Love You, Sugar

Think back to one of the best first dates of your life.

There was a click. A spark. Something just kinda fantasmic that started at your front door and ran straight through a two-hour dinner at that Mediterranean place. Things seemed just right. You tossed your handwritten list of "5 Things to Talk About on a Date" in the bathroom. In fact, you tore it into little bitty pieces. Because this person was so dang easy to be yourself with.

Maybe you were blown away by the commonalities of your upbringings, or families (you each have mischievous, hilarious uncles?). Perhaps it was the fact that you both believe it criminal to eat more than once at a McDonald's when in Paris? A common love for music and dogs? You may have even, without a single second-thought, shared your food or wine ("Here, you have to try some of this!") on that first adventure together. Perhaps you soon found yourself wondering where in the frick-a-doodle-doo this person has been all your life. And it wasn't the wine doing the thinking. You just kind of knew the preciousness of the person across the table from you.

A truly great dessert, I will propose, bears similar markings of chemistry and "fit."

That sweet thing should finish your sentences with every bite. Make an average day more than slightly divine. Wash away your cares and hit your reset button for full on happiness. Hello, sunshine. Tempt me with your goodness.

And you've earned that kind of love. Think (but only for a moment) of the losers, the psychos, the dry cake and cookies you've endured, all in the name of "being nice."

Please allow me to introduce you to your new Dessert Dates with Destiny: Miles and Gianna. They know only how to please you. It is the very reason for their existence.

Miles of Chocolate.

Looks like a brownie, but is SO MUCH MORE. Packaged in the most nondescript manner possible (Saran-Wrap and a deli-white label featuring weight and price), one bite of this chocolate madness made my date's eyes roll back into his head. Miles of Chocolate packages their little wonders in brownie-size portions and is absolutely indescribable in it's richness, moistness, scrumptiousness! MoC is a little Austin company that sells it's slices of heaven at Central Market and Whole Foods (in the latter, in the refrigerated dessert section). Once my date regained full consciousness, and was well into his second and third bites of MoC, he uttered, "I questioned the $4.00-ness of it, but not anymore." Then he sighed, deeply and audibly. Enough said?

www.milesofchocolate.com

Gianna's Frosted Sugar Cookies.

I love a good sugar cookie. But let's be honest, so many disappoint in that they are dry as the desert, too crumbly or flat out chemical-tasting. Just a let-down for the calories.

Imagine my delight in discovering Gianna's Frosted Sugar Cookies - MOIST, PERFECT, with amazing icing. They positively melt in your mouth. I have never, ever seen someone eat just one.

They are even adorably packaged and perfect for a little 'thinking of you' or thank-you gift.

For a guy, consider the frog cookies or Frankenstein fingers. Both are dipped in chocolate! Hurray!

For the girly-girl, choose from sugar cookie daisies, sassy bumblebees - you name it!

Find Gianna's Frosted Sugar Cookies at your local Whole Foods in the baked goods section, or order online at www.giannas.com.

If you're not a sugar cookie freak, be sure to check out Gianna's other handmade, natural-ingredients-only varieties of cookie fabulousness. From the classics like peanut butter and oatmeal raisin, to wedding cookies and apricot or raspberry-filled cream cheese delights, she has got it going on!

www.giannas.com

Love,

Melinda

Photo Credit: Gianna's