The Never-Ending Sweet Tooth
This blog title sounds like it could be the name of a toddler's board book (or a middle-grade reader's mystery). But, alas--it merely describes my predicament as of late.
Those who know me well know that I am always in the mood for dessert (or a "treat" as I often call it.) You name it--cookies, cakes, pies, pastries, breads, ice cream--and I'm all about it. Working at a summer camp for a few years didn't help this habit, since we'd have dessert after both lunch and dinner.
I will say, though, my sweet tooth comes into play mainly with homebaked goods--I can easily (or more easily) pass on the store-bought and pre-packaged cookies, cakes, pies, etc. I have pretty good willpower when it comes to candy, too (though I have a certain weakness for Junior Mints.)
Just like you shouldn't go grocery shopping when you're starving (that's never a good outcome for our family--I usually come home with an extra few bags of "unnecessaries" than if I had eaten before making the grocery trek)--you shouldn't pore over recipe books looking for a dessert recipe during a particulary strong attack of a sweet tooth. I spent a good 20 minutes this morning searching for the perfect "treat" to make (all this under the guise of "building my grocery store list for the next week"--although, in my defense I did determine most of next week's meals). So--here are a few possibilities I ran across:
Chocolate Espresso Angel Food Cake: sounds and looks wonderful from the picture--but the "11 egg whites at room temperature" was too exhausting of an ingredient so I quickly flipped the page
Frozen Ice Cream Pie: I saw a picture in a magazine of this--and was drawn in by the "EASY" splashed near the recipe title--but then when I saw how many ice cream bars were involved, I had two thoughts: how expensive is this recipe? and I could get in a lot of trouble with this one--there's no telling how many ice cream bars are in a serving of this. . .
Peanut Butter Haystacks: I like the peanut butter, I like the peanuts and the butterscotch chips--not sure how I feel about the chow mein noodles in it. . . I'll stick to more "sugary" ingredients. . .
Peanut Butter-Chocolate Banana Cream Pie: looks and sounds wonderful, but the last paragraph was too defeating: refrigerate at least 3 hours or overnight. I'm more of the instant- gratification-type when it comes to eating dessert; I can wait 45 minutes for baking, but I don't know about 3 hours. . .and certainly not overnight!
Mince Meat Cookies: plainly put, these don't sound very appetizing right now (although, I will say, for those who have never tried mince meat--I've tried mince meat cake before and it is quite good!)
Moist Pound Cake: always sounds good, but I always think of pound cake in such a negative way--too unhealthy with all that shortening or butter; does anyone have a good "healthy" pound cake recipe? (but I guess that would defeat the purpose of a pound cake and what makes it so incredibly delicious. . . .)
Plum Good Cake: I realize to some of you this may not sound like a winner, but I'm leaning towards this one--it can be made into a cake or muffins--has cinnamon and ground cloves in it, dusted with powdered sugar. . I've always been a fan of those "autumn sweets"--anything with pumpkin, cranberries, cinnamon and nutmeg. . . so it's no surprise that this one stood out to me. Plus, it seems to be a good mix of healthy and sweet (never mind the one cup of oil).
While we're talking about autumn sweets and a mix of healthy and sweet--here's something I sometimes make when I want pumpkin pie without the mess of a crust. I make the pie filling and pour it into ramekins and bake it like a pie---then serve it with whipped cream/cool whip. This is the ultimate in "treats"--satisfying the sweet tooth yet doing something good for your body with a good dose of beta carotene. (Thanks, Mom, for making these when I was little!)
Here's to the desserts that we love (and those that we would like to try to make someday!)
Those who know me well know that I am always in the mood for dessert (or a "treat" as I often call it.) You name it--cookies, cakes, pies, pastries, breads, ice cream--and I'm all about it. Working at a summer camp for a few years didn't help this habit, since we'd have dessert after both lunch and dinner.
I will say, though, my sweet tooth comes into play mainly with homebaked goods--I can easily (or more easily) pass on the store-bought and pre-packaged cookies, cakes, pies, etc. I have pretty good willpower when it comes to candy, too (though I have a certain weakness for Junior Mints.)
Just like you shouldn't go grocery shopping when you're starving (that's never a good outcome for our family--I usually come home with an extra few bags of "unnecessaries" than if I had eaten before making the grocery trek)--you shouldn't pore over recipe books looking for a dessert recipe during a particulary strong attack of a sweet tooth. I spent a good 20 minutes this morning searching for the perfect "treat" to make (all this under the guise of "building my grocery store list for the next week"--although, in my defense I did determine most of next week's meals). So--here are a few possibilities I ran across:
Chocolate Espresso Angel Food Cake: sounds and looks wonderful from the picture--but the "11 egg whites at room temperature" was too exhausting of an ingredient so I quickly flipped the page
Frozen Ice Cream Pie: I saw a picture in a magazine of this--and was drawn in by the "EASY" splashed near the recipe title--but then when I saw how many ice cream bars were involved, I had two thoughts: how expensive is this recipe? and I could get in a lot of trouble with this one--there's no telling how many ice cream bars are in a serving of this. . .
Peanut Butter Haystacks: I like the peanut butter, I like the peanuts and the butterscotch chips--not sure how I feel about the chow mein noodles in it. . . I'll stick to more "sugary" ingredients. . .
Peanut Butter-Chocolate Banana Cream Pie: looks and sounds wonderful, but the last paragraph was too defeating: refrigerate at least 3 hours or overnight. I'm more of the instant- gratification-type when it comes to eating dessert; I can wait 45 minutes for baking, but I don't know about 3 hours. . .and certainly not overnight!
Mince Meat Cookies: plainly put, these don't sound very appetizing right now (although, I will say, for those who have never tried mince meat--I've tried mince meat cake before and it is quite good!)
Moist Pound Cake: always sounds good, but I always think of pound cake in such a negative way--too unhealthy with all that shortening or butter; does anyone have a good "healthy" pound cake recipe? (but I guess that would defeat the purpose of a pound cake and what makes it so incredibly delicious. . . .)
Plum Good Cake: I realize to some of you this may not sound like a winner, but I'm leaning towards this one--it can be made into a cake or muffins--has cinnamon and ground cloves in it, dusted with powdered sugar. . I've always been a fan of those "autumn sweets"--anything with pumpkin, cranberries, cinnamon and nutmeg. . . so it's no surprise that this one stood out to me. Plus, it seems to be a good mix of healthy and sweet (never mind the one cup of oil).
While we're talking about autumn sweets and a mix of healthy and sweet--here's something I sometimes make when I want pumpkin pie without the mess of a crust. I make the pie filling and pour it into ramekins and bake it like a pie---then serve it with whipped cream/cool whip. This is the ultimate in "treats"--satisfying the sweet tooth yet doing something good for your body with a good dose of beta carotene. (Thanks, Mom, for making these when I was little!)
Here's to the desserts that we love (and those that we would like to try to make someday!)
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