2012 New Year’s Gifts
I hope everyone had a warm and happy holiday weekend. I know I feasted on some really wonderful savory dishes, and indulged in multiple desserts including organic cookies, peppermint creme patties, and some vegan toffee topping on coconut ice cream! 
Despite all that decadence, I always feel a bit of a let-down after big holidays; getting up the next morning and it’s just business as usual again. Lucky for us, however, just when we think the holidays are over, there’s another one on the horizon!
New Year’s 2012 this weekend, gives us a little wiggle room in the holiday gifts department. Did you forget someone on your list, or maybe just didn’t get around to those last few presents? Ring in the New Year with decadent compassionate sweets! Whether it’s a corporate holiday gift for your boss or a sweet treat for your significant other, help those important people in your life start the New Year right!
New Year’s resolutions are always full of eating better, getting fit and staying healthy. You can help with all those things and give your colleagues and loved ones decadent treats they can feel good about enjoying. 
Although sending sweets may not seem like the best way to help someone achieve their fitness goals, my experience has been that I gain greater enjoyment from and eat less of high-quality, pure and exquisitely delicious desserts, than I would from cheaper or “healthy” tasting alternatives. Those imitations spur me to eat more, trying in vain to attain the satisfaction I’m craving. Encourage conscious and compassionate indulgence with a personal or corporate food gift that will nourish the mind, body and taste buds while encouraging less devouring and more savoring.
Eco-Compassionate Business Holiday Gifts
It’s that gift-giving time of year and along with the pumpkin pie and holiday cheer, December also inevitably includes crowded malls, incessant Christmas music and those horrible corporate gifts sitting around the office. You know, the baskets of strange, stale and sometimes unidentifiable edibles no one would ever actually eat. Well, we’re here to make that old basket a thing of the past and give this year’s corporate food gifts a make-over.
We’ve designed five fabulously elegant and decadently delicious vegan gift baskets with green and compassionate corporate gift-giving in mind. In varying sizes to match any office or budget size, these gourmet coffee gifts baskets include a variety of healthy, cholesterol-free baked goods, artisan chocolates, vegan confections, and fair-trade coffee and cocoa. Impress your colleagues and share your good taste; say goodbye to the corporate holiday gift that no one wants and instead offer your business partners premium-quality desserts that everyone will enjoy. Our products even come with a complete satisfaction guarantee!
Salted Confections Gift Set: The Photo Shoot
Little known fact: we do all our own photography here at Allison’s Gourmet. And I don’t mean we hire some pro photographer to come take pictures for us. Nope, all those gorgeous photos you seen on our website? All us (not to toot our own horns too much, but I do think we’re pretty awesome for amateurs). Recently we had a photo shoot for the new Salted Confections Gift Set. You can see the finished photos along with our other holiday gifts online at our website and in last week’s post.
Here’s a little peek behind the scenes:
Allison and I seem to be ridiculous perfectionists in similar ways, which makes us perfectly matched to work together. Everything we produce is absolutely top quality whether it’s corporate food gifts, heavenly confections or monthly cookie flavors, so we want the photos of these things perfect too. 
This photo shoot of just one image took us several hours. That was partly because we’re breaking in a new camera and had to learn how to use it. But seriously, the process goes something like this. We take a few photos, go look at them on the computer, go back to the studio table, make minute changes, take a few more photos… And the process continues with tiny changes in angle, number and spacing of salt crystals, plumping up and balancing of caramels and carefully melting chocolate with a heat gun.
Luckily, we’re great friends and we love the work. We also have similar tastes in chocolate (which really keeps us going). Between the chocolates on the side, and the peanut brittle and caramels that were lying around everywhere, we were pretty loopy by the end of it all. 
In looking through the final photos, we had a fit of hysterics over this photo, see if you can figure out why…
Summer’s Heat Can’t Beat These Chocolate Treats
You may have noticed that the chocolate sections of our website are a little less populated this summer than they have been at other times of the year. This is because summertime heat, especially in this record-breaking year, makes creating, storing and shipping chocolates problematic. 
As you probably know, we have extremely high standards for the taste, quality and presentation of all of our products. In the case of our fair-trade chocolates, they’re made by hand, in small batches, using only the very finest dairy-free, organic and fair-trade ingredients. After all the premium ingredients and loving preparation, it would be a shame to have them arrive as a chocolate puddle. So, to avoid that tragedy while the warm weather continues into Fall, here are a few wonderful chocolate gifts that will not melt in the heat.
Our chocolate, salted chocolate, and chocolate rose caramel flavors all have the chocolate-y goodness we all love while being impervious to heat. If they get a little soft in warmer temperatures, simply refrigerate them for a short time to re-harden. Classic and peppermint drinking chocolates are perfect for creating rich and decadent dairy-free chocolate milk or milkshakes on hot summer days. For some taste-test fun, try several different non-dairy milks and ice creams in your milkshakes, then pick your favorite.
Last but certainly not least, our baked goods offer a variety of chocolate flavors that don’t mind the heat. Double Chocolate Chunk Cookies and several flavors of brownies are currently available including Toasted Coconut and Pecan. These artisan baked goods make excellent corporate food gifts for compassionate and eco-conscious companies. A dozen cookies or a tray of brownies cut into bite-sized pieces can easily be shared around an office or conference room. Don’t let the heat get in the way of your chocolate cravings…
Act now!
Classy Corporate Food Gifts
In my years here at Allison’s I’ve seen businesses and organizations give gourmet corporate food gifts for all kinds of special occasions.
