It is still National Ice Cream Month for another week, so time to indulge and give in to your cravings at Cream Parlor. Johnny and Ainsley Tsokos have made our sweet dreams in MiMo come true with their happy little shop - Cream Parlor.
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The following Saturday Sweets is a paid sponsored post
McDonald’s has always been a great constant when it comes to the simple, quick, and classic vanilla soft serve ice cream cone. As a kid I always loved when my grandma’s sweet tooth kicked in while we were running errands, because I knew that meant we were making a stop at McDonald’s for an ice cream cone. Fast forward nearly 3 decades of ice cream memories and it’s still just as satisfying as it was when I was a kid. Desserts have been a favorite at McDonald’s for almost 60 years. Last summer alone, McDonald’s customers enjoyed 68 million vanilla soft serve cones across the country.
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In anticipation of the hotter months in Miami, Sweetness Bakeshop is getting together with some local favorites in the blogger community to create milkshakes that will make the summer a little bit more bearable. The Cool for the Summer Series of Shakes will be available starting June 15th - all the way until Labor Day.
Of course, my love for Sweetness Bakeshop landed me a spot on their list repping MIAbites, along with Sef aka Burger Beast, Cari aka Fatgirl Hedonist, and Gio aka Chat Chow TV.
Here are the drool-worthy milkshakes you can expect:
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Summer in Miami! This week’s Saturday Sweets is a sweet and refreshing recipe for No-Bake Lemon Mousse from Miami River hot spot, Seaspice. This treat is bound to satisfy your sweet tooth in no time, as this easy to make dessert is a perfect balance of sweet and citrusy notes. This is just the kind of dessert you’ll crave on a hot summer day.
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Summer is just around the corner (even though it feels like it’s already here) and it’s got me thinking about refreshing sweets covered in fresh fruit. I’m usually all about everything chocolate, but there’s something brought on by the heat of summer that converts me - just for a bit - to a fruity dessert fiend.
Here are some of my favorite desserts that can be found around town this summer:
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Chef Antonio Bachour’s name is well known all throughout the pastry world, but coming up through the ranks is his right-hand and pastry chef, Karina Rivera.
Karina grew up in Mexico always loving sweets and knowing she wanted to be in the kitchen. She went to culinary school and once she finished, got the opportunity to do an internship at the St. Regis Bal Harbour, where she was supposed to do rounds in all the aspects of the hotel.
But, once she stepped foot into Chef Antonio’s kitchen she knew she never wanted to leave.
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If you’re a regular reader of Saturday Sweets, then you know I’m all about guilty pleasure foods. One guilty pleasure I think most people can agree with is raw cookie dough. Is it possible to bake cookies and not eat at least 3 cookies worth (or sometimes half a batch) of dough in the process? It’s not at all possible in my kitchen.
While we’ve been told raw dough isn’t safe to eat – even though I’ve never actually gotten sick from it and it usually doesn’t stop me – Hampton Creek, the makers of Just Mayo, Just Dressing, Just Cookies are launching Just Cookie Dough this week at familiar retailers aka Publix and Whole Foods. Just Cookie Dough has been created by a team of Michelin Star Chefs. It comes in three favorite flavors: Birthday Cake, Chocolate Chip, and Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip.
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This week JetBlue announced its newest addition to its Mint experience with a locally curated ice cream program that features favorite flavors from artisanal ice makers based in Boston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York and San Francisco. The fresh approach to its ice cream program allows JetBlue to stay true to Mint’s locally curated roots as it expands the premium experience to new cities on both coasts.
Mint offers a more personal approach to service and features exceptional hospitality from specially trained crewmembers. These local purveyors will offer a rotating selection of ice cream flavors giving Mint customers a taste – literally – of the region from where their flight departs.
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Calling all dessert lovers! Just in time for warm weather, Mdoughw & Wynwood Parlor will launch four different ice cream sandwiches - but the catch is you can only get them today. Miami-based MdoughW started as a result of Margo Wolfe’s passion for baking. While operating frozen yogurt stores, Margo used her free time and wild imagination to create a new dessert category - the doughie.
Doughies are the original cookie cup stuffed with your favorite treats. You name it - brownies, cookies and cream, oreos, salted caramel, guava - she's stuffed it inside a gooey, fully-cooked doughie by MdoughW. Doughies and ice cream sound like the perfect sinfully sweet pairing.
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This week’s Saturday Sweets led us to Bakehouse Brasserie in SoFi because I needed to have a Nutella Croissant (and maybe some frosé) - I’m not the only one, right?! Bakehouse is Miami Beach’s new hot spot for breakfast and brunch with French brasserie items like Croque Madame, Steak Frites, Crawfish Beignets and more, including some delicious pastries.
While there, I got the chance to hang out with Pastry Chef Tatiana Vernot, who had been in since 4 am re-stocking the pastry case after a busy weekend. Although she has only been working professionally in kitchens for three years, Tatiana turns out all of the most delicious treats in Bakehouse’s pastry display.
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THIS WEEKEND! Saturday 4/29 & Sunday 4/30! This week’s Saturday Sweets is about the sweetest convention to come to South Florida each year – SoFlo Cake & Candy Expo. Going on it's third year, this cake expo offers everything anyone could possibly need to be a better baker. The trade show is for home bakers and professionals alike to discover the latest in baking and decorating trends, purchase the new supplies, and even take on demos and classes taught by some of the best bakers in the country.
