A Royal Favor

There are a lot of foods that I had never tried prior to meeting Eric – perogies, sushi, lamb, tilapia...the list goes on.  It would be a gross understatement to say that I was a picky eater as a child, and those habits grew with me into adulthood where during my days as a single bachelorette in Osborne Village, the only things that could be found in my cupboards were Kraft Dinner, Oreos and Mr. Noodles.  Eric has constantly been introducing me to new foods and encouraging me to try new things, and now I find myself more adventurous in the culinary world, though I have still not tried a fraction of the weird food he has consumed, including sea urchin, boa constrictor, and turtle...

 

Sea urchin – it’s what’s for dinner!

But after a recent trip to the St. Norbert Farmer’s Market, I learned about another delightful little treat that I have never tried, Imperial cookies!  And these just happen to be Eric’s favorite.

 

 

Yum!

This famous little cookie from the UK (where Eric’s mother is from) is very simple.  Two English biscuits, or sugar cookies, some raspberry jam in the middle, with sweet white icing on the top and usually finished with a little cherry, jelly candy, or a cutout on the top cookie.  When we saw a giant one at the Farmer’s Market a couple weeks ago, we bought it to share as dessert after our yummy meal of bison steaks.  It was delicious, and it got us to talking about these cookies and how much Eric loves them.

 

 

Haha!  The stupidest things make me laugh, I swear...

Eric and I have been tossing around different ideas for our wedding favors for a while, and we knew we wanted it to be something very personal, yet practical for our guests.  We thought about wine stoppers, corkscrews, wine glasses, chocolate, etc. but nothing was really a perfect fit.  We want our favors to be representative of us, yet really memorable.  We want our guests to love them, so that they don’t get left on the tables or forgotten.  And one thing Eric pointed out that I think is really smart, is that guests love a favor they can eat.  Weddings ceremonies are at a weird time, say 3:30 or 4 pm, and once you get through that and make your way to the reception, you’re usually peckish and dinner doesn’t get served for another two hours!  So, what better way to finish off the cocktail hour bites than with a couple of mini Imperials?

 

 

“Imperial” cookies, hahaha...yet another good one!

So, I told Eric about High Tea Bakery here in Winnipeg, and how they are famous for their Imperial cookies and I have heard over and over how great they are but didn’t take any notice because I didn’t know what Imperial cookies were.  They were featured in the Oh Canada Premium Gift Lounge at the Golden Globes, and they were also made for the Queen during her visit in 2010.  La dee dah!  So last Saturday we went down to High Tea and tried the mini Imperial and the regular sized Imperial.

 

 

Mini imperials from the High Tea website!

Verdict?  Freakin’ delicious.  Divine.  I’m not a big cookie lover (except for the aforementioned Bachelorette Oreos) and I thought they were ah-mazing.  Eric loved them too, and since he has very discriminating taste when it comes to Imperials, this was a huge success.  And hey, if they are good enough for Her Majesty, I guess they are good enough for our wedding guests!  So keep an eye out at our wedding for High Tea’s delicious Imperials!  And if you haven’t yet, I highly recommend you get down there and try them.  Seriously.  Go now. 

 

 

Like this, but better.  And with the proper initials.

Happy Wedding Wednesday!!!

 

~M