Health-conscious, animal-friendly and ecologically responsible businesses give our gift baskets, gift sets and samplers to their employees, contributors and business partners for everything from hirings and promotions to generous donations and jobs well done. These savvy businesses have discovered that, with Allison’s Gourmet, corporate food gifts don’t have to be cheesy, literally or figuratively. 
Our heart-healthy, animal-free and spectacularly tasty treats are packaged in elegant, 100% recycled gift boxes or baskets that will look beautiful adorning a desk or lunch table. (But we doubt they’ll be sitting there for long!)
Have a special date on your calender you don’t want to miss? Order now and use our delayed delivery date option to have your order delivered whenever you specify. Just say “no” to procrastination.
Green and Compassionate Corporate Gift-Giving
Want to express your company’s gratitude in a green and compassionate way? Give a corporate food gift that aligns with your values! 
Sustainable and animal-free, our organic, vegan and fair-trade gift baskets, samplers and gift sets make elegant corporate food gifts that you and your company can be proud of. Say “Thanks” or “Congratulations!” in a way your green and humane business partners, affiliate and employees will appreciate and enjoy.
Looking for a gift that will be remembered month after month? Monthly clubs give your recipients delicious vegan, organic and fair-trade baked goods delivered fresh to their doors each and every month hassle-free. With a scrumptious array of rotating monthly flavors and servings big enough to share, your monthly club gift is sure to be much anticipated and enjoyed in any business or work place.
Corporate Gifts: Share the Vegan Goodness
Along with writing this blog, I also work in the shipping department here at AG, and I really love packaging up orders. Each order we pack, large or small, gets personal attention and we make sure that everything we ship looks and tastes beautiful. Each order is unique, with it’s own mix of goodies and often it’s own gift card message. 
Some orders seem intimate, going to individuals with sweet, adoring messages like “I love my life with you.” Other times we ship large vegan gift baskets to teams or offices with congratulatory or thankful messages attached. While I melt over the sweet love notes, the corporate food gifts are some of my favorite orders to ship because they share so much love and vegan goodness with so many people. Plus the baskets are really fun to put together.
I love the aesthetic challenge of fitting all those decadent desserts into a gift basket in an elegant way so that when it arrives at its destination it will be a beautiful presentation to sit on a conference table or adorn someone’s desk. I also love knowing that our products are so delicious that everyone will enjoy them no matter what their normal eating habits. So, next time you’re looking for a unique and beautiful corporate food gift, think of us. And thank you, for helping us share the best vegan sweets on the planet!
Gift Baskets, Gift Sets and Samplers: Classy Corporate Gifts for Everyone
There’s this kind of weird concept that floats around during the holiday season called the corporate food gift, which, I have to admit, sounds pretty unappetizing and not like anything I’d want to receive as a gift. I only mention it because, around this time of year, companies, business partners and colleagues tend to send each other these baskets full of stale crackers, gross cheese and greasy salami. Now, if you, or someone you know, sends corporate food gifts for the holidays, I’m here to tell you, there’s a better way!
Allison’s Gourmet is revitalizing the corporate food gift, and the first thing we’re doing is changing the name! Our Gift Baskets, Gift Set, and Samplers make elegant, vegan gifts that companies and businesses can be proud to send to all their partners and clients. Healthier for you, packaged more beautifully and sustainably, and more animal and planet friendly than other gifts you might send or receive, our organic, fair-trade goodies are guaranteed to have everyone oohing and ahhing with delight!
Question: What name would you suggest for this kind of gift?
Unique and Delicious Fudge Flavors
I’m always a little sad when, around this time of year, I start to feel Autumn in the air. I’m a summertime kind of girl, and the transition to Fall means that cold, dark winter is just around the corner. One of the things that makes the coming change in the seasons bearable, however, is that Butterscotch Pecan fudge is September’s fudge flavor. 
Words don’t really do it justice, but let me just say that creamy, Butterscotch-flavored white fudge, with an intoxicating scent of caramel and vanilla, perfectly paired with toasted pecans is just the thing to make the idea of coming winter seem like not such a bad thing. You may be surprised that my favorite fudge flavor isn’t a chocolate one, but its uniqueness is part of its charm. Our friends at VegNews like it so much that it has become their preferred corporate food gift whenever we have it available.
If you have a monthly club fudge membership, look for this white fudge delicacy in your mailbox around September 10th. Or, for a memorable and inspiring birthday, holiday, or corporate food gift for compassionate, dessert-loving friends and colleagues all year long, consider a monthly club gift membership.
August’s Flavors: More Wheat-Free Options
August will be here next week, and it’s bringing with it some new and exciting wheat-free options to our brownie and cookie line-up. Sugar dusted (Wheat-Free) Cinnamon Snickerdoodle Cookies, and gorgeous (Wheat-Free) Toasted Coconut Brownies are sure to be the highlights of your summer. They’re not, however, our only wheat-free flavors. (Wheat-Free) Peanut Butter and (Wheat-Free) Chocolate Chip Pecan Cookies also make our favorites list, as well as (Wheat-Free) Mocha and (Wheat-Free) Half Original/Half Pecan Brownies.
Interested in trying all of these flavors and more? Our Cookie and Brownie Samplers make great treats for the entire family and excellent corporate food gifts for environmentally-friendly and health-conscious businesses. For more compassionate corporate food gift ideas, check out our Gift Baskets and Gift Sets.
