To Mom With Love

The special Mother’s Day cookies from Dancing Deer are the prettiest way to day "I Love You" on her big day. They’re also one of the yummiest. The shortbread hearts, hand-stenciled with sayings like “You rock!” and “Moms rule!” are rich and buttery and melt in your mouth. The Deer’s Brownie Sampler is also delicious: chocolate chunk, caramel pecan, peppermint fudge and peanut butter. Another favorite is the towering Strawberry Shortcake cake with its sweet biscuity crumble and fragrant strawberry jam swirl. The cookies and cake are about $20; A pack of 16 brownies is $34.50. Shop on-line; also available at upscale markets such as Whole Foods.

You can’t go wrong with an elegant chocolate morsel from B.T. McElrath. I happen to be partial to the scrumptious Peanut Butter Pavé, but I’d also be thrilled to dig into a package of the company's new Lemon Blossoms that are filled with a tangy lemon buttercream made with fresh lemons. Shop on-line; also available at upscale markets such as Whole Foods.

The folks at Bloomsberry & Co. don’t just want you to eat chocolate, they want you to laugh and marvel at their creativity while you’re doing it. Log onto the wonderfully whimsical Web site and select a few bars that will fit Mom’s personality. The Ultimate Balanced Diet?  Beauty Bar? Wonder Bar…For the Life You’ll Love?  Bochox? All are solid chocolate, with cocoa percentages listed on the labels. All cost about $5 each on-line and at upscale markets such as Cost Plus.

Cupcakes are the rage. Keep Mom in the loop with a gift of precious little cupcakes from the hip-and-trendy Sprinkles bakery in Beverly Hills. The flavor palette includes such temptations as peanut butter chocolate; ginger lemon; mocha; orange; and chai latte. Each one is almost too pretty to eat. Cost: $3.25 per cupcake. Available on-line and at their five stores in Southern California, Dallas and Phoenix. (The Web site claims that 16 new stores are on the drawing board, from Boston to Seattle. That means that EVERY Mom will have Sprinkles next year…buy now if your Mom likes to feeling she’s ahead of the curve.)

For do-it-yourself Moms,  you can buy a packaged mix from Sprinkles that will yield a dozen dense, delicious cupcakes (complete with  sugary confetti and a recipe for frosting) for $14 at Williams-Sonoma stores.

Quick. Name something that screams “celebration” louder than Champagne. Or, to be perfectly correct, sparkling wine (since only wines from France’s Champagne region are legally allowed to use that term).

Right. I didn't think so. So, how about some pink bubbly for Mom this year. There are hundreds and hundreds of different ones available, at all price points.

Col di Luna Rosé di Valmonte, from Italy, has a delicate flavor and lovely berry scent. It’s crisp and dry, meaning it can partner an entrée as well as toast the world’s best Mom. It’s about $15 at John Given Wines. 

Jacob’s Creek of Australia creates admirable, dependable wines at bargain basement prices. Their sparkling rosé is about $9 at BevMo.

But if it were I hoisting a flute this Sunday, I’d want it to be the Azienda Ceretto SRL Barbaresco Asij. I’ve never tried this wine – which is why I’d like to – but I did taste my way through the Ceretto vineyards some years ago and didn’t find anything I didn't like. Made with nebbiolo grapes, this bubbly comes from one of the most renowned Piedmont vintners (and has one of the most stylish labels, too). It’s about $35 at Wine Chateau.