Fat Witch Bakery's Blonde Witch Brownie Mix

A vintage scooter.

Mont Blanc cufflinks.

USSR-era Russian pocket watches.

A used Mac.

An off-brand Zune. (No lie, it was called the Creative ZenE)
All of these are examples of the incredibly extravagant, fairly dumb things I have purchased in the past. It's safe to say that I'm not good at bargain hunting. There are, however, a few things that I can't bring myself to buy, no matter how adorably pretentious they may be. One of these is any baking mix above $5. Baked comes out with a new Williams-Sonoma exclusive brownie? No can do. Momofuku packages their cookie mixes? Sorry. I can't see the value in a small, pre-portioned amount of baked goods, some of which are fairly sub par at the source, for the price of seeing a mediocre feature film.
Needless to say, I nearly peed myself when I walked into our local organic grocery outlet slash butch singles bar and saw brownie mixes from Fat Witch for the mere price of $3 and change, a brownie mix that typically costs $10-12 before shipping. Holy crap, Betty Crocker's most shameful mixes cost more than this. Fat Witch has been on my radar for a while now. Though I haven't had the chance to go, I figured it couldn't hurt to bake up a batch of "witches" at home and see how they fared.
The box illustrations are incredibly cute, albeit a hair twee, and the instructions are succinct and actually useful. Too often do I grab a mix and start preparing it, only to find that in addition to the one stick of butter, I need a mixer, six small bowls, and an extra bottle of dishwashing fluid to complete the recipe. The instructions include not only a list of needed ingredients, but a list of dishes or utensils you may need. Some parts are annoyingly vague, like the step where you let the brownies cool without any suggestion for time. As anyone with a sweet tooth knows, this is a terribly relative amount of time. "Cool" for me is any temperature where I can dig my hands into the pan without risking a third-degree burn. Second-degree, I can deal with.
Mess-wise, it's a cinch to prepare and still feel like you're putting in some work with very little clean-up involved. It's a one bowl recipe if you have a stainless steel bowl that can be heated on the stove. The rest of the ingredients are mixed in, the entire process taking roughly ten minutes. The batter was strangely pliable, like non-sticky peanut butter. This photo sort of illustrates it. I liked that it didn't take a lot of butter to make a smooth dough. The included chocolate chips were sized perfectly, rather than some of the minis or behemoths I've seen in other mixes.
The blondies came out of the oven smelling sweet and nutty, with a slight saline scent that quickly wore off and a lingering cakiness. The top had a delicately browned crust with pools of melting chocolate scattered around. After waiting an agonizing hour, I cut into the brownies. They were fantastic, with a slightly gummy, tender texture and extremely moist interior, with addictive and chewy crisp edges. The flavor didn't shy away from salt, and carried a savory, yet blatantly dessert-y quality. We still felt that they could have used more salt, as the chocolate chips were fairly sweet. Fresh out of the oven, the warm pieces had a gooey, indulgent texture reminiscent of eating a Tollhouse cookie pie. Room-temperature, they settled and lost some of the airiness that made them so moist, but were still chewy with no crumbliness. $10 blondies? Not really. But for around $3, they're some of the nicest I've had from a box.

