16th Dessert Exchange, Sunday 1/16/2011

Hello everyone;

I've volunteered to host the next Dessert Exchange. With the holidays upon us it was decided that we probably ought to skip December, so I would propose the third Sunday in January of next year, 1/16, at 5 PM. Our house is south of I-90 between Harlem and Nagle, so freeway access should be no problem, and there's usually plenty of street parking on a Sunday afternoon. We're about a mile east of the Harlem blue line stop; you can take the #88 bus to within 2 blocks.

If you're interested in attending, please reply to this post. An attendance limit of 12 seemed to work well, so lets cap it at the same number again.

Enjoy,
Chouxfly

EDIT with the Current List of RSVPers:

Chouxfly
Cathy2
pairs4life
Pie Lady
Laura S
eli
justjoan
Ms Ingie
Cookie Monster
MmmDonuts
Nancie (justjoan guest)
Mrs. eli

Waiting List:

None, but we're at capacity. Any last minute inquiries will be waitlisted.

Hi,

I'm in and flexible on the date.

Regards,

I would prefer the 9th but I maybe able to make the 16th, count me in. 16th is the holiday weekend and we may actually leave town.

I'm in and the 16th works for me.

I'm in and the 16th works best. I may even walk over. Dessert TBA.

I have missed a couple of exchanges, but would love to come to the one in January. I think the 16th would be fine, but I tend to not plan too far ahead usually. Count me in, too!

Please count me in as well. Either date should be fine for me.

thanks for hosting bill. the 16th is fine with me, though it seems a long way off! justjoan

The list so far:

Cathy2
pairs4life
msoma97
Pie Lady
Laura S
eli
justjoan

That leaves room for about 4 more...

Since the 9th looked like it was better for at least one person, would any of those who have already signed up object to me moving it up by a week, to 1/9? (I actually didn't check to see if I was picking a holiday weekend, and it turns out the 17th is Martin Luther King day).

Also, do we want to have a optional theme for the evening? Southern cooking was mentioned on the previous thread.

Enjoy,
Chouxfly

either date works for me. personally, i dont want a southern theme. maybe in the summer time when there's more fresh fruit...... joan

I'm okay with southern or any other theme, but the date is no good for me. But I can bow out.

this is why i suggested that chouxfly just pick a date that works for him and post it. once we start negotiating someone is going to feel left out. jj

Megan and I would love to take up 2 of the remaining 4 spots for the exchange. Either date works for us, chouxfly's call 110%. As for a theme, I'm with justjoan - southern would be ideal in the summer with the plethora of fresh fruit. What about maybe picking a region/ethnic theme?? Just an idea.

Amanda

p.s. - I'll post our final paper sometime this weekend so you all can take a peak at it if you're interested

Aquaspace wrote:As for a theme, I'm with justjoan - southern would be ideal in the summer with the plethora of fresh fruit.

This is odd because I don't associate southern desserts with fresh fruit at all. The first thing that comes to my mind is sweet potato pie, then pecan pie, then coconut cream pie,banana pudding, bread pudding ( hmmm, I did both of those for the exchange last spring) then the array of cakes for Sunday (that includes bourbon, hummingbird, my Daddy's only cake (the checkerboard), 7-Up, coconut, & red velvet) supper after church.

At the southern exchange there were pralines, red velvet, banana fosters cupcakes, apple cake, and peanut fudge. If folks are interested, there should be an adequate sufficiency, if not perhaps I will be so moved .

I'm curious what southern desserts were y'all thinking of?

p4l: chouxfly asked for our opinions on whether we wanted a southern theme and i said no. if others want to do southern, i'll go along. but at the moment i think it's just you. maybe when you host you can pick southern for a theme.? i love all kinds of desserts, including the ones you named. jj

I'm pretty indifferent to having a theme or not, but if there is a theme, Southern is as good as any. And if we do a Southern theme, I'm calling dibs on bread pudding right now.

I do agree with Joan that it probably makes the most sense for Chouxfly to just pick the date and those who can make it will come. Trying to decide a date by committee is always tough.

justjoan wrote: i love all kinds of desserts, including the ones you named. jj

Except the Banana pudding

@eli- Southern or not I can see a bread pudding from you with whiskey/bourbon , pecans, & wait for it... bacon

On a separate note, I'm a huge fan of doodle.com, just ask Pie Lady, for herding cats, um organizing everyone's schedule.

OK, looks like the consensus is that I should just quit waffling* and pick the date. So lets just keep it the 16th -- pairs4life, hope you can make it!




*: not that there's anything wrong with waffles. Especially buttermilk waffles with chopped banana in the batter, topped with butter, maple syrup and toasted pecans.

All evidence to the contrary, I don't normally add bacon to everything. Although now that you mention it, I am a bit curious about how that would turn out...

Ooohhhhh...I usually do a pretty boozy warm bourbon caramel sauce with my bread pudding. I'm thinking adding the bacon to that, but leaving the bread pudding itself bacon-free might be the way to go. Plus it has the benefit of not making the bread pudding off limits for the vegetarians.

eli wrote:All evidence to the contrary, I don't normally add bacon to everything. Although now that you mention it, I am a bit curious about how that would turn out...

