Welcome Home from Organica Deluxe

Upon arriving home from my trip last week I found a nice little package in the mail from Organica Deluxe. I was expecting something like this to arrive because I recently signed up to take part in the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Outreach Program as a Foodbuzz Featured Publisher. This program involves a partnership between Foodbuzz and some select producers to provide all us Foodbuzz tasters with the latest and greatest goodies out there to try. So I opted-in to try some Organica Deluxe cookies, I mean, free cookies, why wouldn't I want to try them out, right?

Waiting for me in my mailbox was this padded envelope from Organica Deluxe labeled "FRAGILE" and "PERISHABLE"; the packaging inside had "Freeze or consume in 3 days" written on it. I didn't have any trouble consuming the two delicious, spicy and sweet ginger cookies contained within the packaging. Each cookie is about three and a half inches in diameter (yes I did actually take out a ruler and measure) and coated in organic cane sugar. In fact, these cookies are 100% organic! They were soft, chewy, rich and spicy; they were some of the best ginger cookies I've had in quite a while. If you would like to try them yourself, you can buy a package of 16 cookies from Organica Deluxe for $40 on their web site. If you want something a little extra for a little less money, try out their "Morning Treat", it's a bag of espresso roast coffee and 8 of the famous ginger cookies that I am now a fan of.


Organica Deluxe is not just for coffee and cookies though, they seem to be a higher end version of Red Envelope. In addition to selling great gifts, they are also environmentally responsible. All products that they sell are 100% organic from the ingredients in the cookies, to the cotton used to manufacture clothing that they sell. They practice a concept called single box delivery, which means they don't package a box inside of a box when sending your goods. They source their goods from companies that use wind to power their manufacturing plants, and they donate to the Carbon Fund Foundation as a way to offset their own carbon footprint.

Organica Deluxe is a socially and environmentally responsible company selling great products. Go visit them at http://www.organicadeluxe.com and buy something you can feel good about!

Cookies or Cake? You decide...

I wanted to call these cookies the "You can have your cake and eat it too cookies" but that's a bit of a mouthful, especially if you have already have a mouthful of cookies! So instead I'm just going to call these Heath Bits Cookies or maybe Heath Bits Cakies. Whatever you or I decide to call them you should know that these cookies are fantastic! Part cake, part cookie, these treats are made from Duncan Hines cake mix and Heath english toffee bits. I like to eat my cookies with a big glass of organic milk, last night I had a cookie with chocolate milk. See below for the cookie/cakie recipe.


Heath English Toffee Cookies
1 box Duncan Hines fudge marble cake mix
1 large egg
1 package Heath English Toffee Bits
1/3 cup canola oil
4 tablespoons water, divided

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl mix together cake mix, oil, egg, and 3 tablespoons
water. The batter will be thick.

In a small mixing bowl combine the chocolate packet that comes in the cake mix box with 1 tablespoon of water; this chocolate mixture will also be pretty thick. Add a large tablespoon full of the cookie batter into the chocolate mixture and combine well.

Add the heath bits into the cookie batter in the large bowl and combine, then swirl the chocolate mixture into the cookie batter being sure not to mix too much.

Drop large tablespoons of cookie dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 13-15 minutes. When you remove the cookie sheet from the oven, leave the cookies on the cookie sheet for several minutes allowing the bottom of the cookie to continue cooking, then transfer cookies to a cooling rack. The secret to these cookies is that they must cool on the cookie sheet before being transfered to the rack; the cookies will be crisp on the bottom and chewy and delicious in the middle!