One More Bite Catering and Events

Author: OMB Z&E

Finding a New Year’s Party

Well, 2018 has come and gone. If you’re like us, we like to ring the New Year in right. Finding a party might be a bit daunting though. Here’s three easy tips to have a great New Year’s!

Look at Your Favorite Bar/Restaurant

Most bars and restaurants host some sort of party on New Year’s Eve. These may be ticketed, or first-come-first-serve. This year, Eric’s favorite bar is closing on New Year’s Day. So that decision was easy. They’re having a prix fixe menu and seating is limited, requiring a reservation. This is certainly a great way to guarantee your drink/meal will be good. Check with your favorite place and see what they’re doing!

Google It!

If you don’t have a favorite place, or you like spontaneity, we recommend our friend Google! No matter the city, a quick search of “New Year’s Events” will yield some good results. Eventbrite is a great source of events as well. You may even be able to find some events on Groupon.

Just Wing It!

Some of the best parties we’ve attended were spontaneous. Often we’ll pick the city first, and then just wander around until we find something fun. Eric’s done this in Provincetown, MA; Portland, ME; and Worcester, MA. Most events will charge a cover. These can range from $20-$100. Be prepared to walk around in the cold and you may find a great new place to celebrate.

No matter what you do, always have a good time. We like to have two common denominators to our New Year’s: Friends and Champagne!

Tell us below what your New Year’s traditions are!

December 27, 2018
Peppermint Chocolate Ganache Bars Review

Zoe’s Take:

7.5/10

So I love chocolate, and ganache and, well, bars. What I am not a huge fan of is peppermint. I think having the peppermint extract and the peppermint on the top of the bars is too much for one cookie. Plus, the candycanes on top were a little bit chewy after sitting on top of the white sugary layer all night. The crust is good, the chocolate ganache layer is good and the cream cheese layer is good but there’s way too much peppermint in this. I think that just the peppermint extract is enough. If you’re really into candy canes though…this dessert is definitely for you.

Eric’s Take:

9/10

These were delicious. I love “oreo” crust and chocolate ganache. The top is similar to a cheesecake. I thought there was just enough peppermint in these bars. But I like a lot of peppermint flavor. The problem with these are they don’t keep well and they are a bit messy. That might be due to me not pressing the cookie layer down enough. The shortcuts here were using a cookie bottom and folding in cool whip into the cream cheese layer.

December 26, 2018
Gingerbread People Review

Zoe’s Take:

7/10

I like gingerbread a lot, and these were no different. The biggest problem is that the recipe called for a cake mix that basically doesn’t exist, volume wise, which made the dough very wet. I remedied this by adding more flour. Another problem was because of the cake mix, the gingerbread expanded way more than if I had made the dough from scratch. The gingerbread was very good though, and very moist and chewy, exactly what I was looking for. I decorated each gingerbread person very simply, but they could very well be complex and done with royal icing. Definitely good, but definitely some issues.

Eric’s Take

8/10

I enjoyed making this recipe. The shortcut for this cookie was a spice cake mix. Again, the recipe called for a size that didn’t exist anymore. I also added a tad extra flour and this helped a lot. This was my first time making gingerbread and I had fun doing it. I also decorated very simply. This recipe lost one point for the texture as it was chewy and less traditional. I also dropped it a point for taste. I didn’t overly love the flavor. It was a bit bland and needed some more sweetness. Overall I enjoyed the process and cookies. I gave these cookies away as gifts, and they received very good reviews.

December 19, 2018
Cranberry Cereal Wreaths

Zoe’s Take:

5.5/10

These looked really promising in the cookbook… however, I definitely had some doubts. First of all, it’s a whole lot of sugary sweetness in one cookie. White chocolate is very sweet, and paired with dried fruit (also very sweet), cornflakes, almonds and marshmallows, it was just way too much. Don’t get me wrong, I like sweet things. But these were just way too sweet for me. Then there’s the fact that actually making them is a very messy process. I used a very large mixing bowl, and ingredients still kept coming out while I was mixing it. Also, it’s a little bit impossible to mix cornflakes gently. Finally, actually shaping the wreaths was a PAIN. I was smart and used gloves, but I don’t think most home cooks keep gloves for cooking in their pantry. They didn’t want to stick together and making the hole in the center was even more frustrating. They took about 15 minutes to cool down and dry and THEN they stuck together pretty well. I do like that they are very good for decorating.

