chocolate with a heart

if your mom has a sweet tooth, give her chocolate that is not only yummy but spreads the aloha spirit too. kokologo owner sherri terao was raised in hawaii and decided to spread hawaiian concepts like 'ohana, malu & hau'oli with the rest of the world by way of gourmet chocolates from the islands and donating a portion of sales to charities like the susan g. koman breast cancer foundation.

although online ordering isn't available on the kokologo website yet, you can stock up on mana'olana chocolate covered macadamia nuts on sale here or head to the ala moana neiman marcus and pick up a box of chocolates in time for mother's day.

{update | dec 2009: fyi, kokologo's website seems to have been taken down}

let them eat cake

hawaii is a foodie's paradise so finding a wedding cake is not too difficult unless you're searching for a yummy modern creation. luckily, there are many talented pastry chefs in the islands so the most difficult decision will be selecting the flavors for all those layers of cake.

cake couture's owner, carmen emerson bass, trained at the california culinary academy and is now one of the better known pastry artists in the islands. the cake above reminds me of the hula dancers at the merrie monarch festival. carmen's fanciful creations have been featured in martha stewart weddings and pacific rim weddings.

i think this cake from the sweet stop in kailua is so pretty and tropical. once upon a time pastry chef (and former marine!) joslyn laura-annette benn created the desserts at roy's and many other notable restaurants on oahu. a few years ago, she opened up her own bake shop which means you don't need to be getting married to indulge in her delightful concoctions!

tasty treats

after yesterday's post about the culinary history of local food, i now have a craving for soda & cream crackers. since our supply from the last care package was finished off long ago (hint, hint) and the local asian market only carries the jumbo box of soda crackers (which go stale really fast), the ability to order direct from diamond bakery is a welcome option.

in addition to their famous soda/cream/saloon pilot crackers, the website also has a nice selection of cookies and, my favorite, the somewhat cheeky diamond bakery logo tee with the seemingly unintentional double-entendre.

c is for cookie

honolulu cookie company + good kine cookie co.

if you have been craving chocolate dipped shortbread cookies from the honolulu cookie company you will be happy to know that online ordering is now available! these were included in the goodie bags that we gave to friends who flew in from the mainland for our wedding and everybody loved them.

with ono flavors like chocolate macadamia, white chocolate kona coffee & lilikoi mango . . . who can resist? even better, if you stop by their shop at ward warehouse you can sample all the different flavors (this is either a blessing or a curse since the more cookies you try, the more you end up buying).

and, in other cookie news, the good kine cookie co. recently opened to rave reviews of their handmade iced cookies in shapes reminiscent of the islands like aloha shirts, pineapples, leis, etc. they can even personalize the cookie to celebrate a special occasion.

one of their founders is pastry chef abigail langlas who made the very yummy & very beautiful cakes for our wedding so i'm pretty sure the cookies will be just as onolicious. good kine cookie co. has a shop at restaurant row, a kiosk at ala moana, and online ordering (yay!).

now if somebody would just open up a cupcake bakery so i could savor cupcake sized portions of dobash & guava chiffon cake the next time i'm home!

{update | dec 2009: please note good kine cookie co. officially became hokulani bake shop after this was posted}