THE SWEET 100

I have seen The Omnivore's 100 list plastered all over perfectly good food blogs. Honestly, as a non-meat eater, some of the items send my stomach lurching in competing directions, or at least that's what it feels like. Not a good feeling.

Today I found the perfect antidote! Cakespy made their very own list: The Sweet 100. And just how very sweet it is!

1) Copy this list into your site, including the instructions!
2) Bold all of the sweets you've eaten--or make them a different type color.
3) Cross out any of them that you'd never ever eat.
4) Consider anything that is not bold or crossed out your "To Do" List.
5) Optional: Post a comment here linking to your results--or just post a comment letting us know how many you've tried, or what you're going to try next!

1. Red Velvet Cake
2. Princess Torte
3. Whoopie Pie
4. Apple Pie either topped or baked with sharp cheddar
5. Beignet
6. Baklava
7. Black and white cookie
8. Seven Layer Bar (also known as the Magic Bar or Hello Dolly bars)
9. Fried Fruit pie (sometimes called hand pies)
10. Kringle
11. Just-fried (still hot) doughnut
12. Scone with clotted cream
13. Betty, Grunt, Slump, Buckle or Pandowdy
14. Halvah
15. Macarons
16. Banana pudding with nilla wafers
17. Bubble tea (with tapioca "pearls")
18. Dixie Cup
19. Rice Krispie treats
20. Alfajores
21. Blondies
22. Croquembouche
23. Girl Scout cookies
24. Moon cake
25. Candy Apple
26. Baked Alaska
27. Brooklyn Egg Cream
28. Nanaimo bar
29. Baba au rhum
30. King Cake
31. Sachertorte
32. Pavlova
33. Tres Leches Cake
34. Trifle
35. Shoofly Pie
36. Key Lime Pie (made with real key lime)
37. Panna Cotta
38. New York Cheesecake
39. Napoleon / mille-fueille
40. Russian Tea Cake / Mexican Wedding Cake
41. Anzac biscuits
42. Pizzelle
43. Kolache
44. Buckeyes
45. Malasadas
46. Moon Pie
47. Dutch baby
48. Boston Cream Pie
49. Homemade chocolate chip cookies
50. Pralines
51. Gooey butter cake
52. Rusks
53. Daifuku
54. Green tea cake or cookies
55. Cupcakes from a cupcake shop
56. Crème brûlée
57. Some sort of deep fried fair food (twinkie, candy bar, cupcake) Mine was an Oreo
58. Yellow cake with chocolate frosting
59. Jelly Roll
60. Pop Tarts
61. Charlotte Russe
62. An "upside down" dessert (Pineapple upside down cake or Tarte Tatin)
63. Hummingbird Cake
64. Jell-O from a mold
65. Black forest cake
66. Mock Apple Pie (Ritz Cracker Pie)
67. Kulfi
68. Linzer torte
69. Churro
70. Stollen
71. Angel Food Cake
72. Mincemeat pie
73. Concha
74. Opera Cake
75. Sfogliatelle / Lobster tail
76. Pain au chocolat
77. A piece of Gingerbread House
78. Cassata
79. Cannoli
80. Rainbow cookies
81. Religieuse
82. Petits fours
83. Chocolate Souffle
84. Bienenstich (Bee Sting Cake)
85. Rugelach
86. Hamenstashen
87. Homemade marshmallows
88. Rigo Janci
89. Pie or cake made with candy bar flavors (Snickers pie, Reeses pie, etc)
90. Divinity
91. Coke or Cola cake
92. Gateau Basque
93. S'mores
94. Figgy Pudding
95. Bananas foster or other flaming dessert
96. Joe Froggers
97. Sables
98. Millionaire's Shortbread
99. Animal crackers
100. Basbousa

I have eaten 65/100. Not too shabby, but I've definitely got some eating to do.

GRAPE FREEZE TART

I made this quick, easy treat one evening when I was craving something cold and sweet. I wanted an individual serving so I wouldn't be tempted to finish off something meant for a family of four. I whipped it up and stuck it in the freezer before I headed out for a run, and enjoyed it when I returned all hot and sweaty. It's not the most sophisticated desert, but it more than did the trick. In fact, I made it for the next three days!

