We're Nominated!

By: Amy Weinberg

It’s that time of the year again: the QVC Customer Choice Food Awards. 2015 has been the year of the Grandma and we’ve been nominated in not one, but TWO categories in this year’s awards. The first award we are up for is Best Cake. The cakes QVC highlighted were the Apple Coconut Coffee Cake (QVC Exclusive) and the Pumpkin Spice Coffee Cake (Available Year-Round).

The second award we are up for is Favorite “Customer Top Rated Food”. This is where we get to spread our wings and go up against the big dogs at Lobster Gram selling Lobster Tails. I know what you’re thinking and no, there is no relation. The cakes highlighted in this category are the Original Cinnamon Walnut Coffee Cake and the Granny Smith Apple Coffee Cake (Both Available Year-Round).

Voting is super easy. All you have to do is Click Here and vote for your favorite Grandma.  There are plenty of other categories for which we are not nominated. 

My challenge for you is to go out and try each nomination for each category! 

Just kidding, that would be madness. If you see any of your other favorite products in a different category, click away. But, if you just want to vote for My Grandma’s, you can just vote in Q.6 and Q.15 and call it a day.

Voting is also unlimited. That means that if you want to vote for us once a day or 30 times a day, all votes will be counted. Please get in those votes in before the polls close on August 21^st and keep My Grandma's on top!

Delightful Delectables - Kahlua Soaked Coffee Cake Sundae

By: Amy Weinberg

Happy National Hot Fudge Sundae Day! What’s that you say? You’ve never heard of such of thing? Well, it’s a real thing, it’s a great thing, and it’s tomorrow. Tomorrow is also National Merry-Go Round Day. I would suggest not celebrating both of these days at the same time. You’re welcome.

Instead of going the traditional hot fudge, vanilla ice cream route, I decided to whisk things up a bit with this Triple Layer, Kahlua Soaked, Chocolate Mousse Coffee Cake Sundae. Again, you’re welcome.

Things You’ll Need:

Layer 1: My Grandma's of New England Cinnamon Walnut Coffee Cake, Kahlua

Layer 2 (The Mousse): 12 ounces of milk chocolate morsels, 4 Tablespoons of butter, 4 Tablespoons of water, 4 eggs yolks, 1 Tablespoon of sugar, 1 ½ cups of heavy cream

Layer 3 (The Whipped Cream): 1 ½ cups of heavy cream, 1 Tablespoon of powdered sugar

Last But Not Least (The Glaze): ¼ cup water, ½ cup sugar, 1 cup cream, ¼ cup coffee, 1 tablespoon vanilla.

Note: before fully committing to a recipe that involves freshly whipped cream, first check to see if you have an electric mixer. (Amy’s Hand-Made Whipped Cream Workout Video will be released later this year.)

Clearly, I want you to learn from my mistake. But, the chocolate was melted and the coffee cake was already soaking in Kahlua, there was no turning back now.

As for the coffee, I just went to Starbucks for my regular Café Americano. I set aside ¼ cup for the glaze, poured some Kahlua in the rest, and got to work. The coffee cake wasn’t the only thing soaked in Kahlua by the end of this.

For the exact recipe, check out this website.

I’m not going to lie, this came out a lot better than I thought it would. It’s not that I wasn’t confident in the recipe. What made me nervous was how my patience, or lack thereof, would impact my cooking skills. Pro tip? Playing your favorite album makes whisking for 6 minutes straight a little more bearable. I went with Days Are Gone by Haim.

I’m the kind of person that will spend hours in the kitchen making something and not even eat it when I’m done because I’m “just so over it.” “Get it away from me, I can’t even look at it anymore” I’d say, hoping someone else would try it and like it. Maybe it’s because I can’t handle the very real possibility of my hours of hard work leading to a dessert equal to a McDonald’s parfait. Anyways, this just looked too good not to eat.  

And let me tell you, McDonald’s wishes they could make something like this.

I went wish a mason jar because it was pretty and I wanted to seem creative. Although I did achieve my goal of it being pretty and creative (I think), the portion was a little ridiculous. Even for my standards. I was in a chocolatey coffee cake Kahlua induced coma. Ask me if I regretted it.

I did not.

Delightful Delectables - White Chocolate Lemon Glaze

By: Amy Weinberg

Whether it’s on a donut, a cookie, or a cake, everyone loves a nice glaze because you get the sweetness of an icing without it being too heavy and overpowering. The best of both worlds! I decide to pair a delicious White Chocolate Lemon Glaze with My Grandma’s very own Golden Raspberry Coffee Cake. This recipe could not be easier and could not taste better. This was my first time ever making a glaze so if I can do it, anyone can! I got the idea from the glaze in this recipe and took it to the next level with some lemon.  

What you’ll need: 1 tablespoon butter, 1 cup of confectioner’s sugar, 1 lemon, 2 tablespoons milk, 1/2 ounce white chocolate morsels

The first step is to melt the tablespoon of butter with the half-ounce of white chocolate morsels. For me, the easiest way to do this was just to microwave everything on medium heat for a few minutes, stirring every 30 seconds. Every microwave is different so you’ll just have to keep an eye on it to make sure the chocolate doesn’t burn!

The next step is to add the coconut milk and the sugar. The original recipe called for regular whole milk, but who doesn’t love coconut milk? You can go ahead and pour the coconut milk right in, but you’ll need to gradually mix in the confectioner’s sugar until you get that glazey texture you want. I ended up using a little bit less than the full cup. 

Once it has the perfect texture, it's time to add the lemon. Every time I added some lemon it got a little watery so I would have to balance out with a little more confectioner’s sugar. This part is all about taste. I went back and forth with more lemon and more confectioner’s sugar and even some more white chocolate before I found the perfect balance for my taste buds. And let me tell you, they were HAPPY. I’m a complete sugar-fiend so I sat there and ate it by the spoonful before finally drizzling it on the cake (don't worry, I used a different spoon). This glaze pairs perfectly with not only a spoon, but also our Golden Raspberry coffee cake. The tart lemon perfectly balances out this match made in sugar heaven.

Just don’t forget to “drop” a crumb or two for your sous chef!

No More PHOs?

By: Amy Weinberg

After hearing the news about trans fats being off the shelves within the next 3 years, some of you may have understandable questions relating to your favorite products. Do my favorite foods contain trans fats? Are trans fats that bad? But first of all, what are PHOs? 

If you asked me this a week ago, I would have told you with the utmost confidence that it is a delicious Vietnamese noodle soup. Apparently it has a second meaning! 

As defined my the FDA, PHOs are the liquid fats and oils that have been hydrogenated, but not to near completion, and with an iodine value greater than 4. PHOs are the major dietary source of trans fat in processed foods. In a step to remove artificial trans fat from the food supply, The FDA has recently deemed PHOs UNFIT for human consumption and specifies compliance no later than June 18, 2018. 


In short, NO PHOs = NO TRANS FATS.





An announcement such as this can have quite the impact on your favorite dessert and snack recipes. We, here at My Grandma's of New England, wanted to assure you that our products have been PHO-free since the revision of our recipe in 2004. This is the same revision that made our products trans fat-free. My Grandma's is proud to be ahead of the curve on this issue. Because our cakes are already PHO-free, there will be no additional recipe revisions needed in order to be compliant with this new regulation.

We are happy to say that we will continue to use the same great-tasting, trans fat-free recipe we have been using for the past 11 years, and we can assure you that our quality will remain second to none; just as it is now.