Yesterday I was one of a few lucky bloggers to be invited to the first Country Crisp Appreciation Society day run by Jordans Cereals at Leiths School of Food and Wine in London. I was delighted about this as I adore cereal and have been eating Jordans products for many years. For those of you who don’t know, Jordans produce a delicious range of oat based mueslis, cereal bars, porridge oats and Country Crisp clusters. They are based in Biggleswade, in my own hometown of Bedfordshire and use only the finest natural ingredients in their cereals.Some of the other cereal enthusiast bloggers were:
Kavita of Kavey Eats
Signe of Scandilicious
Mathilde of Mathilde’s Cuisine
The Muesli Lover
Greedy Diva
The Ginger Gourmand
Danny of Food Urchin
Maunika of Cook in a Curry
Jordans Country Crisp cereal has been around for several years, and comprises of clusters of oats and barley baked into various sized clusters. It comes in many varieties depending on what add-ins you have with it. I have always favoured the raisin one which has lovely giant chewy flame raisins mixed in with it. The crisp clusters are hugely popular and the whole Country Crisp range has now got such a fan base that Jordans have just launched a Country Crisp Appreciation Society. People can’t get enough of it and are eating it not only at breakfast but also baking with it and snacking on it straight out the box. As a result they have recently launched a honey variety which is designed with snackers in mind – bigger clusters with no add-ins to pick through, although, it does of course still taste great for breakfast.
After a meet and greet one of the two founders of Jordans, Bill Jordan himself then gave us a talk about the history and philosophy behind Jordans. He was ever so friendly and stayed to answer all our questions as we got down to some baking. Apparently it took 83 different recipes before they achieved the perfect cluster – now that’s dedication! Jordans were also the first to offer freeze fried berries in its cereal and all its oats are grown in the fields near the factory and to conservation standard.
Jordans head of taste, Kirsten, then talked us through a Country Crisp Pear and Chocolate Crumble Cake we would be baking using Jordans Chocolate Country Crisp. We were each given our own work space and ingredients and set about baking. It was a vanilla sponge cake, studded with chocolate chips, topped with a layer of Chocolate Country Crisp, sautéed sliced pears and a final sprinkle of more Country Crisp. The recipe can be found here. It produced a delicious cake and it was interesting to see how everyone’s cake turned out a little differently, even though we had all followed the same recipe. The way the pears had been sliced or the amount of Country Crisp topping made each one unique.
While our cakes were baking Kirsten talked us through the secrets to making new Country Crisp recipes. There are 3 different cluster bases, Vanilla, Nutty and Honey from which to add and create new products. Getting the clusters just right took a lot of research. Customers told Jordans they liked the big clusters but then complained that it was too much to chew if the pack only contained big clusters. Too many small clusters meant they weren’t clustery enough. Jordans have found that a mix of small, medium and large clusters is most successful. To do this they sort and grade the clusters after oven baking them to ensure every box is perfect. Even the add ins have proved problematic as high water content fruits like peaches proved too bland and the cut or shape of a nut dramatically changes the texture and mouthfeel of the cereal. It’s Kirsten’s job to taste and help develop the recipes – how fantastic a job does that sound!
We then got the opportunity to get creative and mix our own Country Crisp cereal using the oaty crisp clusters as a base and a fantastic array of add-in ingredients. I chose pecans, hazelnuts, giant flame raisins, pumpkin and sesame seeds, natural apple and apricot pieces and flaked coconut. I then went back and added a handful of dark chocolate curls – being curls they just melted in the mouth, and even sprinkled in a generous amount of cinnamon for an extra warming Christmassy scent. I was so excited by this as I absolutely adore cinnamon with nuts and chocolate, plus its meant to be very good for controlling blood pressure. Once our cereals were mixed we were then presented with our very own personalized country crisp cereal box complete with our picture and a short character description! How cool is that!!
I had a bowlful of the cereal this morning and it was divine. Nutty with crisp oaty clusters, chewy raisins, creamy coconut and the warming scent and flavour of cinnamon.