Kush Cakes

"The food here is terrible, and the portions are too small." -Woody Allen

While walking into my favorite gas station to pick up a pack of Nat Sherman Fantasias for my lady, I noticed a rather disturbing product on the counter next to the cash register and canister of off-brand Slim Jims. (Beef Chevys. Don't even ask.) Another mari...sh looking, pot...entially overbaked "relaxation" confection? Oh my god. I hadn't even realized I'd missed it, despite my lack of interest for frequenting truck stops and gas stations. Humiliated and ashamed at my neglect of one of Foodette's core demographics, the 13-15 year old private schooled class clown, performing a Google search for "lesbian food critic BBW", I slunk home with this brownie, determined to get to the bottom of this.
Turns out I'm not only missing this one, but another, more disturbingly named product called the Lulla Pie. Jesus. It sounds like a gateway drug to hell. After the success and annoying, placebo effect induced comments of my Lazy Cakes post, I decided to cash in on the scandal and check out what Kush Cakes had to offer, even though my enthusiasm for weed-based products, actual weed (thanks, Massachusetts State Legistlation!) and anything from Spencer Gifts has waned since the bombing of Showtime's Weeds. Mary Louise Parker, we never knew ye or your hot lesbian makeout sessions.
As my trained package critic's eye can see, and yes, that applies to packages of all kinds, Charlie Sheen, the graphics on Kush Cakes pack more fun-filled activities, characters, and FDA unapproved warnings on it than a cereal box. MSPaint McTokerson tells us that this is 100% legal and, wantonly emblazoned in the upper lefthand corner, we learn that a real live licensed pharmacist, not one of those paid TV actors, developed this proprietary blend for my pleasure. Do the makers of Kush Cakes even know what proprietary means? And furthermore, once looking it up in motherfucking Funk 'n' Wagnells, do they want to stick by that scurrilous adjective?
Those of us who had mothers who loved us in grade school and participated in all the PTA bake sales know that this pastry isn't taking home any prizes. Personally, I wouldn't claim ownership to this even if it won the coveted deadbeat dad favorite prize in the afterschool betting pool. I'm so surprised that with delicious ingredients like valerian, rose hips, and malodextrin, this would taste so crappy and gross. For starters, it's not a pretty princess of a brownie, it's a malformed, tiny old turd in a tie-dyed package. Oh, sorry- welcome to Woodstock, Arlo Guthrie! I'd be willing to overlook that if it tasted like the farts of Pinkerton-era Rivers Cuomo, but it's fairly disgusting. Its exterior glistens and sparkles like a certain loveable vampire friend of the youth, and in the three second car ride and ten minute cigarette break back home, managed to crumble off a few flaky, chocolatey dandruff pieces with the hardened exterior of an exoskeleton.
I don't imagine these will succeed well in the market, especially with the discerning doobie palate of today. Connoisseurs will age their Lazy Cakes and hawk their homemade fare, but cast these aside for a higher quality treat. The herbal, grainy texture and stale scent, like salty, chocolate Play Doh makes for a rather unappealing snack. With a predominantly salty and grassy flavor, these aren't so much brownies so much as they are edible public service announcements for militant parents to "illustrate" what cannabutter can do to your baked goods. Ridged for her pleasure, natch.

Oh, and as for the effect? Relaxation? Please. My girlfriend is still convinced she's dating the not-yet-reincarnated soul of a post-night club years Woody Allen in a sexier body. I don't relax, I sweat. Pass the fucking brisket and get me some real food.

Fiber One 90 Calorie Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownies

This is a snack that could, and did, survive our most recent (and possibly first ever) tornado. Look, we all know the commercials with the smooth talking genie who offers wishes and fiber and shit. I wasn't initially sold because I like to think that I eat enough to warrant roughage and fiber (Robot Editor's note: SENTENCE REDACTED. CLEANER JOKE IMPLEMENTATION IN SESSION.) Puppies and kittens aren't as cute and as wonderful as this brownie! No poop jokes at all!Anyhow, Keepitcoming and I were in Target, or "Tar-Jay" for the ladies, when we saw these brownies. Quick side note. Have you ever been so hungry while in a grocery store that you've just grabbed a package and started eating out of it? I've never done it but I feel that it represents a darker side of humanity. A person can get away with a lot in a grocery store. In seedier areas, like when Swagger and I go to C-Town, it's not unusual to find chip packages jammed in between boxes or spilled Oreos near the meat. Sometimes people bring cups from other places like 7-11 and just leave them on displays. And then we get it on a bigger scale, like with the creepy old videos of supermarket sweeps. Every contestant has the same zombified, singular minded gleam in their eye when they're told they can essentially loot a store in ten minutes as they blindly flail their arms and knock 322 boxes of toothpaste into their cart just for the hell of it as Yanni's "End of August" blares while stock boys weep.
Um. Brownies. Yeah. TL;DR, we ate these in the Dick's Sporting Goods. After paying for them. And they were incredibly tasty. I'm not exaggerating when I tell you that this is one of the nicest, most developed flavors I've had in a snack that billed itself as healthy. While the bar is definitely much smaller than its packaging, it has a flavor and satisfyingly dense texture reminiscent of a really well-made snack cake.The flavor was extremely rich and chocolatey with a forward coffee flavor and scent. I checked the ingredients and, sure enough, chicory root extract, a natural substitute for coffee, was right on top. With companies and factories whose chief "homemade" taste comes from a blend of hydrogenated oils and sugars, seeing an ingredient my mom or I would use to boost the flavor in our own brownies was refreshing. The texture of the brownies was soft and chewy, much like an actual one.If I had any real criticisms for this particular variety, I'd have to say that the peanut butter definitely takes a back seat to the cocoa and coffee flavors. Calling this a mocha brownie would not be out of the question, but calling it peanut butter seems like a stretch as the chips and icing are somewhat overshadowed. Nevertheless, this makes a filling snack and blows other "diet" or low fat flavors out of the water. I was so impressed with these and hope that Fiber One continues to experiment with their varieties.