Melanie Richard and Natasha O’Connor, the women behind the SoFlo Cake and Candy Expo, once found it very difficult to find baking supplies in South Florida. Passionate home bakers with a sweet tooth, they decided to open Sweet Life Cake and Candy Supply to fill the void that other South Florida home bakers were coming across. Fast forward to 2015 and they launched the SoFlo Cake and Candy Expo, “After opening up Sweet Life Cake and Candy Supply, we started attending trade shows all around the country in order to be able to provide our customers with the latest tools in baking and decorating,” says Melanie Richard, co-founder of SoFlo Cake and Candy Expo.
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If follow me on Instagram (@amber__love) then you know I spend a large amount of my time at Sweetness Bakeshop in Kendall. It’s really close to my house, has fast WIFI, great music (they let me pick the playlist most days), delicious coffee, and is a cupcake shop – so naturally I’ve made it my office and where I do most of my writing.
My week was made when owner, Stephanie Diaz, told me they were bringing back their donuts.
Sweetness Bakeshop was wise beyond their years when they started making donuts that debuted in January 2012, way before the donut craze hit Miami. They were even named Florida’s Donut in Zagat’s 50 Donuts in 50 States in 2014 featuring their Cuban community inspired Guava and Cream Cheese Donut. This tropical-fruit-infused treat was based on a traditional Cuban flavor combination; this fluffy pastry is filled with slightly tart guava marmalade and is then topped with a mild cream-cheese glaze that balances everything out.
They stopped making donuts in the middle of 2015, and it broke my heart. They returned briefly in the beginning of 2016, but didn’t last long. They’re back now and hopefully not going anywhere. “We really had no choice but to bring them back, because everyone keeps begging us for them and we finally just gave in” says Stephanie of the donut’s return to the Sweetness menu.
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Last year was the “Year of the Donut”, and while I haven’t figured out what this year’s biggest dessert trend is yet – it’s safe to say the donut craze is still very much alive.
This week the 2nd Annual Donuts! Fest presented by Vine PR took place at MAPS Backlot in Wynwood. Donuts from all over Miami Dade and Broward were present along with long lines of hun
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Whenever I have a quiet Saturday, I like to stop by the Coral Gables Farmers Market on the corner of Miracle Mile and LeJeune. It’s always home to some of my favorite vendors – Per’La Specialty Roasters, Babe Froman Sausages, and Cao Chocolates just to name a few.
But there’s something wonderful about knowing you’ll stumble upon new local businesses to fall in love with.
Last month, that is exactly what happened when I discovered Miami Is Kind and their macaroons.
Silvia Planas-Prats has created a business to employ young adults with autism that is inspired by her own autistic son. She left a decade-long career in Spain to come to Miami after hearing there were great schooling opportunities for her son in America. Marc is now an adorable 13-year-old boy that just happens to be autistic. He loves riding his bike, dancing to Michael Jackson and baking. He’s come a long way with the help of the Miami-Dade County Public School system, and Silvia is so grateful for the programs being offered to him.
However, Silvia realized there is an employment issue for autistic young adults. 1 in 68 kids in the US have autism, and as adults, the unemployment rates are 80-90%. Those are scary odds, so Silvia decided to take this employment challenge head on. She knew how much baking had helped her son and how well he excelled in the kitchen so she started Miami Is Kind, a non-profit industrial bakery determined to be the first food production facility for professionals with autism/disabilities in South Florida.
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Last week Food Network and Cooking Channel’s South Beach Wine and Food Festival took over South Beach with tons of celebrity chefs, food, and alcohol. Of course, there were plenty of desserts to choose from - in fact; there were TWO dessert specific events! Naturally I made sure I was at both.
Friday night, The Sarsaparilla Club hosted Salty, Sweet & Savory Treats featuring The Salty Donut, Sarsaparilla Club, and The Bar Lab Boys poolside at the Shelborne. There was no shortage of desserts on deck, especially with Chef Max Santiago of The Salty Donut involved. All of the usual favorites were present - Maple Bacon, Guava, Traditional Glazed, and Brown Butter + Salt. But the serious show stopper was made exclusively for SOBEWFF. The Passion Fruit + Dark Chocolate + Salted Caramel: salted caramel glaze, passion fruit foam and gel, dark chocolate ganache, house made chocolate garnishes and edible blossoms from Swank Specialty Produce. It was just as delicious as it was beautiful! I was lucky enough to sneak an extra one and save it for breakfast the next morning.
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Tucked away just off of 79th and Biscayne, right before the Causeway, you stumble upon Mina’s Mediterraneo. This cute, much larger than expected, Mediterranean spot is owned and operated by Yasmine Kotb.
Born in Cairo, Egypt, Yasmine moved to Houston, Texas at the age of four. Having spent many summers as a child with her grandparents in Cairo, Yasmine had the chance to experience exotic Mediterranean dishes and ingredients, giving her a passion for the culture at an early age that she always carried with her. Everything at Mina’s is made using family recipes, including the delicious desserts.
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Valentine’s Day is sneaking up on us – how is it already mid-February?! Whether you’re single or attached, there’s lots of sweet deals out there making this coming Tuesday something to look forward to. While I’m a firm believer in having chocolate every day, there’s something a little extra special about Valentine’s Day.
Here’s where I think you should get your fix on this sweet day full of love:
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