Ooohhhhh...I usually do a pretty boozy warm bourbon caramel sauce with my bread pudding. I'm thinking adding the bacon to that, but leaving the bread pudding itself bacon-free might be the way to go. Plus it has the benefit of not making the bread pudding off limits for the vegetarians.

See, just because I can't eat it or drink liquor doesn't mean I can't see how things could still taste really, really good. I can't wait to hear how it comes out. If you aren't wedded try it with the bacon in it for Tgiving . I see kind of a crisper top bread pudding, like the CI one I made last spring for the exchange. The application of bacon makes me think of a sweet/savory stuffing.

Good Luck!

Chouxfly wrote:*: not that there's anything wrong with waffles. Especially buttermilk waffles with chopped banana in the batter, topped with butter, maple syrup and toasted pecans.

Does that mean there's a waffle theme?

Pie Lady wrote:

Chouxfly wrote:*: not that there's anything wrong with waffles. Especially buttermilk waffles with chopped banana in the batter, topped with butter, maple syrup and toasted pecans.

Does that mean there's a waffle theme? :mrgreen:

please, no! as some of you heard me say, i've lost my waffle iron plates for my panini press. so i couldnt make waffles even if i wanted to, which i don't. we had a semi-cranberry theme this month. why don't we have no theme for january?
btw: i make a great green tomato savory bread pudding. i think adding bacon to that would be amazing....
and p4l: i make a mean banana/bourbon bread pudding. it's just uncooked bananas that i can't stand. just to set the record straight.....

jj

justjoan wrote:and p4l: i make a mean banana/bourbon bread pudding. it's just uncooked bananas that i can't stand. just to set the record straight.....

jj

I'm just the opposite-- I don't like cooked bananas.

Since we're here talking about stuff we like*, Joan, those cookies you made at the last exchange were excellent, and I was sad I only took the one. Would you mind passing the recipe along? If you still have more and you really are disappointed in them, you could always sandwich them together with Nutella.

*both cooked and fresh 'nanners, as long as the fresh ones are firm.

Pie Lady wrote:Since we're here talking about stuff we like*, Joan, those cookies you made at the last exchange were excellent, and I was sad I only took the one. Would you mind passing the recipe along? If you still have more and you really are disappointed in them, you could always sandwich them together with Nutella.

*both cooked and fresh 'nanners, as long as the fresh ones are firm.

Grrrr, I didn't try one because of justjoan's disclaimer.

pairs4life wrote:

Pie Lady wrote:Since we're here talking about stuff we like*, Joan, those cookies you made at the last exchange were excellent, and I was sad I only took the one. Would you mind passing the recipe along? If you still have more and you really are disappointed in them, you could always sandwich them together with Nutella.

Grrrr, I didn't try one because of justjoan's disclaimer.

I wouldn't say I loved them, but I definitely liked them. I almost didn't take one, but I'm glad I grabbed a few.

Since we're here talking about stuff we like*, Joan, those cookies you made at the last exchange were excellent, and I was sad I only took the one. Would you mind passing the recipe along? If you still have more and you really are disappointed in them, you could always sandwich them together with Nutella.

clotilde, at chocolate and zucchini, gets the 'blame' for that recipe. see link below. i followed it exactly, except i ground up the nuts, rather than chopping them. i didn't find the hazelnut flavor to be strong enough (my favorite nut, by far), nor was there enough black pepper to add heat. i did like the crumbly texture, though. if you want to sandwich them with nutella, jenny, (a brilliant idea), i think you should make them much thinner.

http://chocolateandzucchini.com/archive ... ookies.php

btw, i'd appreciate some feedback on the boregi i made for dinner. i'm not looking for compliments- i just wondered what you guys thought of the strong kashkaval cheese i used, instead of the milder kasseri the turkish recipe called for. i wasnt happy with the pale color of the filo, but i really loved the cheese. but i don't want to make it again for others if you thought it was too stinky. thanks, joan

justjoan wrote:btw, i'd appreciate some feedback on the boregi i made for dinner. i'm not looking for compliments- i just wondered what you guys thought of the strong kashkaval cheese i used, instead of the milder kasseri the turkish recipe called for. i wasnt happy with the pale color of the filo, but i really loved the cheese. but i don't want to make it again for others if you thought it was too stinky. thanks, joan

If the cheese was the same in both then it was very good. I think by default I liked the one that was browner of the two, but I'm not convinced (except for my eyes) that the taste was markedly different.

the difference in the 2 pans of boregi, is that the smaller pan used fresh filo and it's thicker. the bigger pan used the standard athens filo, frozen, that you're probably familiar with. i preferred the flakier, greek filo, but for authenticity's sake, i wanted to try the fresh turkish filo. it's from al khayam on kedzie. jj

I only tried the frozen filo batch. I really liked it. I remember the cheese being fairly strong, but in a good way. I would happily eat it again.