Holiday Do-Goodies: Merch Monday

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One of the best parts of the holidays is the food. Let's be honest. The amount of pastries and other goodies that we consme contribute to the underlying guilt behind "get fit" New Year's resolutions. Sweets are a huge part of the holiday culture. Just look at the season's cast of characters: gingerbread houses, Santa's milk and cookies, candycanes and the line "now bring us our figgy pudding" from the carol We Wish You a Merry Christmas.

What exactly is figgy pudding anyway?

If you're looking for the answer to the above question, you're at the wrong blog. This post does have the answer to what sort of holiday treats you can give (or self-indulge in) this season. Gives that not only taste amazing but also give back.

After making an appearance on Oprah's magazine, the Today Show and a recent mention on Good Morning America, Greyston Bakery's brownies are rapidly climbing the popularity ladder. For good reason. Their assortment of baked brownie treats are out of this world. So good in fact that they are the sole supplier of brownies to Ben and Jerry's for their chocolate fudge ice creams. Their brownie flavor expertise goes outside just the realm chocolate fudge. Additional flavors also include a walnut assortment and (this writer's personal favorite) blondie brownies.

What really makes Greyston Bakery's brownies shine isn't the ingredients...it's the social purpose behind their business. The bakery hires homeless, recently incarcerated and other at-risk individuals who may not be able to gain employment elsewhere. While working for the bakery, these individuals learn job skills, life skills and ultimately get on the path to a more sustainable life. As their slogan indicates, they don't hire people to bake brownies. They "bake brownies to hire people."

Greyston Bakery is just one of the several social enterprise partner groups of the socially responsible initiative Helping Hand Rewards. You can learn more about Greyston Bakery and all of HHR's other social good partnerships by clicking here. It's definitely something you'll want to learn more about.