BELLY BOX-JUNE 2018

It always feels good to know that the sweets and savouries that you’ve been wolfing down do not contain preservatives, that the use of artificial colours and flavours are to a minimum and that the baker prefers using healthier ingredients. And this is what Belly Box has to offer. Also, the goodies do not have the ‘store-bought’ taste and aren’t too sweet. 

The “bourbon” biscuit didn’t come that way! I couldn’t help sneaking in a bite before clicking the pictures. The box was delivered when I was away at work. I reached home only by 11pm. I showed the box to Sky and told him he couldn’t eat it until I clicked pictures. I found time to click pictures the next afternoon, by which time Sky and I were drooling.  Items for immediate consumption were identified, portions were marked. Skip (our 6 year old) wasn’t at home so we had a serious discussion on whether we need to give him his share.  Our parental instinct took over and we divided all the goodies by three.

This month’s box had the following items.

1.      CHOCOLATE SANDWICH FINGERS

These bourbon-esque biscuits had chocolate cream sandwiched between two bars of rich cocoa biscuits, with sugar sprinkled on them. How were they different from Bourbon? Well, for starters, they were bigger. The biscuits tasted richer (more dark chocolaty than regular) with lesser cream. I didn’t think Skip would like them but he did. So did we!

2.      BLONDE BRUNETTES

Aah! I hadn’t realised they were made with wheat flour until I read the description again now. I love the Belly Box brownies. They are always chewy and fudgy. This was a combination of chocolaty brownie with chewy butterscotch blondie. One went into Skip’s school snack box.

3.      LEMON CURD TARTLETS

I love tarts especially the tangy lemon ones. The crust is whole wheat and the lemon curd was just perfect. It was silky smooth (and thankfully without curdled bits) and with just the right amount of 'lemony' in it.

4.      MANGO TEA CAKE WITH PISTACHIO CRUMB

Since it’s a multigrain cake, it’s crumbly and not moist and spongy. The bits of mango add a touch of sweetness to this otherwise plain cake and the layer of pistachio crumb on top makes the cake look pretty. Yes, it’s a pretty cake. I only wished the pistachio crumb were crunchy.

5.      CHEESY GARLIC BREADSTICKS

I love garlic breadsticks. While the texture of the breadsticks was fine, I was hoping for a  stronger flavour of garlic in it.

This month's box had an assortment of chocolaty, chewy, lemony, crumbly and garlicky goodies. 

My favourites were the lemon tarts and the blonde brunettes.

Look what I found in my garden today! 

BELLY BOX- March, 2018

I was in a rush to leave home when I got a call from a delivery guy saying that he had a cake to deliver. That stopped me short in my tracks. I celebrated my birthday towards the end of last month and wondered who could have sent a cake now? I hopped, skipped and jumped my way to the gate.

I saw the box was from Belly & Soul. I had checked out their page on Facebook but couldn’t recall having subscribed to their box. Belly & Soul is a home based catering service based in Bangalore, owned and managed by Aparna George. They have monthly subscription boxes called the Belly Box that has an assortment of ‘sweet and savoury home-baked goodies’. The pictures looked delectable on their page and the reviews were positive.

And here I was, standing with the Belly Box in my hands. The delivery guy connected me to Aparna who told me that I had a 3-month subscription booked by Hershey and Amy. (Yayayayay, this was my birthday gift from them) I couldn’t wait to open the box and taste the contents. (I had already seen the pictures of the March Belly Box on their page)

Each box is Rs. 625 per month, but if you sign up for 3 months, you pay only Rs. 1750/-. Details for signing up can be gotten from their Facebook page.

Look at all these goodies JJJ.    The box was home delivered and all the bakes were in great condition. The cookies were crisp and the buttercream hadn’t melted.

There is a sizable portion of each bake and the quantity is more than adequate for our family of three.

The box comes with a ‘guide’ that lists out the items in the Belly Box with a tantalising description for each item. I also like that each description tells us how to store these bakes and for how long it may be stored.

   

There were 5 items in the March Belly Box.

1.      MANGO CHEESECAKE

This is a baked cheesecake. Skip loves mangoes and I shared half the cheesecake with him. I love, love cheesecakes and I prefer the refrigerated (no-bake) ones to the baked ones. Sometimes the baked ones end up being too dense and I like my cheesecakes creamy but not dense. So when I put this one in my mouth, I was pleasantly surprised that I liked it. The layer of mango topping was just perfect and tasted of fresh mangoes and not like bottled mango puree.    

2.      EASTER ‘NEST’ CUPCAKES

There were three of these. These are vanilla cupcakes with vanilla/chocolate buttercream. I served Skip one on a plate and got back to work and then he came running to my room with the plate. He looked down at his plate and the cupcake had gone missing!!! He swore he hadn’t eaten it and then, began the search for the missing cupcake. I found it lying on the floor with the buttercream side down and a gigantic blob of white and green on our tile. (The cake had slipped out of the plate when he was running towards my room) The next one was served to him in a bowl and he LOVED it. (Though he didn’t like the ‘eggs’ saying they were too hard) The ‘eggs’ are sugar coated almonds nestled in the buttercream nest.

3.      TRADITIONAL GREEK EASTER BUTTER COOKIES (Koulourakia)

          

There were 3 of these. These butter cookies were just the way I like butter cookies – They were crisp throughout (I do not like chewy cookies), they had the slightest hint of salt in them and they were big. I assume the cookies were shaped to match the words Belly & Soul as I got cookies that looked like S, O and L.

4.      SAVOURY MUFFINS

There were 2 of these. Would you believe this, I have never eaten a savoury muffin! I warmed them as per the instructions and got a wonderful burst of favours in my mouth. The crust is crunchy with pumpkin and sunflower seeds. The inside too is crunchy with corn and carrot. The cheese is not overpowering and just adds a subtle hint of flavour. I thought I got a strong flavour of thyme of which I’m not a big fan as it leaves a bitter aftertaste at times.

5.      WHITE CHOCOLATE AND CRANBERRY BLONDIES

There were 2 of these. The outer part was crusty and the inside cakey. I liked these Blondies and am now on the lookout for a Blondie recipe. I like getting chunks of chocolate in my cakes/cookies and the addition of the sour cranberries worked perfectly with the white chocolate.

It’s hard to choose a favourite from this month’s box because they all tasted so good. But if I had to, I’d choose the Cookies and the Blondies.

These boxes are great for gifts. They are ideal for the school snack box (because they are home-made) and then of course they make great evening (or midnight) snacks for all.  I can’t wait to receive my next box.