A Sweet Tooth

I confess that I like dessert, and as a general rule, one of the signs that I'm doing something right is when I actually make them and incorporate them into my general diet. Sometimes, dessert is something I have right after dinner and sometimes, it's the little something I have before trundling off to bed after work. Sometimes, it's an afternoon snack to tide me over until dinner with a cup of coffee. It's been a revelation to me that I can actually enjoy dessert in moderate portions. I consider myself fortunate that I can indulge and satisfy my sweet tooth (and I definitely have one!) in a rational manner.

I am a sucker for bread puddings and fruit crisps. I also like baked egg custard and rice puddings. As mentioned in a previous entry, I've added fruit galettes and clafoutis to my dessert repertoire. Today, I experimented with a recipe for another favorite type of dessert, the pudding cake. I've had a recipe for a chocolate pudding cake that I clipped out of the local paper years ago that's proven tried and true. Today I tried a recipe for a pudding cake that you bake in your 1.5 quart crock pot. It's called Peanut Butter Cup Cake, and as promised by the recipe, it's got a taste that is very like a Reese Peanut Butter Cup. I think the recipe creators are mistaken to think you can pry a pudding cake out of a crock pot and on to a cooling rack, but that's my particular take on it. Go ahead and give it a whirl if you can manage it and more power to you if you do!

It was easy to put together with ingredients I had on hand. You mix 1/2 c. flour and 1/2 c. sugar with 3/4 tsp. baking powder in a medium bowl. Add 1/3 c. skim milk, 1 Tbs. canola oil, 1/2 tsp. vanilla and 1/4 c. creamy peanut butter (I used Smucker's Natural Creamy Peanut Butter), and stir until combined. Pour into a 1.5 quart crock pot that's been sprayed with non-stick spray. In a small bowl, combine 1/4 c. sugar and 3 Tbs. regular cocoa powder, and gradually stir in 1 cup of boiling water. Stir until there are no lumps and the sugar and cocoa are well incorporated. Gently pour this over the batter in the crock pot. Don't stir it in, just put the lid on the crock pot, turn it up to high and cook for 2-3 hrs., or until a wooden skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let it sit for 10 minutes, and then, in the words of MFK Fisher, "Serve it forth." This is probably best served the day it is made, when it is slightly warm, but I am just fine with rewarming the leftovers for a few seconds in my microwave.

You may note that these desserts have some things in common. They are "homey" types of desserts. Easy to make, without a lot of fussing and complicated recipes. No chocolate curls or spun sugar. No long lists of ingredients or exacting technique required. Depends on the recipe, but most of them can also be made without a lot of high fat ingredients, and sugar substitutes tend to work pretty well in them, too. Most of them adapt pretty well to baking in individual portions as well. You can play with the ingredients and flavors without risking cooking disaster and culinary nightmares. All in all, they reflect my general style of cooking, which has a decided bent towards foods that are seasonal, economical and comforting without a great deal of complications for the cook. The descendant of Swiss and German peasant farmers I definitely am when it comes to cooking and baking. Oh, don't get me wrong. I love to watch chefs make complicated dishes that involve long lists of ingredients, some of which were bought dearly and shipped great distances. But I'm not going to make any of those things as a general rule. I am far more interested in what the "regular folk" of any given cuisine make and consume, as long as insects, grubs, reptiles and innards aren't involved.

But back to dessert. I'm not much on cake for myself. Once in a while, I'll pick up a package with a couple slices of cake at my local grocery, which has gotten wise and put pieces of various layer cakes into convenient two slice containers. And they aren't gigantic slices of cake either. They are perfect for one person to have on two separate occasions. I've got a great recipe for what is known in my family as "Butterfinger Cake", that I'll make up for potlucks and family parties. It's a snap, too. You bake one box of chocolate cake mix (you may use any type of chocolate cake mix) according to package directions in a 9 x 13 pan. Allow to cool for about 15 minutes, then poke holes in the cake (I use a chopstick) and pour a jar of butterscotch or caramel ice cream topping over the cake. Allow it to cool completely and then spread an 8 or 12 oz. container of thawed frozen whipped topping over the cake. Sprinkle it with either 3 regular or a package of ten mini Butterfinger candy bars that you've crushed. That's it. You can get really fancy and drizzle some chocolate syrup over the whole deal if you're so inclined. This isn't something I make just for me, though.

I will take some effort to make my brother a cheesecake for his birthday with the recipe our mom used, but otherwise, I save cheesecake for a special indulgence and I get it from Cheesecake Factory. Where I buy exactly one slice that I eat on for two or three days, given the size of the pieces they sell. And I tend to do this only once a year. Maybe twice.

I do like fruit as a dessert. I usually have fruit for dessert with my lunch. I am known to snatch up fresh figs when I find them and gorge on them. Who can bear to cook them into something else? Oh, I've seen recipes, but I can't bear to eat them any other way but fresh. As a dessert, they are very good with some nice Gorgonzola. You can die happy at that moment. Watermelon or strawberry shortcake are good finishes to a summer meal. A baked apple is a comforting end to a nice supper of soup and salad in the wintertime.

One really random thought about that Redi-Whip commercial where the guy can't bring himself to eat that diner apple pie until it has Redi-Whip on it; since when does whipped cream of any kind go on apple pie??? Or any fruit pie, except for fresh strawberry pie, for that matter. You may put whipped cream on almost any kind of custard or pudding pie, but with warm apple pie (or cherry or peach pie, and my local Kroger makes the best peach pie!), you put ice cream if you put anything. Although, a side of Swiss cheese is not beyond the pale with your apple pie in my opinion, and being of good Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry on my father's side. If you want whipped cream on your pie at the diner, then order the chocolate or the banana cream or even the peanut butter pie.

Well, that's just a few of my musings and notions about dessert. And I am certainly of the opinion that if you are inclined to eat dessert first, then have at it. Goodness knows, I do sometimes!