GRAPE FREEZE TART

2 Marie biscuits (or other tea biscuit)

1 Tablespoon cream cheese

1 Tablespoon grape jelly

1 Tablespoon soy (or regular) milk

Layer Marie biscuits in the bottom of a ramekin or other small dish or bowl. In a separate bowl, combine cream cheese, jelly, and milk. Stir until well combined, about two minutes. Pour over the biscuits. The biscuits may float to the top, so be sure to push them down. Put in the freezer for about one hour, or until frozen.

PINEAPPLE AND GREEN PEPPER SALAD

This salad was one I made with ingredients I had on-hand. I had two ripening pineapples, and didn't think I could handle eating plain pineapple for days in a row. Thus I wanted to find it an accompaniment for it. I think the bell pepper worked nicely, especially since this salad was better the next day when all the flavors had settled together and the bell pepper was still crisp. It reminds me of a mango salad a friend fixed in Ghana, combining sweet, tangey fruit with mellow yogurt and a little spicey heat. I'm not sure I'll be fixing this anytime soon, but it was a good.

PINEAPPLE & GREEN PEPPER SALAD

1 pineapple

1 green (or red) bell pepper

1 Tablespoon white sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

pinch of cayenne (optional)
1 Tablespoon plain yogurt

1/2 Tablespoon soy mayonnaise

3 Tablespoons coconut milk

juice of half a lemon

1. Cut pineapple and bell pepper into 1-inch chunks. Sprinkle with sugar, salt, and pepper.


2. In a seperate bowl, mix yogurt, soy mayo, & cayenne. Add to the pineapple and mix well.
   

Note on cutting a pineapple: I learned how to cut a pineapple from sellers in Ghana. Pineapple sellers are usually women who walk around with large stacks of pineapples balanced on their heads. When a customer purchases a fruit, they unload the large metal plate of pineapples, and use a machete to peel and cut the fruit into bite-size pieces that fall into a strategically held plastic bag. Stick a toothpick in the bag and you're ready to eat, all in under five minutes.

I don't have a machete (good thing, the phrase "wielding a machete" comes to mind and I do not feel quite up to the task), however, I do cut my pineapples in same manner:

1. hold the pineapple at the base of the leaves (carefully, they can be prickly)


2. remove the bottom by cutting straight across


3. peel the body by cutting straight down from top to bottom, all the way around
4. make vertical slits from top to bottom, cutting through the pineapple. the fruit will still be attached to the stem at the top where the leaves are but will dangle at the bottom


5. now start at the bottom and cut horizontally across the pineapple, making cubes.

NO-BAKE BARS

In addition to the Candied Cashews, I also made No-Bake Bars for my friend's visit. These started out as No-Bake Cookies, until I saw that I was going to run out of cookie-dropping space. Instead of clearing off the table, the laziness side of me won out with a peeping voice that said, "Dump them in a pan! Cut them like bars!" And so I did, and I think it was much easier, both in the cooling stage and in the storing stage. These turned out to be very good breakfast bars as well. Not something to have every day perhaps since they are a desert, but the oats, nuts, and peanut butter seem to redeem them just a little. For a vacation, they were perfect.

NO-BAKE BARS

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup peanut butter

2 cups white sugar

pinch of cayenne pepper

1/2 cup mixed nuts, chopped

1/2 cup shredded coconut (sweetened or unsweetened)

2 cups rolled oats

1. Put all the ingredients from the first list in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil stirring often.


2. Let boil for about a minute.


3. Remove from heat and add nuts, coconut, and oats.


4. Stir well to blend. Let stand for about two minutes, until the mixture begins to thicken.


5. Pour into a 9X13 pan and smooth down. Cool completely before cutting. (I stuck mine in the refrigerator to speed the process.)
   

These can be stored either at room temperature or in the refrigerator. I stored mine in the frig because my kitchen gets a lot of sun during the day and can become quite humid in the Miami heat.

CANDIED CASHEWS

This past weekend I had a wonderful houseguest. I took a few days off work and had a mini vacation myself. I was so excited about my friend coming that I was actually eager to do all the prep work - the laundry, the cleaning, the emails that couldn't wait until the end of my hiatus. I was so on top of it all that I had a little extra time to make a few goodies to really spoil my friend.

