Vanilla Bean Gelato

This is a total "Not to Bake" item. And man, is it a good one.

Last night I needed a sweet fix.

I know you guys probably think I indulge in every sweet thing I make, but I really don't. Most of my goods are given away. I COULD eat them all myself, but I choose not to. Plus, when I am so involved in the process of making and photographing these treats, it just doesn't always appeal to me to eat them. I taste test everything, and there ARE some things that have a bit of a Kryptonite effect on me, but for the most part I keep a pretty professional relationship with my creations.

But, last night my lack of sugar caught up with me. And ice cream sounded like the perfect fix.

Ice cream and I CAN in fact have one of those Kryptonite-esque associations, and last night I could have easily OD'd on a half gallon, so I decided to keep it simple. I set my sights on a pint of something or possibly even one of those single serving sizes.  

As I roamed the grocery aisle my attention was diverted to this:

The elegantly simple and modern packaging immediately caught my eye. My hope was that Talenti Gelato would taste as gorgeous as it looked.

Wow, did Talenti deliver and then some! It's smooth, EXTRA creamy and the vanilla flavor is so vibrant without being too much. It is FAN-FREAKIN-TASTIC.

Mr. Mac is not a huge sweets fan but we were on the same page with this one. I handed him the pint as I went to check on our daughter who was in her room finding every reason possible to avoid bedtime. 

Baby Mac: "Bite?" (Translated: "Pacifier")

Me: "Yes, here is your pacifier. Please stop throwing it on the floor. Good night." She knows if we hear it drop to the wood floor we will immediately come to her aid and so it has become her favorite game. We  only recently realized that we have been suckers so now we don't jump as soon as we hear it hit the floor.

Baby Mac: "Baby?" (Translated: "blanket") 

Me: "Yes, here is another blanket. That brings the total to 5. I have a feeling you are going to be eaten by all of these blankets through the night and I will be playing 'Where's Waldo' in the morning. Good night."

Baby Mac: "Baby?" (Translated: "baby."  I can decipher between "baby" and "blanket." It's a gift.)

Me: "Okay, we have baby #1, baby #2, Cookie Monster, Bunny (or as she calls him, "Bubby"), baby #3 and Pig. I think you have more than enough company. In fact, we might be breaking some kind of fire codes. Good night."

By the time I got back into the living room, my husband had put a pretty large dent in the gelato and was begging me to take it away before he consumed it all. That, my friends, is the test of a indulgent dessert. If my husband has trouble resisting, it's golden. We just might buy stock in this company.

And the label may be the best part:

See those little black vanilla flecks? It's like my taste buds won the lottery.

That is just about everything I want to see in a food label. The list of ingredients doesn't read like a who's who of things I can't pronounce. And the fact that it's gluten free, hormone free, and all those other fun traits, just makes it that much more enjoyable.

So how is gelato different from ice cream? Gelato has less air churned into it resulting in a more dense and rich texture. Gelato is about 15% air where its ice cream counterpart is about 50%.

Another great feature? Gelato has much less fat. Ice cream typically has lots of milk and/or cream and eggs. The fat content is around 16%-26%. Gelato contains no eggs and only a small amount of cream and/or milk (or just water, if it's a sorbet) resulting in a fat content of about 2%-8%.

I purchased this gelato at my local Kroger. It also comes in such flavors as Double Dark Chocolate, Caribbean Coconut, Belgian Milk Chocolate, Roman Raspberry, Seal Salt Caramel (which I will fervently petition my store to carry), Black Cherry and more.

Check out Talenti's website and see what makes them so special and remarkably delicious!

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 2 things:

1. Talenti did not pay me to say these things. However, I would not turn them down if they wanted to. And if they felt the need to send some free schwag my way, I would not be insulted. Ahem...

2. Thanks to my friend Amy for helping to edit my posts. She takes time out of her lunch break to read over what I write and tell me what works and what doesn't. She is the Rodgers to my Hammerstein.