I am now in my 2nd semester of Culinary School, which means I’m in baking. This was the reason why I signed up in the first place, as I am looking to eventually being a pastry chef. As I go through instruction, making eclairs, cream puffs, tarts, doughnuts, muffins, cakes, and pies, I started to wonder what other people loved to eat from the bake shop.
Look at this as research for me
So, what kind of desserts do you love to eat? Do you feel strangely patriotic when you eat apple pie? Do you think that life would not exist if devil’s food cake wasn’t in the picture? Does strawberry shortcake bring you back to happy childhood summer memories? Or, are you more “sophisticated,” going for a bittersweet chocolate mousse *mille fuille * or Chevre-scented Coeur a la Creme with pistachio crust, or even the devilish Triple Chocolate Terrine?
spoke-… babe, this is your time to turn in your essay on pecan pie, as you promised…
Yum! Favorite dessert. There’s just too much to choose from. I guess pecan pie and cheesecake are tops on my list. And why is it so hard to find a damn bearclaw?
Oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, as long as they’re soft and the baker went light on the spices. I never have time to bake anymore, and I can never seem to find fresh oatmeal chocolate chip cookies at the grocery stores I go to, only that sick and wrong oatmeal raisin crap. (I like raisins well enough, just not in my baked goods. Oddly enough, I hate oatmeal unless it’s in a cookie. Weird.)
Imagine my delight Sunday afternoon when I stumbled upon my beloved oatmeal chocolate chip cookies at HyVee. I was sorely disappointed when I returned home and ate one and discovered they had went nuts with the cinnamon and whatnot. Blah.
Second on the list is white cake with chocolate frosting, especially if the cake is still a little warm or room temperature. (My mother likes to put her cakes in the refrigerator. Ick…the frosting firms up and it’s just so wrong.)
The invention of the pecan pie is right up there with the internal combustion engine on my list of human accomplishments. I prefer a simple pecan pie, though. (not all duded up with chocolate and what not.)
I am also a big fan of cobblers (and in fact, I am secure enough in my masculinity to confess that I make a mean cobbler myself - an old family recipe I picked up from an elderly aunt). Incidentally, never put cinnamon in a peach cobbler; it only masks that delicious peach flavor. Cinnamon belongs only in apple cobblers. We have a lot of wild blackberries around here, which are also a favored cobbler ingredient (though I am not a big fan of those). Sweet potato pie is another local favorite. (Not to be attempted by amateurs.)
The southern treat I have not mastered is the fried pie. My grandmother used to make killer fried pies, but I never learned the technique. You can still get good ones at some of the barbecue places around here, as well as the Varsity drive-in. My grandmother also made some amazing from-scratch coconut cakes and lemon cakes. Yum.
I also like apple pie, in pretty much all of its permutations.
Oatmeal raisin cookies are the best in the cookie department, for my money.
I’m not a big fan of chocolate desserts, except chocolate cream pies, and chocolate ice cream. (Speaking of which, don’t get me started on hand-churned ice cream. This is a baking thread, so I’ll shut up about that.)
There ya’ go Javamaven1. Oh, and by the way, Dumbguy, she’s spoken for. And I ain’t sharin’ my dessert, either.
Oh, give me eclairs any day. Cream filling, chocolate icing, thick pastry = Heaven on Earth.
There is a place in Baltimore, Gerschbeck’s Grocery Store, that sells GIANT eclairs (we’re talking the size of my HEAD!) for ONE DOLLAR!! I live for those babies. YumMAY!
Great, now I am going to have to buy one after work.
This goes to show that a way to a man’s heart is still through his stomach… and my stuff’s too good to be shared
Since I have a massive sweet-tooth, my tastes run from the basic, homey stuff down to elaborate, plated desserts in fancy restaurants–I’ll eat it as long as it’s sweet (and doesn’t contain bananas). Here’s a short list:
Blackberry Pie
Pecan Pie
French Fruit Tarts (with the fresh fruit on top of cream)
Anything lemon–lemon meringue pie, lemon tarts, lemon cookies, lemon bars
Cheesecakes, especially chocolate or pumpkin
I once had this pumpkin creme brulee mille feuille, where dollops of the custard were between crispy, sweet sheets of puff pastry–thought I had died and gone to heaven.
I also love Panna Cotta–an Italian dessert, it’s an eggless vanilla custard, usually served with some kind of fruit sauce.
I do love chocolate, and am always on the search for the perfect chocolate cake.
I love a good apple crisp, where the top is all crunchy sweet bits over melt in your mouth apples and cinnamon.
Sugar cookies with lemon frosting. Always a treat.
I’m surprised no one seems to have mentioned Baklava. YUM!
I am not a big chocolate person, I enjoy a good dense brownie at times (With almonds or walnuts) but the majority of my favorite desserts are not chocolate based.
Flan is good.
Ice cream nachoes (Take cinnamon coated fried flour tortilla chips, cover them with ice cream and a few toppings and heaven.)
I like those home and hearth baked desserts. It’s not that I don’t appreciate the fancier ones, it’s just that when I think of good food, this is what comes springing to mind, (more or less in order):
Pumpkin, or preferably sweet potato, pie with whipped cream optional
Hot peach pie with vanilla ice cream
Baked spiced apples, served warm with vanilla ice cream
Bread pudding with whiskey sauce
Beignets
Chocolate walnut brownies (still hot/warm, NO frosting, with a big glass of milk)
White chocolate cheesecake with raspberry broulee
Almost any hearty, homemade cookie: oatmeal raisin, peanut butter, chunky chocolate chip
Unfrosted cruellers (known around my house as “French egg” doughnuts)
And, I love carrot cake with raisins and walnuts and a light cream cheese frosting
I don’t remember exactly what we were studying, although I do know it was History class, but I brought Pavlova in as part of a presentation. I had my friend’s mom make it (she’s from New Zealand) and it was DELICIOUS!! But I think it’s an aquired taste because it is VERY sweet. When you do make it, I’d suggest topping it with sliced kiwi and chocolate chips or shavings. Very good. Mmmm…I think I may have to give that woman a call.
As for my favorite treat, I’d have to say Yum-Yums. I don’t know if that’s what they’re really called but at my local bakery that’s what they are. And don’t forget the Quik.
