I Want My Just Dessert!

by Chewy 


I think we can all agree that it is HOT! Not the kind of hot where you bask in the sun and sip margaritas. More like the sidewalk egg frying, banned alcohol (because it dehydrates),  bathtub temperature pool water, I don’t even want to go outside for the mail hot. You don’t even need charcoal for the BBQ pit. Food just sizzles when you place it on the grill. Who feels like eating let alone cooking?  Where does this leave our desserts if we ‘re barely eating a meal? I’ll tell you where….first. Not merely first but possibly “only”. Yes, dear readers, I am advocating getting your “just desserts” for dinner!

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Instead of that patio soiree with heavy brats and pork steaks, why not offer your guests an opportunity to fulfill a childhood dream, a dessert laden buffet as the main course. A true Charlie and the chocolate factory moment come true. Themes are definitely encouraged and forget the homemade baked goods. No need to heat up the house. Show Me the Sugar offers suggestions, descriptions and locations for all your “to go” sweet needs.

There is a reason that half the dessert holidays in July revolve around ice cream. Apparently that’s all we want to eat. Cool, refreshing, no cooking required, what’s not to celebrate? Gathering an assortment of ice creams, gelatos, and sorbets makes for one rejuvenating gathering. While good frozen treats can stand on their own, it would not be inappropriate to offer a smattering of toppings in order to customize your bowl. Of course, if you own a Cuisinart ice cream maker (which some of you may know I do), you may present your guests with unique flavors limited only by your imagination.

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This time of year also means summer fruits and berries. A plethora of fresh fruit makes for not only a visual treat but also one for the taste buds. Who doesn’t salivate over a fresh fruit torte or a bowl of sugared strawberries with fresh whipped cream? How about some peaches swimming in a smooth brandied sauce? Can you picture a watermelon sorbet served in it’s carved out shell (scallop the rim and do a little shallow carving and it‘s also a center piece)? Fruit also makes a great delivery system for chocolate fondue, marshmallow fluff, clotted cream and caramel sauce. Create your own dipping station with plenty of small plates, long picks and lots of napkins (neat this is not).

Not to be overlooked is your local patisserie. Nothing like a little French flair to add some exotic ambiance. If you haven’t tried the macarons yet (not the coconut macaroons), now is your chance to become acquainted with this little delicacy. Order a few Napoleons, éclairs, crème brulee, petit fours and mousse and arrange on tiered platters for optimum visual delight. This scenario also doubles as a European vacation and, may I add, it’s significantly cooler there, so crank down the air conditioning a bit.

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While I am not advocating this option as a permanent lifestyle, just dessert meals seems like a fair trade off for surviving our record breaking atmospheric conditions. I, for one, intend on staying cool and sweet!

It Use To Be So Simple

by Chewy

Remember the days when your go to flavors of ice cream revolved around strawberry or chocolate ripple? Then Baskin Robbins came along with their 31 flavors and the villagers went insane over the idea. Not satisfied with the original 31, some were retired or replaced with ever surprising infusions of flavor. Even with all this diversity, flavors still followed a traditional trail. Sweet things go with sweet things, savory with savory and never the twain shall meet. Even Ben and Jerry usually followed this scenario.

That whole idea has been kicked to the curb and it’s no longer cool to use the mundane in your frozen treats. While bacon didn’t start it, it certainly has helped to perpetuate and inspire ever more challenging combination, although, even this ingredient is bordering on the blasé at this point. Yet, I’m positively piggish about pork still!

There’s no doubt that around the world there are some pretty scary traditional ice cream flavors that fall along cultural divides (this will be dealt with in a future blog), but today I will keep this relatively indigenous.

Ruth and Phils, lauding from Chicago, take advantage of fresh summer fruits and vegetables to concoct Summer Sweet Corn ice cream, Cantaloupe Avocado Jalapeno sorbet (you know how I feel about avocados!) and Cucumber Blueberry Lime sorbet. Presently only available in limited locales, it may soon be coming to your local Whole Foods store.

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New York is no new comer to food fads and il laboratorio del gelato is no exception. For the adventurous palate they provide Fresh Brown Turkey, Sweet Potato and Tarragon Pink Pepper.  They are proud to hand make all the flavors in small batches and I think I grasp the reasoning behind limited production. I don’t imagine a huge rush for Turkey, even seasonally. Sweet Potato is igniting my curiosity.

