Chocolate & Ginger

In case you haven’t heard..Starbucks is celebrating their 40th anniversary. They’re commemorating the occasion by launching a brand re-vamp (eliminating the wordmark)..

as well as unveiling their new Starbuck Petite Treats with an offer this weekend..

What are Starbucks Petite treats? They’re a collection of miniature sweets all under 200 cal to tempt the sweet tooth of those afternoon coffee/tea drinkers..

Included in the mix are the oh-so-trendy cake pops, miniature cupcakes, red velvet whoopie pies filled with cream cheese and a selection of sweet squares..

After salivating over the pictures on their website, I headed down the block after lunch to try out a couple of their bite-size confections as a post-lunch treat.

Hrm..I must say the cupcakes don’t look quite as good in real life..But the taste will be the real test..

The first was a mini chocolate cupcake topped with a peanut butter frosting and decorated with a mini peanut butter cup on top (180cal).

Verdict? The cake was really chocolately and moist, the frosting was nutty but came off as oily rather than creamy like a frosting should be.

In the end I think there are way too many good cupcake shops in town that I’d rather spend my money on than settling for a mediocre one like this.

Next up was their tiramisu cake pop – vanilla cake and Starbucks coffee mixed with vanilla icing and dipped in a mocha flavoured chocolate shell topped with a chocolate coffee bean (170 cal).

Meh..this was alright. The mocha flavoured cake was ok, I think the turnoff of this one was the exterior which tasted kind of like a “pretend” chocolate. This would have been so much better if this was a real white chocolate shell rather than the plastic gummy coating they use..

So in the end, I’ll probably just stick to my soy chai lattes and the occasional biscotti if I’m craving a sweet rather than getting another of these petite treats.

Have any of you tried these? Let me know what you guys think

To make up for my sub-par afternoon dessert. I’m gonna share a recipe for a super tasty dinner I made for me and the boy recently.

In my search for culinary inspiration, I went over to Inglewood’s foodie heaven - Bite Groceteria and came home with a small bag of proscuitto fig ravioli along with a couple heads of black garlic..

Peeling back the golden papery layers reveals incredibly aromatic garlic cloves as dark as coal. The flavour is both sweet and savoury, almost reminiscent of a nicely aged balsamic reduction.

The perfect addition to my sauce for the ravioli..

In a sauce pan I cooked up a handful of chopped back bacon and 1/2 a small red onion on med high heat until caramelized.

I then added a 2 tbsp of soft goat cheese, 4 tbsp of creme fraiche, ground pepper, red chili flakes and the black garlic..

I cooked the ravioli in boiling salted water till tender and stirred in the chunky creamy sauce.

Top with grated grana padano (I put this stuff on EVERYTHING lately) and finish it off with a small drizzle of black truffle oil.

There you have it, a gourmet meal in less than half an hour

We absolutely LOVED this dish! The ravioli were plump and packed full of creamy and fluffy cheese with a nice sweet and salty combo from the proscuitto and figs. The tang from the creme fraiche married perfectly with the salty chunks of crispy bacon and the goat cheese made the sauce thick and velvety.

The boy declared that this dish tasted like something you would get at a high-end restaurant in Calgary.

The best part was that making it on my own came to a fraction of the price. The pasta for two cost about $4 for the package and the black garlic was about $2.50 for two full heads (I used only a couple of cloves for the dish). All the other ingredients I just pulled from our fridge and pantry.

If you haven’t checked out Bite Groceteria yet, I highly recommend it, it’s a great place for inspiration and to find some really unique ingredients you may have never cooked with before. Cookbook Co. Cooks is another of my go-to specialty food stores I love to visit.

Bite Groceteria - 1212 9 Avenue Southeast, Calgary, AB  |  Phone: (403) 263-3966