Center (McAllister) location actually has the considerably bigger menu (it is a bigger space, and has a full coffee bar too), offering even more pastries (including turnovers, galettes, additional flavors of kouign amann), breads (both savory loaves and more fun items like the less commonly found bostock), and even sandwiches.

I got to try three items, none of which were my very top tier of ones I want to try (which, if you are curious and/or want to bring them to me sometime, are the chocolate almond croissant and the kouign amann), but all were quite good, and I'll now make more of an effort to seek them out.

Apple Turnover. $7.

The first item my visitor got was a slight wildcard for me, the apple turnover.  Not an item I've ever heard mentioned from Arsicault, and interestingly, the most expensive baked good on the menu.  Yes, it was large but all their pastries are.  Offered only at the McAllister location.

The puff pastry itself was really quite good.  It was buttery, rich, flaky, well laminated.  Different from the croissant dough, less airy, and the butter level seemed higher, or at least, I tasted more richness.  I was genuinely surprised by how good it was, given how ordinary it looked.  **** pastry.

Apple Turnover: Cross Section.

Inside was the apple filling.  It wasn't stuffed particularly well, with a fairly large air pocket on one area, but tons of filling in the other sections.  There were some small cubes of apple, a bit softer of a style than I'd like, plus some goo, more akin to a thicker apple sauce than more generic donut filling goo.  Very lightly spiced.  It was ok overall, but I did wish for perhaps more cinnamon, and the apple pieces to be either bigger, or a bit more al dente.  Good, but not great filling.  High *** filling.

This was good at room temp (and honestly, the pastry so good it was hard to stop to wait to heat some up), but even better warmed up and paired with a salted caramel swirl gelato.  **** overall, surprise second favorite item.

Blackberry Bostock. $5.75.

I've probably only had about 10 or so bostock in my life.  They aren't particularly common on menus, and I'm not sure why.  People love french toast, people like twice-baked croissants, why not bostock?  They are kinda the marriage of the two.  Arsicault offers these in two flavors at the McAllister location, apricot or blackberry.  My guest selected blackberry.

It was a good item - thick slice of brioche, lightly crisp on the exterior, slight soak of sweet syrup, then a layer of blackberry jam covering the entire top, and a big round of frangipane topping it off.  Lightly dusted in powdered sugar to seal in the sweetness a bit more. It had some flaws though - it wasn't quite as moist as others I've had, I missed having some slivered almonds on top for extra crunch, and the base brioche did seem a bit overdone (too dark). The other elements were all done fine, and the amount of jam was just right.  Good, but not exceptional.  My least favorite of the items I tried, but still high ***+.  Best warm and with ice cream I suspect.

My favorite bostock to date though is still from Neighbor Bakehouse, where I found the cinnamon almond bostock to be truly exceptional.

Blackberry Almond Hazelnut Croissant. $6.75.

And lastly, a croissant!  The item I was most anticipating.  He selected another blackberry item, the blackberry almond hazelnut croissant.

This had a *lot* going on.  First, the excellent croissant itself.  Flaky.  Buttery.  Messy in all the right ways.  Clearly, top notch croissant.  No question.  **** (or higher?) croissant.

I also loved the lightly crispy frangipane on top, somehow more chewy and flavorful and more successful than on the bostock.

Blackberry Almond Hazelnut Croissant: Cross-Section.

Then, the filling.  There was (the same?) blackberry jam as on top of the bostock, plenty of it, making it really quite a fruity treat, and fairly sweet. Then frangipane (like on top of the bostock, but this was mostly inside, so it was softer, gooeier, and not crisped up).  I think both the almond and hazelnut components were in the frangipane?  The decadent fillings, the amount of them, and sweetness level, definitely made this eat more like a dessert than a morning appropriate pastry, or even afternoon tea treat.

Overall, this was a journey to eat, with every bite slightly different, and equally joyous.  It was a massive pastry, definitely best for splitting, particularly if you are getting a trio of items!  My favorite.  ****.

Mom's Munchies

My little niece recently became both gluten and dairy free (definitely not by choice!).  As she takes after me (and really, most of my family), she has quite the sweet tooth, and this instantly became the hardest part of adapting: finding decent gluten-free and vegan desserts, that she would eat, AND that the rest of us might be willing to eat her discards.  Although I generally don't think vegan and gluten-free dessert items are particularly good, I always enjoy trying new things, which brought me to this brand, Mom's Munchies. 

"Real Ingredients. Amazing Taste. It's That Simple."

Mom's Munchies is much like other brands of its nature, founded by a woman who was diagnosed celiac, couldn't find any tasty treats, and thus, created her own.  They make cookies, bars, bites, and some cakes, and can be found in Whole Foods and other speciality stores.

Chocolate Truffle Cake.

"A decadent, healthy treat made with nutritious ingredients. A layer of nutty crust with a creamy melt-in-our-mouth truffle center, topped with 99% dark chocolate ganache."

While these look, and sound, decadent, they are really quite healthy, made from cashew butter, unsweetened almond milk, and almond meal as the first 3 ingredients, with walnuts and organic coconut oil rounding them out, definitely not what you normally think of as ingredients in cake nor truffle.  They are sweetened with agave, and yes, have cocoa, but otherwise, are a considerably more healthy option.  That said, they aren't a low fat health food by any means, which you'd expect given the nuts and coconut oil.  A single very small cake is 340 calories / 28g fat, and each small cake is considered 2 servings (e.g. 1/2 piece is a serving - which is a bit ridiculous given how small they are).

Anyway.  How were they?  Bleh.  These tasted far, far too healthy to me.  

The base layer almost looked like a nutty brownie.  The main body looked like a creamy mousse. The top a decadent ganache.  It looked so good!  

But ... although there was some chocolate obviously, I mostly tasted fairly bitter cashew butter and almond, with coconut oil leaving a coating and aftertaste in the mouth.  I tried each layer individually, valiantly trying to find one layer that tasted decent, but every single one let me down considerably.  There was no getting past the strong bitter and nut dominance.  So, decent textures, great look, very poor taste, at least for me.  Even whipped cream and fresh fruit couldn't save this for me. *.