Whole Foods Desserts That Should Be In Your Kitchen Right Now
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When you think about shopping at Whole Foods Market, picking up some decadent desserts probably never crosses your mind. After all, the grocery chain once tried to trademark the motto "World's Healthiest Grocery Store" (via Chicago Tribune), which doesn't exactly encourage you to think of dessert. While the grocery store giant has built its reputation on selling foods that are nutritious (meaning you'll be hard-pressed to find traditional candy bars like Snickers, Babe Ruth, and Butterfinger or sugar-laden birthday cakes, piled high with frosting and crowned with sugary, buttercream roses colored with artificial dye), Whole Foods Market does have some stellar dessert offerings. The confections are a little more refined than most grocery store sweets, with the chain opting to carry healthier products with fewer preservatives, having no fear of rejecting foods that contain any of the banned ingredients included in their long-standing list (via Whole Foods). If you have a bona fide sweet tooth, that might make you roll your eyes and want to say "no thanks", but Whole Foods actually carries some really good desserts in their pursuit of healthiness that don't taste like cardboard and will satiate the most daring and dynamite of sugar cravings.
Check out these melt in your mouth Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Caramels
Whole Foods Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Caramels are pretty simple, made by enveloping sweet vanilla caramel in dark chocolate, and sprinkling the top with sea salt to hit all of our taste bud sensors. It's almost impossible to walk past these treats without considering putting a plastic tub of the confections into your cart. The sea salt caramels are generally not found with other candies, which might just be sheer marketing brilliance, but honestly our greedy mouths don't care either way. Two of these melt in your mouth caramels contain 170 calories, and are a definite must have if you are still on the fence when it comes to Whole Foods sweets (via St Louis Today). The next time you are in a Whole Foods Market, you'll definitely want to pick up a container of these to share — or even to eat up all by yourself! No judgement.
Don't skip the cake and pastry display case
It's hard to walk by the Whole Foods pastry display case without loitering over all the miniature treats. They're so beautiful to look at, they must taste like the ambrosia of the gods, right? Even Buzzfeed has fallen for its siren song, calling the dessert case "the most delicious thing you've ever seen". One of their miniature cheesecakes is the perfect single serving dessert to meet your sugar needs, while the Raspberry Passion mini cakes are irresistibly light and spongey, bursting with flavor; but our number one pick is the full size Berry Chantilly Cake, which will leave you running back to the kitchen for a second or third slice. Who's counting anyway? If available, you can even purchase this cake through the Amazon Prime online delivery service. One review of this prized dessert wrote, "This Chantilly cake from Whole Foods closely resembles another one from a very famous luxury cake bakery in Los Angeles. Having had both, I can tell you this cake from Whole Foods is actually a better cake — and by that I mean, an EXTREMELY superior cake, hands down!"
French mini beignets take doughnut holes to the next level
These two bite, mini French beignets made by Euro Classic will go above and beyond your expectations for a doughnut hole. Light and buttery, dusted with powdered sugar, and filled with mixed berry preserves or creamy chocolate hazelnut, these fried delicacies are the perfect morning treat to share with your family or colleagues. What makes the Euro Classic Authentic Mini French Beignets especially wonderful is they do not have that greasy taste many doughnuts have. These mini beignets pair perfectly with a nice hot cup of coffee or tea, and they can easily be dressed up with a little bit of whipped cream and a drizzle of chocolate sauce for an after meal treat (via Euro Classic Imports). Regardless of what time of the day you indulge, be sure to look for these in the Whole Foods bakery section alongside the other prepackaged treats.
Whole Foods now sells this cool Japanese treat
According to a press release put out by the company, mochi ice cream was officially introduced to Whole Foods stores in 2017. If you've neve had them before, mochi ice cream are little balls of ice cream wrapped in a sweet and delicate rice dough. Whether you fancy more traditional ice cream flavors like chocolate or strawberry, or want to try something different like mango or green tea, these Whole Foods mochi treats will not disappoint. At about $2 per mochi (depending on your Whole Foods location), these heavenly little pillows are on squishy on the outside, creamy and cool on the inside, and more than worth the price. In their review, Kirbie's Cravings said that these mochi have a good balance of mochi dough to ice cream, without the mochi layer being "too thick or rubbery".
For a sweet and savory dessert, try this fig spread
Dalmatia Adriatic Fig Spread is just the thing you need when you want to pair the sweet with the savory for dessert. This jammy, bold spread is so versatile that the company website helpfully offers recipe suggestions that make use of the product in a variety of imaginative ways. Some of our favorite uses for the sweet spread include to top baked brie, layered with yogurt and roast pears for a luxurious parfait, stuffed into a baked apple with some granola, and spread into a grilled cheese sandwich. Made in Croatia with figs from the Mediterranean, the Dalmatia Adriatic Fig Spread's flavor is both fruity and refined. This fruit spread is nonGMO and the perfect addition to a cheese plate coupled with a glass of dessert wine or Sauvignon Blanc. You can find jars of this jam near the artisan cheese section at your local Whole Foods.