Vosges Caramel Toffee Chocolate Chunk Brownies

It was one of those nights. Too much homework to cook an elaborate meal, too cold to order out, too antisocial to go out to a restaurant. As though through telepathy, Keepitcoming and I looked at each other and confirmed each other's darkest suspicions with three magical words.

"Brownies for dinner."

The only brownie mix I had on hand was the Vosges Caramel Toffee Chocolate Chunk brownies. Life's tough, huh? But be warned, fellow dessert diners, these aren't just brownies you can whip together as a sweet counterpart to Parks and Recreation. (Team Ben! Team Ben!) Our total cooking time added up to over two hours including cooling. Was it worth the wait?Serious Eats' Mixed Review correspondent, Lucy Baker, proclaimed these to be some of the best brownies she's ever had. Big words from a leading cookbook author. Looking at her photos and musings gave me a serious hankering while I waited. The toffee on my brownies didn't sink down to the middle of them and wound up crunchy on top in oozing puddles that seeped halfway through the batter, leaving craters of goo all over the brownies. They also took a half hour longer than the recipe said they would, but I kind of anticipated that.
One unsettling detail I noticed about these before cooking was the scent of the toffee. When you can smell something so hyperspecifically bad that you can identify the exact nature of the scent, in this case, canned fish and old milk, it can't be good, can it? Originally, I thought this was the scent of the bag and I poured the toffee into a bowl to air out, but it lingered. Turns out that was the toffee's natural aroma. After cooking, we waited an anxious hour to bite into them.In this case, looks aren't everything. While in texture, the brownies were everything I've dreamed of and then some- puddles of chewy caramel melding with the ultimate gooey innards and cakey crust, the flavor really fell short of my expectations. As I suspected, the two-odd sticks of butter in the mix rendered into a slurry of sugar and oil really dominated the flavor, leaving the chocolate and toffee behind. The vanilla and sea salt I added were lost in the slick. The biggest depth in flavor I got was the occasional sea salt bite, but it was fleeting gratification. The most disappointing aspect was without a doubt the toffee flavor. The strange fishiness, which I expected to dissipate in the heat of the oven, was present and oily in my mouth and gave an overall unpleasant flavor to the mix when consumed in too large a bite as well as a sickening feeling in the pit of my stomach minutes after taking a bite.I can't say I've really been wowed by the Vosges line of baking products. For a $20 brownie mix, it should have been better than what it was and certainly should not have had such a strange, chemical flavor in its toffee. We've really relished each bar that Vosges comes out with, playing no favorites like a good parent, but their baking mixes seem to be inconsistent across the board.

UPDATE: I have decided to change the rating on these. We gave them a pretty harsh assessment when they were warm, assuming that, like most brownies, they would be at their peak when cooled for about an hour. In reality, they were exceedingly better about a day after cooking. The middle of the brownies was drastically different from the edges, harboring a gooey, rich, soft interior while the edges were cakey and mediocre. The pools of toffee remained strangely flavored, but as plain brownies with a thick middle, they were excellent. I'd recommend making these a day ahead of time in a thicker pan while omitting the toffee from the recipe.