Another New York establishment, Max and Mina’s Ice Cream has heated things up with sweet and spicy combos. Sugar tempers the fire in their Spicy Peanut Butter which culminates in a warm glow due to the added red peppers and chilies. Following in the same genre are Black  Pepper and Corn Horseradish.  Traditional Italian flavors in an egg yolk base make up their Pizza ice cream and  what goes best with that? A cup of their Beer ice cream!

Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams, Columbus, OH, follows the “It’s cold! It’s hot!” theme with Queen City Cheyenne and Bangkok Peanut (secret ingredient, Cheyenne pepper, of course). Apparently, pepper has become the new “salt” in savory/sweet pairings. While I have often seen people salt fruits to bring out the sweet, my roommate in college was the only person I knew who peppered hers. She was obviously decades ahead of her time!

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One last nod to the porcine premise goes to Humphry Slocombe of San Francisco and their Boccalone Prosciutto. And not sure which way to go, they covered all the bases by adding both salt and pepper.

The following flavors are honorable mentions, only because they come from Europe and can not be obtained locally. Cigar Smoked Caramel, combining two after dinner pastimes and perhaps an age limit and required ID, has increased sales by 60% for one establishment. Others have followed a theme with grass, strawberry and hay for Wimbledon. Another nod of creativity goes to parsnip and wasabi, and smoked olive oil and black pepper.

These examples have definitely had their effect on my creative senses and with my little  Cuisinart ice cream maker ever ready to serve, the sky’s  the limit on ingredients. If I ever come up with anything palatable, you can be assured you’ll read about it here first!

Only the Best

by Chewy

You’ve gone to the grocery store, stuck religiously to your list, brought the coupons you meticulously cut out and avoided all the stores padded for profit items. Much to your surprise, there is a little left over for a treat. Now comes the hard part, what to spend it on. None of us want to buy that item with the exceptionally yummy photo on the packaging, only to get it home, open it up and discover you bought a mutant facsimile that leaves you disappointed and under-satisfied. Thankfully, we have Consumer Reports to aid us in obtaining our “just desserts” .

In July’s issue, they have rated the best frozen treats, and it’s none too early as some of us have been scouting out frozen treats since March! They broke the article down into three sections, taste, nutrition and bottom line. There were a few surprises and some “of course, what else” responses.

Take, for example, the strawberry fruit bars. Whole foods 365 Everyday Value placed an Excellent, the only one to do so. It has a few more calories then the others on the list, but isn’t that where the great flavor is? Actually contains large chunks of fruit! Runners up in the Very Good column included Dryer’s/Edy’s, Whole Fruit and Blue Bell. Coming in third under Good was Weight Watchers and Dole.

When it comes to Ice Cream Bars (dark chocolate over vanilla ice cream) there were no real shockers here. Haagen-Dazs’ and Dove’s strong dairy/vanilla taste and rich chocolate coating, raises them to Excellent status. Although the coating was painted slightly chalky, Julie’s Organic ranked Very Good. Klondike, Magnum and Good Humor ( flavor described as waxy, artificial vanilla, and hint of wooden stick….still if this is your fancy, who am I to judge) arrived at Good.

Ice Cream Sandwiches (vanilla ice cream inside chocolate wafers) was a tough category, no one ranked Excellent. The top of this class, Very Good, goes to Walgreens Old Fashioned (still supporting my jaw over this one). I would have never sought out this brand, but with this knowledge I will definitely put it on the “list”. Trailing behind under Good, we find Klondike, Great Value (Walmart), Blue Bunny, Weight Watchers, Klondike 100 calorie and Skinny Cow.

When it comes to nutrition, no real stunners to consider. Fruit is lower in fat and calories, the dairy items have comparable calories to each other and the “diet” entries didn’t necessarily have fewer calories.

There is a small blurb for non-dairy (think soy, artificial flavoring, corn syrup). Delicious Dairy free Vanilla minis and Tofutti dairy Free Cuties Vanilla sandwiches were summed up tersely as, artificial vanilla flavor, soft and sticky wafers, stale and NOT delicious. This is why I prefer to make my own non-dairy ice cream.

The bottom line seemed a bit simplistic but sensible: choose the ones with an excellent rating.

With this information in hand, I hope it helps to make your summer a little sweeter!