If you live in the Bedfordshire area and fancy creating your own cereal mix then you can visit their shop in Biggleswade to stock up on all the raw ingredients they use in their own cereals or simply just pick up one of their ready made mixes from the shelves. I have visited the shop many times (it also sells a great assortment of herbs, spices and other gifty things) and found out yesterday that the lovely lady who runs it is actually Bill Jordans Mum!It was a fantastic morning and we left with a bag full of our lovely goodies – pear chocolate crisp cake, personalized cereal and box and a couple of boxes of the Country Crisp cereal. Thank you so much to everyone at Jordans and Wild Card for arranging the day and it was great to meet so many cereal enthusiasts.
I was staying near Lincoln Square which is a quiet street lined with a great selection of restaurants, cafes, bars and specialist shops. Selmarie is a café located right in the centre. They provide a selection of light meals and snacks but it is their wonderful selection of cakes and pastries that drew my attention. On entering the café my eye was instantly drawn to the red velvet cupcakes, a cupcake I have heard much about yet had never tried. It seemed the perfect selection for my first cupcake in America. For anyone who doesn’t know, a red velvet cupcake comprises of a chocolate cake tinted red, topped with a cream cheese frosting. The cupcake looked very attractive with its swirl of cream cheese frosting and pretty red flower. The cake was nicely textured with a good reddy-brown colour. The crumb was a little dry but it was quite late at night when I visited, so it had probably dried out a bit during the day. It had just the right amount of cream cheese frosting which was thick and creamy with a tangy fresh taste. I thought the little red flower on top was a nice touch too.
While exploring downtown we hunted out a Hershey’s store which sells a wide selection of Hershey’s goodies including kisses, bars, enormous bottles of chocolate syrup and an assortment of peanut butter cups. Check out the size of the syrup bottles and giant kisses compared to the coffee mugs at the left-hand side – they’re enormous!
The shop also contained a bakery selling giant peanut butter cup cookies, brownies studded with kisses and assorted cupcakes. I love Hershey’s peanut butter cups and so couldn’t resist a chocolate cupcake topped a mound of peanut butter frosting and a mini peanut butter cup. They came in two sized but I got the smaller one and shared it with T. There was almost as much frosting as cake but I was pleased to find it wasn’t too rich or sweet and wonderfully peanutty. The chocolate cupcake was chocolaty and moist and the mini peanut cup was yummy – you needed a big bite to fit it all in – open wide! I also got a couple of bags on cinnamon chips, I have been huinting for these for months.
This was a lovely cupcake and cookie shop with a little seating area inside that you could sit at and watch the workers in the bake baking cupcakes while munching a sweet treat. It had a lovely atmosphere and I loved how you could watch the staff making cupcakes, it really confirmed that everything was freshly made. We weren’t all that hungry when we visited as we’d just had lunch, so T and I shared a banana pudding, another America treat I had been longing to try. It consisted of a thick banana flavoured custard style ‘pudding’ layered with fresh banana and vanilla wafers. The pudding was thick and creamy and very comforting. Not unlike a trifle with its fruit and wafer layers. They also sold some fab looking pies, tarts, bars and cookies.
T and I happened upon this place by accident while on my way home after an evening out. We went over to investigate and tried the door but they were closed. We began to turn away when the door was opened by one of the staff. We asked if we could have a look inside and take some photos and they agreed. Most of the shelves had been cleared away but there were still a few cupcakes on stands and while I was taking photo T explained that I had a blog and was visiting from the UK. They had a great selection of some more interesting flavoured cupcakes including some gluten free options and ones suitable for vegans. 
They also sold T-shirts and I loved their little badges with the phrase “cupcakes make people happy” I couldn’t agree more and bought one which is now attached to my bag for all to see. The staff were so friendly even though it was after hours and as we were leaving they presented us with a free red velvet cupcake each!! It was a little squatter and wider than a normal cupcake, but this meant it was easier to eat both cake and frosting in one bite. The cake was so light and moist and the cream cheese topping perfectly creamy and sweet. The cupcakes were a little more pricy but totally worth it - my favourite cupcake shop all visit.
This place looks a little dated from the outside but they sold a fantastic selection of cookies and some simply enormous cupcakes. I tried some of the Mexican wedding cookies and they were wonderfully short and buttery, just melted in the mouth and studded with finely ground pecans and covered in a dusting of icing sugar. The perfect dainty cookie. I loved how they decorated their cupcakes to look like flowers, a bit different to the usual swirl style. They were very tender and freshly baked tasting. Everything was very reasonably priced. They also sold a wide selection of sweet and savoury breads and pastries. A great find.