My friend and I both have a monstrous sweet tooth. He happens to be the only person I know who can come close to consuming the amount of sugar I can without feeling sick, getting a headache, or showing the hyperactivity of a three-year-old. What can I say - I've got a high tolerance.

So something sweet was really the only option. However, my oven hasn't been working lately. I can't manage to get the pilot light lit. Instead of possibly blowing up my entire building, I came up with two sweet alternatives: No-Bake Cookies and Candied Cashews.

The Candied Cashews started as an idea that combined the gooey sweet caramel of a New Orleans Praline with the poppable loveability of Praline Pecans that have a more sugary coating. This past July, my family and I met on holiday in New Orleans and had many pralines, beignets, crawfish, chickory coffees, and bread puddings. I bought a small cookbook while there, The Little New Orleans Cookbook by Given McKee, that features a simple family recipe for Creamy Pralines. I used this recipe as a guide, using only half of all the main ingredients except the nuts.

CANDIED CASHEWS

1 cup white sugar

1 cup milk (regular or buttermilk, I used regular)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 stick of butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups raw cashew nuts

1. Put first three ingredients in a large, heavy pan and bring to a boil stirring constantly. (Have the remaining ingredients ready to throw in.)
   
2. Slightly lower the heat when the mixture rises. The mixture will bubble and turn progressively darker until it turns a dark golden brown.


3. Cook until the mixture begins to thicken (about 7 minutes). Test for soft ball stage by dripping a few droplets into a cup of cold water. When it forms a soft ball, add the remaining three ingredients.


4. Stir and heat mixture, allowing it to return to the soft ball stage.


5. Remove from heat and let mixture sit for a few minutes to thicken. Be careful not to let it harden in the pan.


6. Stir mixture until thick enough to drop onto wax paper or other nonstick or greased surface.
   
7. Let cool and store in an airtight container.
   

I used cashews because it's my friend's favorite nut, but anything would be equally divine. Most of them dropped nicely without clumping. The few large clumps were easily broken up after cooling.

These cashews had a lovely, golden brown color that hinted at their buttery caramel-goodness. Thankfully they were not too sugary; the caramel was soft without being sticky. I think I ate more of these than my friend did, which means I definitely need to make them again.

Beware: Being overly eager to sample the caramel mixture and see how it was doing during the soft ball stage, I decided to sample one of the droplets. Mistake! One I paid for with a burn mark on my lower lip (which is still there!).

SPICED PICKLED CARROTS

Lately I've been craving something crunchy, something salty - and this usually leads straight to French Fries. I decided to try a different route this time, and was baited by a recipe on Smitten Kitchen for Pickled Carrot Sticks. I modified it a bit, adding spices to layer more flavors and give it an added kick.

SPICED PICKLED CARROTS

1 pound of baby carrots, cut into thirds
1 1/4 cups of water
1/2 cup of balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup of plain vinegar
1/4 cup of plain sugar
2 garlic cloves, lightly crushed
4 cardamom pods, cut open
2 cloves
1-inch piece of ginger, minced
1/2 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp chili powder

1. Place carrots in a heatproof bowl


2. Bring remaining ingredients to boil


3. Reduce heat and simmer for two minutes


4. Pour pickling liquid over carrots and cool uncovered


5. Chill carrots for at least one day, allowing flavors to develop

Carrots will keep for one month chilled in an airtight container.

POTATO WEDGES

From my childhood, I seem to remember the best potato wedges coming from the gas station. This would need to be verified by my sister or mom and could very well be a figment of my active imagination or a complete fusion of different memories into one, somehow the grocery store becoming the gas station in my mind. Either way, I recently made some while visiting my mom, and these turned out much better than I ever remember. I think I just gave potato wedges, a food I haven't thought about in ten years, a sure spot in future cravings.

POTATO WEDGES

from chocolate & zucchini's jo jo potatoes

1/4 cup melted butter

2 pounds of potatoes, scrubbed andcut into 1 1/2-inch wedges

2/3 cup of flour

2 ounces of parmesan cheese

2 tsp of mustard powder

1 Tbsp paprika

1/2 tsp chilli powder (or to taste)

1/4 tsp black pepper

1 tsp sea salt

Combine all ingredients in a re-sealable plastic bag. Shake, shake, shake until covered. Bake in a 350 degree F oven for 30 minutes. Flip potato wedges and cook another 30 minutes or until done and golden.