The Recipe to Riches is back and the first week winner’s product has hit the store shelves.  If you’ve never checked out the series the concept is quite simple, in each episode of Recipe to Riches, three home cooks compete in one of seven food categories ranging from appetizers and snacks to entrées and desserts. A series of challenges determines whether or not the contenders’ delicious recipes can be mass-produced and if they have the marketing potential to fly off grocery store shelves. Each category winner receives $25,000 and their recipe is developed into a President’s Choice® product made available at select Loblaw stores across the country just days after the episode airs. After all category winners are chosen, it’s up to Canadian viewers to vote online for the best-of-the-best and ultimately decide who will truly make the journey…from recipe to riches.

This weeks winner came in with a honey infused cream cheese that is in a phyllo cup and topped with mozzarella cheese.  By the time the final product hit store shelves last weekend it had undergone some more changes with the addition of a berry compote and a shrinking in the size of the phyllo cups to be bite sized.

Preparing these is a snap, just take them out and bake at 375 degrees for 13 minutes or so.  One thing that I did notice taking these out of the package is that the frozen cheese falls off just like with a frozen pizza but with these getting cheese back on is a balancing act and their was a lot left in the plastic container.

The Mini Cheesy Bees’ Nests were really good.  After letting them sit for a few minutes to let the filling cool down I popped one in my mouth and it was a burst of berry flavor and creamy sweetness from the honey infused cream cheese.  I liked the amount of cream cheese filling but the honey flavor was barely noticeable.  The cheese added an interesting texture and a slight saltiness but like I said it was really slight.

I did enjoy these and ended up eating the whole box by the end of the night but at $7.99 I found them to be on the pricey side and I think I’d actually make them from scratch, the combination of ingredients is yummy and they make a great dessert.