Witches Brew

Appropriately called Witches Brew, this place isn't your ordinary coffee house. The quirky coffee house has a gothic feel to it with decorations such as antique chandeliers, skulls, a piano, and fine china cups. An intimate and comfortable atmosphere is created with dim lighting and vintage chairs and couches.

The menu is so big that it takes a few minutes to read the whole thing. Added bonus: the menu looks like a ransom note to add to the gothic feel. There are over 70 choices on the espresso menu alone, as well as a variety of different teas to choose from with names like Moulin Rouge and Black Velvet. Desserts include my personal favorite, frozen hot chocolate, as well as customer-favorites tiramisu and brownies. Vegan options such as mixed berry tarts are also on the menu.

One reviewer, Bianca L. from yelp.com testifies, "They have anything and everything, and some really inventive little creations. Their desserts are fantastic, and they have a lot of things that are natural and organic."

Though reviewers on yelp.com gave the coffee house 4 out of 5 stars, some reviews include people's complaints about the high prices. I have to agree with them that it's a little ridiculous to spend $5 on a slice of cake and $3 for a large coffee but I guess that's the price you pay for the quirky atmosphere.

I recommend going to Witches Brew on weeknights or early afternoon as it is usually crowded Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights, with lines out the door.

Witches Brew is located on 311 Hempstead Turnpike in West Hempstead, NY.

Ben & Jerry's New Flavors

After trying Ben & Jerry's new flavors, my favorite by far is their Boston Cream Pie ice cream.

Boston Cream Pie features yellow cake pieces, fudge flakes, and swirls of pastry ice cream. Every bite will be savored as this ice cream consists of the perfect cake to fudge ratio.

The only problem is it's so good you'll want to eat it all in one day. At 250 calories a serving and 13g of fat, this is not the ideal ice cream for bikini season.

Another new flavor by Ben & Jerry's is Red Velvet Cake. Though I love red velvet cake, I would advise against this ice cream as it has a strong taste of cream cheese which completely overpowers any goodness of red velvet cake.

A new flavor that I would recommend trying is Late Night Snack inspired by Jimmy Fallon. This new edition features vanilla bean ice cream with a salty caramel swirl and fudge covered potato chip clusters. It tastes exactly as it sounds and is actually pretty good. Like Boston Cream Pie, my only criticism is that it has 15g of fat per serving.

I'll have to sample Ben & Jerry's low fat flavors and see if they're as good as the calorie packed flavors.

Carvel

Ever have a dessert you loved when you were younger and find your disappointed that it's not quite as good as you remembered? That was my sad feeling tonight when I went to Carvel and got a vanilla ice cream topped with their famous chocolate crunchies.

I don't know if it's from recently having Haagen-Dazs or trying Edy's Samoas ice cream, but Carvel's ice cream tasted just so...dull. Sure I got vanilla ice cream but there was absolutely no flavor what so ever. There beloved chocolate crunchies didn't even have the same appeal as it used to.

In all fairness, I must admit I got a boring flavor to begin with and Carvel's new cookie trio sundae dashers featured on their website look pretty good. The featured flavors are Nilla wafers, Oreo, and Nutter Butter.

Carvel is located on 80 Covert Avenue in Garden City, NY. You can find other locations here.

Haagen-Dazs

If you've never tried Haagen Dazs ice cream, you don't know what you're missing. Today I went to Haagen Dazs in the Roosevelt Field Mall and got a dulce de leche shake.

Dulce de leche is a delicious combination of caramel and sweet cream, swirled with ribbons of caramel. The shake consists of dulce de leche blended with milk and topped with homemade whip cream and warm caramel.

As a caramel lover, this ice cream is my absolute favorite. Though I enjoyed the shake I prefer the ice cream by itself on a sugar cone, which are out of this world. My other favorite flavors are pineapple coconut, strawberry and caramel cone.

Their website boasts, "being anti-artificial is just our natural way of doing things." Haagen-Dazs gets my vote for best ice cream.

Tuesday, May 10, is free cone day at Haagen-Dazs from 4-8pm. Stop by any Haagen-Dazs location and enjoy!

The Ultimate Fruit Ninja, King's

I must admit the best "dessert" of all is fruit. Unlike processed cookies and cakes, fruit is au naturale and a delicious healthy snack that provides essential vitamins and minerals. I've been on a fruit kick since I've noticed it gives me an energy boost without the sugar crash that I get from junk food.

Though I haven't been to a farmers market yet this spring, I've been going to King's Supermarket where they have amazingly fresh fruit. I swear it's as if they have a magical fruit ninja on hand with only the best fruit.

Unlike other grocery stores, King's has proved itself to be reliable in always having freshly sliced fruit in prepared containers. For students like myself cramming in long hours of work these last few weeks of school, King's packaged fruit is the perfect snack.

Pineapples, strawberries, and mangoes, are all in season right now. If you have the time and energy to pick out your own fruit here's a couple of tips to tell when its ripe:
1. Pineapple should have a bright yellowgold color on the skin and visible on the eyes around the base and a sweet smell at its base.
2. Buy strawberries that are bright red, as a dark red color is a sign that they're overripe and a green color indicates they are under-ripe.
3. A mango is ripe when it has a fruity aroma and you can slightly indent it with your thumb.

King's Supermarket is located on 870 Avenue in Garden City.

Cheesecake Recipe

Graham Cracker Crust:
1 cup graham crackers crumbs
1/4 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
2 tbsp. brown sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted

Filling:
2 cups sour cream
3 pkgs. (8 oz. each) cream cheese, room temp.
3 eggs, lightly beten
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. vanilla extract
Finely grated zest of 1 large orange

Toppings:
1 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon confectioners' sugar
2 cups fresh blackberries


Preheat oven to 375F.

To make crust, combine the crumbs, walnuts, brown sugar and cinnamon. Add butter and toss to combine. Reserve 3 tablespoons of graham cracker mixture for the top of cheesecake and press the remaining evenly into the bottom and 1 1/2-inches up the side of a 9-inch springform pan.

To make the filling, process the sour cream, cream cheese, eggs, sugar, and salt in a food processor or blender until very smooth (I just use my hand mixer). Add vanilla and orange zest and process just to blend.

Bake the cheesecake for 50 minutes. Sprinkle the reserved topping over the cake and bake until the filing is firm and top is lightly golden, 10-15 mintues more (I also put a pan of boiling water in the oven to simmer so that the top will not crack).

In a large bowl, whip cream until almost stiff. Add sugar and vanilla and beat until cream holds peaks.

Let cool completely. Remove side of pan, top with whipped cream and blackberries and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Key Lime Pie Recipe

My aunt's delicious key lime pie recipe:

Graham Cracker Crust:
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (she uses Honey Maid)
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup finely chopped almonds
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Pie Filling:
6 large egg yolks
One 14 ounce can of sweetened condensed milk
2 teaspoons grated lime zest
3/4 cup fresh lime juice (about 6 limes)

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F
2. To make the crust, combine the crumbs sugar, almonds, and butter in a bowl. Blend well. Use the mixture to line the bottom and sides of a 9-inch pie plate.
3. Bake for 8 to ten minutes. Remove the crust and let it cool on a rack. Reduce the oven heat to 350 degrees.
2. Combine the egg yolks, sweetened condensed milk and lime zest and uice. Mix well.
3. Pour the mixture into graham cracker crust.
3. Bake in preheated over for 15 minutes. Allow to cool. Top with whipped cream and garnish with lime slices.