"Godiva" news and stories

As we noted a couple of weeks ago, Ben and Jerry's recently sought to harness the idealistic fervor of Barack Obama's supporters by renaming their butter pecan ice cream "Yes, Pecan!" To the company's credit, it has agreed to donate all of the profits from the sale of this flavor to Common Cause, a voting advocacy group. While I am not a huge fan of Unilever, the current owners of Ben and Jerry's, and have numerous problems with the additives that started creeping into the ice cream after it sold out in 2000, I have to admit that this seems to be a well-intentioned (if transparently exploitative) move.

My cousin, Cathryn Michon, aka The Grrl Genius, is a great deal less cynical than me. Moreover, she has a definite skill when it comes to adding sweet ingredients to each other; consequently, I advise prefacing this recipe with a nice big shot of insulin. Enjoy!


Smoking Hot Fudge Barack Obama "Yes, Pecan!" Inaugural Sundae

Two Scoops of Ben and Jerry's "Yes, Pecan" ice cream (or any brand of butter pecan ice cream)
1/4 cup candied pecans
1/2 cup Godiva hot fudge (or brand of your choice)
1/2 cup whipped cream
1 George Washington honorary Maraschino cherry
1/4 ounce dark rum
Hawaiian orchid (for garnish)

Warm hot fudge according to package directions and pour over the ice cream. Place the pecans decoratively on the sides of the sundae and lay the decorative orchid at the base of the serving dish. Spoon on a generous serving of the whipped cream, creating a trough in the whipped cream that resembles the cone of a live Hawaiian volcano. Set the cherry in the trough and fill with dark rum. Set the rum on fire with either a long match or a butane lighter to symbolize our smoking hot new President and the sweet hope that will sustain us in all the days to come.

Serves one happy world citizen!

Looking for some spooky treats to take to a friend's upscale Halloween shindig tonight? Well, you could buy these strawberry ghosts from Godiva for $4.50 a pop. If that is a little beyond your budget, you could try following these directions over at the Kitchen at Apartment Therapy and make your own. They say that all you need is fruit, chocolate, paraffin wax, a small pot, toothpicks and wax or parchment paper. Sounds like a delicious, if potentially frustrating, project. If you give it a shot, let us know how it turns out!

Source

The Cheesecake Factory is not known for serving health food. In fact, their giant portions can turn even healthy fare into things that you should think twice before eating. Many concerned with calories will ask their waiter to put half of the portion into a to-go box at the same time that the main course is served, which prevents the diner from overeating their pasta, salad, etc. The main thing to avoid there, unless you're not giving the least thought to what you eat, is the cheesecake. Although tasty, their massive pieces often have more than half of your daily calorie requirements. CSPI wrote, in their Nutrition Action Healthletter this month, that the Cheesecake Factory Godiva Cheesecake (pictured) has 1,000 calories and 41 grams of "bad" saturated fat. Unfortunately, they didn't enlighten the readers as to how much fat in total is in the cheesecake, but they did provide a colorful analogy to help picture just how bad it is: "it's like ordering a Pizza hut Personal Pan Pepperoni Pizza - topped with 10 pats of butter - after dinner."

Yum.

If you're willing to toss your diet out the window for a few days (or want to share with a large crowd), you can order this cheesecake online. For a healthier cheesecake, try a vegan version or stick to a bite-sized tart that will give you portion control.

Harry & David is known for their gourmet gift baskets and the high quality fruits, nuts, chocolates and other goodies that they ship out. They are not the "go-to" source for Valentine's Vay chocolates, however, because many consumers feel that they will get better chocolates from a source that specializes only in chocolates. This decision, although seemingly logical, is not necessarily the right one to make. A multi-brand taste test in Money Magazine placed Harry & David's chocolates above those from Vosages Haute-Chocolate, Whittman, Godiva and Target's Choxie.

Brands from all different price categories were chosen and evaluated for quality of the chocolate, the "accuracy of flavors," packaging appeal and value by a group of women (since they are somewhat more likely to receive chocolates on Valentine's Day than men).

The specific chocolate selection used in the taste test was Harry & David's 1-lb. Grand Collection, which includes a variety of milk and dark chocolates with nuts, caramels, toffees, fruits and berries. It retails for $29.99.

By now we have firmly established that the end-of-the year is pie season and, while pies are still delicious year round, they are rarely more appreciated. To capitalize on our love of pies in fall, Godiva has released a limited edition American Pie Collection. The 18-piece box features pie-flavored truffles, elegantly painted and shaped into little wedges of "pie." There are a total of eight flavors included:

• Apple Crumb Pie - made with real Granny Smith apples and cinnamon
• Strawberry Pie - features fresh strawberries, sugar and butter, like the summer pie filling
• Key Lime - condensed milk, vanilla and lime juice inside a white chocolate shell
• Lemon Meringue - white chocolate with a meringue-textured lemon filling
• Banana Cream Pie - a mix of banana and vanilla in a white chocolate ganache
• Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie - combines natural-style peanut butter and chocolate cream
• Chocolate Cream Pie - a 72% chocolate truffle center in dark chocolate
• Pecan Pie - pecans mixed into a molasses flavored milk caramel and mixed with milk and dark chocolate

Source