SPICY WEEK PART 7: Spicy Sweets

Happy slappy Valentine's Day, folks. Keepitcoming and I are bringing the heat with not one, but two Valentine's Day posts...a day late. Sorry. Not sorry. We're too busy being awesome.
For the last day of Spicy Week, we tried some tasty sweet treats with delicious kicks. There were only a few, but they were all quite memorable.
We first sampled a brownie from Heartbreaking Dawn's. As you know, we tried one of their hot sauces before. This clarified a little query as we were unsure if the Heartbreaking part of Dawn was in reference to a dawn that was heartbreakingly gorgeous or a Dawn that broke hearts. It is the latter and we are setting them up with Billy Ray Cyrus so they can achy breaky heartbreak together. Jesus. The brownie was heartbreaking. NO MORE PUNS. But it actually was. It was a cayenne, sea salt, and basil brownie and for some reason, was impossible to enjoy. There was a substantial heat from the pepper, a sea salt tang, and a herbed basil essence, but none of the elements seemed to work together. They were really incongruous and out of place in a way that made them taste bad as a whole, despite knowing that all the ingredients were delicious individually.
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OVERALL- 3
We tried another baked good after that, this time in the form of Lark Fine Foods' Chocolate Cha-Chas. I love slice cookies, especially if they maintain their form and still have that fudgy chew. This was spectacular. It was not only very rich and chocolatey, it was consistently spicy, albeit with more of a range of baking spices than heat spices, with a pleasant zip at the end. Keepitcoming and I tore through three packages of these. Their portability and flavor makes them a cinch to take on car trips.
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OVERALL- 9

This was another delicious selection from Chuao, a company we've covered quite a few times on this blog. The chocolate in this bar is visually appealing as well as gorgeously gustatory, and is chock-full of spices and delicious. We loved this bar because of its balanced perfection. It was bitter, sweet, spicy, and creamy, all in one bite, and yet seemed to maintain a perfect consistency from piece to piece. Definitely pick these up.
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OVERALL- 9

SWEET SUCCESS
Chuao Spicy Maya Bar (10)

And so ends Spicy Week! Thanks for playing. I wish we could offer you a house or a real adopted baby or whatever Oprah offers on her show, but all I have is leftover McNuggets. They're a week old. Cheers!

Chuao Abuela Brownie Mix

Yeah, none of my grandmothers ever baked. And for that matter, none of them were abuelas to me. I'm as white as an albino Archie Bunker and I burn under high wattage lamps. But I figured I'd be able to bake these brownies- with style! After all, they don't call me Tits McGee for nothing. (I baked them without a bra.) These brownies, by chocolatier Chuao, from the lovely Vivian and her Siamese, Ginger, feature dark chocolate and a stencil for making a pretty design on top of your brownies. And son, I am all about fucking stencils. Screw a D+ in arts and crafts. I NEVER LIKED GIRL SCOUT CAMP ANYWAY.They're easy and require merely eggs and butter. It defeats the purpose of buying a baking mix for convenience if you have to break out your Pyrex and food scale. I was surprised to see a whole stick of butter going into this and was originally a little worried these would come out greasy. But the batter was delicious- rich, gooey and chocolatey with little chunks of chocolate inside. They seemed to be good-sized but not too large that they broke up the texture of the batter. A good sign.After baking for a half hour, they came out looking very tender. Even after cooling for over an hour, they still oozed chocolate when I cut into them, but the butter helped them slide out of the pan with nary a crumb left over. We ate one brownie warm and thought it really had the texture of a well-made chocolate lava cake, with a very slight, crisped crust and a molten, rich interior. They were very gooey and evenly dispersed with visible chocolate chunks. When they cooled down, they fused into a chocolatey bar with no effort needed to bite chunks off. Even cold, the chocolate was soft and melted inside. Medium rare brownies. Texture is a go.

However, there were some minor problems with the sugar in these. Eating brownies is even more fun when you've got something to top them with or eat alongside. Unfortunately, these are too sweet to allow any additional desserts on the side, which is why I typically like my brownies to have a more toned down, bitter chocolate flavor. The topping of a powdered sugar stencil was a nice idea, but ultimately added an overly sweetened flavor to the pastry.

