Heptadecagon

If you live anywhere near me, you know it's cold outside. And when it's cold, I seem to find comfort in a bit of warm food. So you might wonder why I'm posting a cobbler recipe now, in the early part of December. No, I haven't made this recipe recently. In fact, I've never made it. But a colleague did, and I'm posting it so that I can remind myself how to find that bit of warmth I need right now. This peach cobbler was delicious and I'm thinking that this warm fruity dessert (with a dash of cinnamon if I add it) would be a wonderful addition to a cold December night by the Christmas tree. Crust Topping: 1 cup flour 1 cup sugar (my colleague cut it to 1/2 cup and it was sweet enough) 1 tsp baking powder 1 egg, beaten Filling: 2 T flour 3/4 cup sugar 4 to 5 cups fresh or frozen peaches  or blackberries 1 stick unsalted butter, melted 1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. 2. Combine the flour, sugar, and baking powder in a medium bowl. 3. Make a wel...

When I was a child, I had a favorite dessert recipe. I loved it so much, I offered a copy of it to my teacher the year we made a class cookbook for Mother's Day. The recipe? We called it Lemon Fluff, but Mom never made the dish with lemon pudding. Instead, she usually used chocolate or pistachio flavored puddings. Mom and Dad visited last week and for Dad's birthday, I thought I'd pull out that old recipe. I couldn't actually find the cookbook, but I found the right recipe on the good old internet, of course. The recipe doesn't take much time, and based on the oohs and ahhs from my parents, it had been a long time since they'd tasted the dessert. It was so good to see my Mom enjoy something sweet. Ingredients: 2 cups flour 1 cup butter dash of white sugar 2 cups powdered sugar 2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese (light or regular), softened 2 (3 1/2 ounce) packages instant chocolate (or lemon or pistachio) pudding 3 cups milk 1-2 (8 ounce) cont...

Some friends we used to know back in Ann Arbor contacted me last week to find out if we wanted to meet up sometime this week. They'd be coming up from Texas (where they now live) and heading to New York and would be driving right up I-75. What luck for us, and what a ride for them! I asked if they wanted to come to our house for dinner, as opposed to going out, since they'd likely be eating at restaurants a lot on the road. I love having company, partly because--despite my introvert nature--I like people (at least a good number of them). I also like to have a reason to make dessert. And this summer, so far, we haven't made one of our favorites: Eclair Cake. Craig, Tami, and their kids helped remedy that situation. I'm holding myself back from having it for breakfast. Eclair Cake Ingredients: 2 packages of instant vanilla pudding (3.5 oz variety) 1 container of whipped topping, previously thawed (8 oz variety) 3 cups milk (skim, lowfat, or whole) Graham crac...

This time of the year, the girls start asking about Cherries in the Snow. For those of you not familiar with what that is, it's a dessert. And a pretty delicious one at that. Best of all, it's easy. In fact, the only downside I see about it is that the dessert is heavy on the artificial ingredients. Hence, I make it once a year and only once a year. (I guess another downside would be that it has cherries in it, if you don't like cherries. I would imagine that another fruit could be substituted pretty easily.) Ingredients: 1 8 oz tub fat-free cream cheese 1 cup sifted powdered sugar 1 12 oz carton frozen whipped topping (reduced-calorie), thawed 8 cups cubed angel food cake (cubes about 1 inch in size; homemade or store bought) 1 20 oz can light cherry pie filling (I usually buy two cans, because we love the cherry part) What to do: 1. Beat the cream cheese at medium speed of a mixer until it is smooth. Gradually add the sugar and beat until blended. Gently fol...