Eric’s Take:

6/10

This was a disappointment for me. I felt the same way Zoe did. Everything started out well. The ingredients were easy to find and put together. Everything changed when it came time to form the wreathes. The batter was very sticky, but as I made the holes and formed the wreathes as instructed, they started to fall apart. I can give the recipe the benefit of the doubt though. For this recipe I believe timing is critical. Once the white chocolate begins to cool it’s more difficult for the mix to keep a shape. The ones that made it hardened and were easy to decorate and transfer to a plate, which I was worried about. They second major problem…again, much like Zoe I felt they were too sweet. I don’t like super sweet things, so these made me cringe a bit. I think they would be great paired with other treats though, and would make a lovely addition to a cookie plate.

December 12, 2018
Zoe Teaches How to Play Dreidel!

For the last night of Hanukkah, Zoe teaches us how to play the game of Dreidel.

December 10, 2018
Pecan Pie Bars: Cookbook Review 1

This month, Zoe & Eric are reviewing The Ultimate Shortcut Cookie Book, a cookie/dessert cookbook. This cookbook is all about shortcuts, making cookies with pre-made mixes and other shortcuts to make the process easier and faster.

Zoe’s Take:

8/10

I love pecan pie. It’s my favorite at Thanksgiving and my favorite at Christmas too. The biggest problem I have with pie is that the crust is often too much. With these pecan pie bars, I felt like I didn’t have to deal with a large amount of crust while I was eating it, which was definitely a plus. What I didn’t like so much was that the shortcut in the recipe made it so the pecans I added last didn’t really want to stay on the top, they just sunk into the batter. I also didn’t use corn syrup, I used honey instead, which didn’t make a big difference. I would definitely recommend these bars to a pecan pie lover, or someone who has a ton of people coming over for the holiday.

Eric’s Take

8/10

This cookie bar was delicious. It’s really just a denser pecan pie that you can cut into bars. The big “short-cut” here was using cake mix for the bottom. The recipe called for a 18.25 ounce package. The problem with that is most cake mixes don’t come in that size. It’s difficult to account for measured conversions when baking with eggs, so I just ignored the fact I was missing some mix. This was used in the crust, which is baked first. The dough wasn’t the easiest to spread, but I eventually got it level. The mix was easy enough to put together, but in following the directions exactly I believe I over-mixed my “Filling” (The pecan/custard part). The directions called for mixing for a minute on low speed, then a minute on medium speed. This recipe was also very rich. A square inch of this bar is enough for me. Those last two reasons are why this recipe lost two points. Overall very good and they ended up being a crowd pleaser!

December 5, 2018
Zoe and Eric Celebrate Hanukkah!

We’re excited to share this video from the first night of Hanukkah. This was Eric’s first, so he sat down with Zoe and she explained some of the history. We hope you enjoy this candle lighting and brief chat. We hope this video serves as a screen test for what is to come in 2019 and beyond.

December 3, 2018
Cookbook Review: Energy Bites

Zoe’s Take:

7.5/10

I like these energy bites. They actually taste pretty good. I’m generally not a fan of dates, but i think pairing them with a variety of mix-ins created a homogeneous product that tasted good and didn’t throw my taste buds in any weird directions. The biggest problem I had with these are that they are incredibly messy to make (dates are crazy sticky) and more time consuming to make then what they actually are. They are pretty healthy and very sweet, so they work for a dessert if you’re trying to watch your sugar intake.

Eric’s Take

9/10

This was a fun recipe and tasted much better than I expected. I ended up making these for a party and they went very quickly. The only problem is they’re VERY heavy. I could only eat three on an empty stomach before I was full. I take this as a good thing. It’s a great and tasty way to get some energy without too much added sugar. They are incredibly messy to make, but you can utilize all the ingredients without much waste. The proportions were also well measured. This made it easy to half the recipe. Overall this was one of the best thought-out recipe we looked at this month.

November 29, 2018
Carrot Cake Muffins with Cream Cheese Icing

This new versatile recipe will be your new favorite breakfast and dessert! This quick-bread is a great treat with warm spice and sweet icing.

Make them HERE today!

Let us know how you like them below!

November 27, 2018
Ralph Breaks the Internet Movie Premier

Ralph may have broke the Internet today, but that’s not stopping us. We’re going to enjoy some of our favorite apps and browsers on cupcakes! These cupcakes are decorated with the Facebook, Twitter, Internet Explorer and Google Chrome logos.

Go see Ralph Breaks the Internet, in theaters now, and let us know how you liked it!

November 21, 2018