Adventure Stops: Scoops on 5th

On Mike's and my visit to Mount Dora for their Christmas lights display, we walked around their downtown area and absolutely fell in love with it! So many great places to shop and eat, and all so close to home, it is quite exciting!

One particular place that we just had to try was right along the park area where the Light Up Mount Dora celebration was happening. As I have mentioned before, Mike and I are big dessert fans. Mike especially loves ice cream, so how could we say no to a place called Scoops on 5th??

Cookies!

The shop is a small place, which appeals to us also as being a local hangout. It was very colorful with a great sign that beckoned you in. The class display cases are filled with dozens of baked goods and that smell combined with freshly popped popcorn make for an interesting fragrance combination. 

See?! Huge Eclairs!!

I knew that Mike already had his mind decided on ice cream, but my mind wasn't made up until I saw that it was Hershey's Ice Cream! Being born and raised a mere hour and a half from Hershey, Pennsylvania, that name is near and dear to my heart. I love getting that ice cream whenever possible.  Oh, and not to mention the fact that this place has 36 different flavors!

After pain-stakingly deciding on a flavor (Midnight Caramel River for me and Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough for Mike), we went to the register to pay. Heading up to the register you get to see all of the amazing baked goods and other treats you can purchase. This place has cookies, cinnamon rolls, mini cakes, unique flavored cupcakes, HUGE eclairs, popcorn, floats, and smoothies. There is also a selection of coffee and fountain beverages.

Price wise, for a small shop, I really thought the prices were reasonable and I look forward to going back soon to try some of their baked goods. 

Some of the basic prices

Scoops on 5th is located at 130 E. 5th Avenue (who would have guessed, right) and is open daily from 12pm to 9pm. 

Have you ever been? What would you try first? Let me know in the comments below and head over to Scoops on 5th's FaceBook page for up-to-date information and pictures. You can also review them on TripAdvisor, which I will be sure to do after another trip there!

Adventures in the Kitchen: Flourless Fudge Cookies

Mike and I are motivating each other to eat healthy. We find that whenever we are together, we tend to eat whatever we want. We eat out more and eat junk more. Since he left for his core rotations, we have been working together but separately to come up with a healthy eating regimen that way we can stick to it when we visit each other.

Part of our regimen is that we get one day a week to be our "cheat day", meaning that we can go over our calories deliberately and indulge a bit. This may be the day we have a few drinks, eat out or have a little extra dessert.

Entering this past week, I had my meals planned out and knew what I would cook when. After planning everything, I realized I did not really give myself a cheat day. The worst thing I was making was the Corn Chowder, so I decided to make that my cheat day and I would decide how to indulge when the day got there.

The week went by and Friday finally arrived. I made my chowder and it was great, but outside of having some chocolate milk at breakfast and throwing some bacon on my salad, I really would not consider myself having a "cheat day". Heck, I didn't even reach my calorie goal with everything I ate.

I wanted something sweet, but not candy, and I really did not have anything to fill that craving. I also did not have a wide variety of baking ingredients. I searched my Pinterest boards and finally came across a recipe that I had the basic ingredients for. The recipe was from kingarthurflour.com.

Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup cocoa Powder
• 3 large egg whites
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract (gluten Free if you are trying to make them that way)

The other ingredient that could have been added was 1 teaspoon of espresso powder, but I did not add this as I really do not like coffee.

Directions:

1. Preheat Oven to 365. Grease two baking sheets. 
2. Stir the ingredients until smooth, scraping the bowl as you stir. 
3. Drop the soft, batter-like dough onto the baking sheets in 1 1/2 inch circles. 
4. Bake the cookies for 8 minutes. They will spread out, become shiny and some may have a cracked look on top. 
5. Remove the cookies from the oven and allow them to cool on the pans. 

The directions were easy to follow and yielded 16 cookies. They were not too sweet and the chocolate powder that I used really gave them a strong flavor, but as a quick and easy dessert, I was quite pleased.

Flourless Fudge Cookies

Makes 16 3" cookies
Calories: 88 per cookie


Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup cocoa Powder
• 3 large egg whites
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract (gluten Free if you are trying to make them that way.

Directions:

1. Preheat Oven to 365. Grease two baking sheets. 
2. Stir the ingredients until smooth, scraping the bowl as you stir. 
3. Drop the soft, batter-like dough onto the baking sheets in 1 1/2 inch circles. 
4. Bake the cookies for 8 minutes. They will spread out, become shiny and some may have a cracked look on top. 
5. Remove the cookies from the oven and allow them to cool on the pans.