Lazy Cakes

I saw these in a gas store and had a mild seizure in front of the cigarillos and Clark Bars. Really? A brownie that makes you relax? With a creepy, Mr. Hanky-esque mascot on the front? From the website www.bakedworld.com? And a fake message warning me of future overusage of the word dude? This made my inner 14 year old squeal because drugs mean rebelling against the man, yo. They're Lazy Cakes, a brand of "baked relaxation" bringing butthurt to Georgians everywhere and a new form of rohypnol to guidos up in the cluuuuuuub. To be fair, there's no trace of drug references (overt, at least,) in these brownies. In fact, a simple check of the ingredients tells us that the relaxation elements are no more exotic than a holistic mother's medicine cabinet: melatonin, rosehips, and velarian root. Two out of three of those are actually known for helping relax the brain- rose hip is mainly a healthy treat for chinchillas. So we've looked it over and there's no weed in this feed, but is it good?

Luckily for Lazy Cakes, they've baked a brownie scientifically proven to interact pleasantly with my brownie taste preferences, according to the Foodette Scale of Brownie Baking Perfection, or the FSBBP. As I've said here and here, my brownies must be medium rare, halfway between raw and pudding-like, and these were no exception. They had a dense texture and a chocolatey flavor and were soft and squishy. Very nicely done. They felt a little better than a Little Debbie Snack cake, with none of that chewy weirdness, but doubtedly up to the level of a homemade brownie. There were no chemically aftertastes. But taste wasn't the only factor. I was here for the side effects, baby.I don't know whether this is a placebo effect or not, but I'm damned tired. Swagger made me dinner and I spent a lot of time laughing at Blades of Glory, but that was the only thing I really did today and I am absolutely beat. After eating this brownie, I had to concentrate to stay awake. I don't know the amounts of chemicals in this, as the nutrition label does not specify the dosages, but it did its job as far as I can tell. I'd have to revise the FSBBP and do some tests with my trained lab mice to get better results, but Lazy Cakes were better than I originally anticipated them to be. Good luck entering them in a middle school science fair, though.

Brownies and Beyond

This review is very close to my heart, but that in no way accounts for the rating. This woman knows her baked goods. For years, this woman has fed me, and she isn't even my mother! She's actually someone else's mother, Dillinger's mother, and surreptitiously runs a small baking business under her actual job.
When she contacted me about these magical brownies she baked for functions, I was immediately intrigued. I'd never heard of a red wine brownie, but with my knowledge of wine and its pairings, I'd imagine that the two would go together fabulously. So there she went, making me a batch. As it went, I showed up on the day I was to go back home, and she didn't have enough time to freeze them, so it's my fault entirely that the photos are ugly, but I think the brownies are gorgeous.

The brownies themselves were extremely rich, and I was content eating one or two. The glaze was beautiful and shiny, and for the record, both the glaze and brownies had Syrah in them that hadn't been completely cooked down so that you could taste it. And the flavor was really prominent. The particular Syrah had a nice flavor of blackberries, primarily. It had some chalkiness, but that wasn't prevalent in the brownies at all. It made the glaze amazingly moist, but not drippy at all, and it was very firm.
The brownies were a little chewy for my tastes. You all know that I like everything, desserts included, medium rare, but Lisa cut all the edges off and berated me for coming early. The wine soaked up into the brownies, which were very, very moist and had a deep, rich flavor. The wine brought out the dark chocolate, and it made the brownies pop. The brownies were very tiny, but once you eat them, you immediately understand why. It's extremely hard to eat more than one or two in one setting because of how rich and buttery they are.

Lisa sells these on her website and around the Shoreline and at various functions. You can special order them if you ask her nicely!
Brownies and Beyond
www.browniesandbeyond.com

Mrs. Fields Cookie Recipe Chocolates

One of my favorite cookbooks is my Mrs. Fields cookie recipe book. There are some fantastic cookies to be made, and I've certainly never been disappointed by a cookie purchased at a Mrs. Fields store. For these reasons, I did not fear these chocolates when they showed up in my stocking this Christmas.


These were purchased from Target by my mother, and the box says they cost $1. The three flavors included were Dark Coconut Macaroon, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, and Brownie Truffle. The cookie dough flavor sounded especially up my alley, since I am a huge fan of cookie dough ice cream.


Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough was first on my list to try. I feel I should mention that none of these chocolates had much of a smell. Anyhow, inside was a lump of cookie dough. I could taste the mediocre chocolate shell, but the cookie dough center had none of the vanilla or salty flavor that actual cookie dough has. It shouldn't have surprised me, but this was just painfully sweet.


Dark Coconut Macaroon was next, and again, the first thing I noted was the overwhelming, throat-burning sweetness. Aside from that, there was creamy, sticky coconut paste inside. It tasted like a Mounds bar, which wasn't bad, since I like coconut.


Finally, I sampled Brownie Truffle, which was like a chocolate coated chunk of brownie. Unsurprisingly, this one was also ridiculously sweet. The filling was grainy (I felt sugar granules) and almost chalky. It was slightly better and much more authentic than the cookie dough flavor, but really, at this point, I was not in the mood.

I don't pull this rating out very often, but both my husband and I found these to be just too sweet to enjoy. We split each piece, so I can't even imagine finishing all of them myself. They were edible, but far too cloyingly sweet for me to ever want to consume again. It's nice that they tried to diversify, but Mrs. Fields should definitely stick to cookies.

D

Here is a link to another review of these chocolates.

Mrs. Fields website (but these chocolates can't be found on the website)

Mariposa Gluten-Free Delights

Got a nice package from Mariposa, an artisan company that specializes in gluten-free baked treats. We opened the package and already came with high expectations because Roomba gleefully exclaimed, "They have the best bubble wrap in the world!"

Soooo, the baked goods. First were some garlic crostini, in a lovely bag. To be honest, if these weren't made from real bread, you could have fooled me. I wouldn't have known the difference. They're crunchy and airy and absolutely saturated with butter and garlic, and the flavor stays. They're a bit dry, which is to be expected, but I'm really eager to try these with bruschetta or alongside pasta.

The taste is just spot-on. If you like garlic, eat these. If you like vampires, stay away! So here's a little dedication to all the Twilight-haters out there- eat these crostini and the Twihards will be at bay. (Sorry, Twihards. I'll review something for you, too.)
6/10- GOOD

The next treat was a cinnamon toast biscotti. I normally shy away from biscotti, but with a flavor that promises to emulate such a quintessential breakfast staple, how could I not try it? And it delivered! I'm almost jealous of those on gluten-free diets now, for the chance to try all this awesome food. This biscotti's texture and mouthfeel is a smooth, yet bubbly crunch, a crisp, and the taste is like Jacques Pepin decided to make a special dessert version of Cinnamon Toast Crunch, and condensed it into this. It's orgasmic.

But it's so simple! And it just proves that you don't need bells and whistles to make something amazing. This biscotti might just haunt my mind, it's so good. And you know what that means- when I'm crunching, not even halfway through one, and I'm staring at the box, clamoring for a second. No, readers, not gastric bypass, a perfect score.

Oh, and by the way? One cookie, and keep in mind, they are rather large, is 110 calories. Suck on that, Nabisco and your 100 calorie packs!

10/10- PERFECTION

I got a nice set of bars from Mariposa, too, and brownies! The next treat to try was a walnut brownie, and when I opened the package, I could smell the chocolate from the other side of the room. No, that's not a quip on the size of dorms, that's how chocolatey this was! And medium rare, like I love my brownies! Ohhhhhh, man, this was a gooey and delicious brownie, and the walnuts were chopped on top. I mean, this was just incredible. A good brownie is made or broken by its texture and consistency, and this was just nearly liquified. Amazing.

9/10- MMMMM!



Onto the next brownie, though, the triple chocolate truffle brownie. Another heady and intoxicating scent of baking chocolate. The nice thing about these brownies is that they're also not too sweet, like others I've reviewed. This brownie also carries the special distinction of causing my first food-related casualty! It's not the brownie's fault, though. When I cut into it with my pocket knife, which is usually present in the photos, it stuck and gooed to it so much and let out such a good smell that I had to lick it, right? And, of course, got cut.

Now that I am no longer bleeding, the brownie is so delicious. It has a crust on top and tastes almost like cocoa. It was a little less sweet than what I'm used to, but the texture was spot on again and the flavor was really, really rich!

