Revel Bars at Cheesecake Melliza

When buying at Cheesecake Melliza for the first time, the obvious choice would be the bestseller - cheesecake of course - but no, I decided to deviate from the expected and go for the revel bars. At P100 for 4 bars, it's quite a steal!

There were actually other brownie-like bars that experimented on dark and white chocolate, cookies and cheesecake bars that screamed "Buy us!" but this forlorn cat needed grainy comforting, and so the revel bars went from display to "Sold!"

The bars did not scrimp on the grain and sugar aspect. A hefty serving of oats, I gladly welcomed, but the highly sweetened chocolate was not appreciated by my palate (and stomach). Chocolate on its own is splendid but sweetening it up further reduced the cocoa goodness and turned it into a brown sugar hyper bar.

Perhaps those with high tolerance for sugar would find revelry in these bars, but as for me, "Pass!"

Who stole the cookies at Sonja's Cupcakes?

There's a reason why Red ought to be the color of the season because Sonja's Red Velvet cupcakes make the perfect holiday present (hint, hint), dessert, breakfast and fridge staple. However, it's not just the cupcakes the compel me to walk in the rain or scorching heat whenever we pass by Serendra, it's the cookies and bars.

Start paying attention to the cookie jars at Sonja's and you might find yourself the new cookie thief. The Blondie Bar is far from being dumb and rather outsmarts every other pastry in the planet with its peculiarly addictive coconut-Valrhona fusion. The Black and White cookie presents a chocolate feast in all shades, making Valrhona my next favorite baker's ingredient. When the time comes that I cannot decide between the two, I've decided to just buy both. Ha!

Just last weekend, someone must have left the cookie jar open at Sonja's because when we came over, there were no cookies! While Red Velvet was the obvious alternative, it was a tough decision between Bunny Huggers Carrot Cake and Valrhona Milk Choco-Hazelnut Tart. The latter won, by a mile.

The Valrhona Milk Choco-Hazelnut Tart won me over with its mile-long name and of course, Valrhona. From the chocolate crust, fudgy top and flan-like center, the super chocolate award goes to this one. The hazelnut was mildly infused in the flan (my guess) but the overall chocolate flavor was not overwhelming, just right. Forget Red Velvet and those other cupcakes with colorful icing, I'm stocking up on tart!

Now if Sonja's decides to display the Valrhona Milk Choco-Hazelnut Tart, Blondie Bar and Black and White Cookie side-by-side, indecision will certainly drive me insane. This one mind-boggling choice than can only be solved by a three-sided coin, but better if I could find a companion who would just buy me everything! :)

Gelatissimo Choco-load

Imagine my bliss when I entered Gelatissimo and was greeted with rows and rows of Chocolate gelato. From Veronese to Black Forest to Sugar Free - ditching my usual Green Tea was easy - but deciding between Chocolate Almond and Ganache was painstakingly long. 

Never mind. I can go on like this for the rest of the month. So should you. Let's just bring out the weighing scale in 2012, but for now, it's time to celebrate chocolate!

Cheers to chocolate and Christmas! :)

Chocolate Encounters: Parvati and Med Chef

Down with the sugar-free diet this December! With all those red and gold boxes filled with chewy and chocolate surprises, it would be sad not to partake in the holiday binge. Horrible even, letting glorious food in the fridge and the cookie jars go to waste.

And so, even before the month begins, I’ve started my stash. Let the season begin!

Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies (by Vine’s Bakeshop, bought at Parvati Trinoma at P165 for 1 dozen).

The cookies are topped with a gigantic chocolate cube that nearly covers the entire diameter. The cookie itself is mildly sweetened, giving the chocolate the center stage for sweetness. Mindlessly, I could probably finish half a box in one sitting. Good with tea, better when heated. I tried eating one straight from the fridge and the chocolate put up a fight with my incisor. Okay, in the oven you go, you stubborn little cookie.

[caption id="attachment_1020" align="aligncenter" width="819" caption="Clockwise from back left: Cream Cheese Brownie, Almond Brownie, Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies, Crinkles"][/caption]

Chocolate Crinkles (by Joanne’s Kitchen, bought at Parvati Trinoma at P65 for 4 cookies)

Crinkles are barely baked wrong, unless they’re burnt crisp and turn into biscuits, so these crinkles make the cut for being fresh and moist. At roughly P16 per crinkle, there’s a reason why there are only 4 in a box: each crinkle is filling enough, one is all you need for that chocolate high.

Med Chef Brownies and Revel Bars (bought at Mercato Centrale, P3 for 100)

That gigantic tub holds an assortment of flavors, even my photographic memory could not keep up with the chatty vendor—brownies, that thing with almonds on top, peanuts on top, cream cheese brownies, revel bars, etc. Truthfully, I stopped at revel bars because that’s all I wanted, but the vendor just went on until the very last row, and by that time, we all needed a drink. However to reward her memory skills, I bought a revel bar, cream cheese brownie and that light brown pastry topped with almonds (Was it caramel? Food for the gods? I’ll never know.)

The cream cheese brownie and the almond brownie (Okay, I’ll just call it that.) were on the crumbly side. I tasted them during a football match, and no matter how carefully my fingers picked at them, they broke easily and left crumbs all over my seat. The revel bar was terrific and oat-filled but yielded sticky chocolate residue and so, lesson learned: Be civilized. Do not eat with your fingers!

The recourse for the crumbly brownies was to bring them home, leave them in the fridge and eat them 1) really cold, or 2) after being reheated in the oven. The revel bar never made it home, but they must taste great after reheating as well.

Ah yes, I seem to be wholly dependent on the oven toaster for improving the taste and texture of most to-go items, as it does a wonderful job of bringing back that “freshly baked” goodness.

For those who haven’t decided on what to give me for Christmas, forget the food and the sweets, I think I’d very much like a new oven toaster. :)