Set in a hollow at the base of the John Hancock Building is The Cheesecake Factory. This place looks a little like something you might expect to see in a Flintstones film, swooping lines, rustic colours and very funky. It is THE place to go for cheesecake downtown. They have a café where you can have a sit down lunch before enjoying a slice of cheesecake, or a fast track take away cheesecake counter located just inside the doors. Even if you don’t like cheesecake this place is worth a visit just to goggle at the fantastic variety and flavour combinations of cheesecake available. The price is a little expensive, but the slices are very generous and the wonderfulness of the cheesecake makes it completely worth it. I had been told about this place and actually walked for an hour to reach it (I got a little lost on the way) and so felt nothing but pure indulgent pleasure at wolfing down a giant slice by myself. 
I was sorely tempted by the carrot cake cheesecake – vanilla cheesecake studded with real carrot cake and covered in chopped nuts, but chose instead the Oreo cheesecake for a true American experience. This consisted of an Oreo cookie crust, creamy vanilla cheesecake layered with Oreo cookies and topped with a large swirl of sweetened cream. I got mine to take away and it was served with another enormous swirl of cream – talk about over the top – but wow it was soooo good.
Situated a little way outside of the city is Eli’s Cheesecake World, which is a genuine commercial cheesecake factory, complete with an on site café and shop. At 1pm, most days, they are open to the public for factory tours. The tour starts with a meet and greet and a little history about Eli’s cheesecake before everyone dons very attractive hairnets and enters the factory where you get to watch first hand as a team of people create magnificent looking cheesecakes. They were working on tiramisu and caramel banana cheesecakes while I was there – they looked so good. We also got to watch as an employee showed us how they finished off and decorated the cheesecakes, with each of us being allowed to pick a topping to decorate it with. Make sure you are paying attention throughout the tour as one lucky person won the cheesecake at the end of the tour, unfortunately it wasn’t me. We all then went back to the café area where we were treated to a complementary slice of cheesecake. I chose the snicker cheesecake – vanilla cheesecake with caramel and peanuts, while T had the turtle cheesecake – caramel cheesecake with pecans, caramel and chocolate, both delicious and very creamy. You can also buy extra slices or whole cheesecakes to take away with you and they had a great variety. The key lime cheesecake looked particularly good.
This bakery is Mexican inspired and was a great find. They had stacks of freshly baked pastries and sweet and savoury filled buns, very cheaply priced considering the quality. I got a pineapple jam filled pastry which comprised of a sweet yeasted dough and a yummy sticky pineapple jam filling.
WOW this place is amazing! We happened upon this place by accident. It’s an ice cream store with a difference. You choose a fresh yoghurt or liquid ice cream base, add the flavour and colour of your choice along with any number of add-ins you wish. This mixture is then poured into the bowl of a specially adapted mixer, the beaters are started and then liquid nitrogen is sprayed into the bowl from overhead pipes, freezing your ice cream concoction instantly! It was amazing to watch and produced the smoothest creamiest ice cream imaginable! You certainly couldn’t get any fresher than this and all custom made – so cool!
As the name suggests this chain sells an amazing selection of pancakes, waffles, crepes and breakfast savories set in a traditional American diner style. T and I went here for lunch on my last day and I got ridiculously excited upon seeing the menu – such a lot of indulgent choices – it was so hard to choose. In the end I went with whole-wheat oat, almond and walnut pancakes accompanied by cinnamon spiced apples and a swirl of cream. They came accompanied by a selection of four syrups for you to drizzle over yourself, just in case they weren’t indulgent enough!
I was presented with a plate of four HUGE pancakes, each one was about the size of a saucer. I only managed about half but they tasted so so good, fluffy, nutty, spicy and drizzled in blueberry syrup mmmmm. It makes me smile just to think of them. A must try for anyone in the area, plus they are open 24hrs so you’ve no excuse not to visit. Just make sure you have a big appetite when you go.
Now called the Willis Tower. It’s the tallest building in Chicago and visitors can visit the skydeck top floor for fantastic panoramic views of the city. They also have glass floored and walled balconies that extend out into the air. It’s quite thrilling stepping out onto one seemingly unsupported. Very long queues but worth the wait.
Ingredients
Ingredients