8/10- GREAT

The last bar was a coconut lemon square that I was really excited to try. It has huge shavings of coconut on it, and the lemon scent is really intense and sweet. Best of all, the texture and feel of it is nice and soft. Sometimes coconut can get brittle and disgusting and hard, leaving a yucky crust, but this is tender and soft.

The bottom texture on this bar is downright obscene. It's like a meringue, a shortbread, and granulated sugar rolled into one. It's the finest texture of any cookie-like dessert I've ever had, hands down. The coconut was in brown sugary and was very moist and chewy. Really, really tasty bar, and, for the first time in Foodette history, another ten. I'm not getting soft. This stuff is just that good.

10/10- AMAZING

I also received a quickbread from Mariposa. A pumpkin bread appears! Roomba pounced on it immediately and cut some off for me. It was a bright orange pumpkin-scented bread with raisins studded periodically.

It's a little more crumbly and a little less moist than what I'm used to, but the crust is to die for. It's very springy and melts in your mouth, a nice buttery and pumpkin flavor with hints of cloves, cinnamon, and the flavor is so nice. This would be a good bread with some cream cheese, something to offset the hint of dryness it has, but nonetheless, good.

6/10- DELIGHTFUL!

And, the last treat. A delicious sour cream coffeecake. Brimming with walnuts and cinnamon streusel. Honestly, the entire concept of gluten-free treats is like magic. How? It's so moist. If I put this on a table with other coffee cakes, I'd choose it first. There's an amazing cinnamon and nutmeg aroma and aftertaste to this, and the sour cream flavor comes out in the buttery, creamy richness of the texture and taste.

It's so excellent. I wanted to eat the entire thing, because it's not just excellent, it's delicate. It's very fluffy and not dense at all and reminds me of something one might serve to fairies at a ball. A gluten-free ball.

8/10- LOVELY

Mariposa Baking
www.mariposabaking.foodoro.com

Embrace Sweets

So I was sent some lovely brownies in the mail, from Embrace Sweets, and here they are, up for review!

The first brownie I tried was not a brownie, but a blondie, specifically, the Blondie Bombshell. It was very moist and buttery and tasted nice, with pecan undertones. I inexplicably got a smoky aftertaste, almost peppery, at the end of my bite. It was very moist and had a good flavor and texture.

7/10- GOOD

The next brownie was a caramel pecan, studded with crushed nuts. I tasted the pecan, it was unavoidable, but it was almost impossible to taste the caramel, though I'm not sure why. The ratio of nuts to caramel may have been it, combined with the chocolate flavor. This flavor may be more adept in the form of a blondie.

5/10- NICE

The next one was a peanut butter brownie. What I love about peanut butter in baked goods is that it makes everything so lovely and moist. This was no exception. It was a nice, moist brownie, very, very sweet with nice aromas and flavors of nuts and a good texture to sink your teeth into.

8/10- MMMMM!

Another good classic- the quintessential walnut brownie. The walnuts aren't sweet, but add a nice flavor component and cut out the saccharine qualities of the chocolate, making a good balance with a nice texture. I prefer walnuts to be on top of brownies, rather than mixed in, so one doesn't bite onto an errant chunk, so these were winners in my book.

7/10- LOVELY

Wrapping up the selection, we have a triple chocolate brownie. It was very sweet and very buttery, I wasn't as impressed with it as the others, like the Blondie, as it was a little too greasy and just like regular chocolate. There was a really doughy texture to it and although I often like that, I like some pieces or differences in consistency throughout so that it offsets the sameness.

5/10- ALL RIGHT

Embrace Sweets
www.embracesweets.com

Kraft Oreo Brownie

This brownie was eaten in a movie theatre. It boasts Oreo pieces, like in the photo, but lacks them. It looks just like a regular brownie, come to think of it.

If you like thick brownies, this is a good treat for you. It's a pretty chewy, cake-like brownie. It tastes thick and cakey but doesn't crumble all over the place. I'm not sure how this is accomplished, but it manages to keep the taste of Oreo without actually having a large amount of Oreo chunks to begin with. If there were any, I really didn't taste them. The brownie encompasses six good-sized mouthfuls. It was good, just not great. I wasn't impressed or excited. It was just an average brownie with a gourmet price tag of $2.50.

4/10- MEH