If you were to ask a group of 100 people for their definition of a delicious dessert recipe, you’d probably get very few definitions and plenty of specific dessert names. You may say “The most delicious dessert in the world is chocolate cheesecake!” Then you’ve got lemon meringue pie, apple pie, ice cream cakes, carrot cake with cream cheese frosting … oh, truly, you could write a small dictionary of delicious dessert recipes! ‘Dictionary of the Delicious Dessert’ has a nice ring.
Every family has a little stash of recipes, handed down from generation to generation. Every family claims there’s nothing quite like their own secret family treasure, particularly when it comes to tasty dessert recipes. It may well be that just a teaspoon of this or that ingredient can make that lemon meringue pie recipe unique and your family just wouldn’t have it any other way.
My Mom had her own little stash of wonderful dessert recipe cards, which she kept on index cards in a cute little painted metal box. Most were handed down from her Mom and Aunts. Three of my very favorite and most delicious dessert recipes are still in my possession: one is for fresh strawberry pie, a summer delight all the neighborhood kids looked forward to eating for the other three seasons of the year. The second is her Mom’s secret, to-die-for lemon meringue pie. The third is her Mom’s famous Norwegian butter cookies.
Now these are the benchmarks against which I measure any other dessert. Although these delicious dessert recipes must be duplicated – almost - in millions of other households, even Marie Callendar’s pies don’t measure up to those pies. As for my Grandma’s cookies, well, they are like a little visit to Heaven on a plate.
The pastry I have yet to master is the fresh strawberry pie that had me closing my eyes, savoring the sweet delights of a mouthful of fresh strawberries. My grandma, mom, and all the kids would pile up into grandma’s car and drive for many miles just to buy strawberries from the farm when it was strawberry season.
I think what made that delicious dessert recipe an all-time favorite is the fresh smell of a lot of fresh strawberries or the fact that it took all day to gather all the ingredients.
The lemon meringue pie made with fresh lemon and lemon zest is very lemony. The graham cracker crust added to its perfection.
There must be some Norwegian secret as for the Norwegian butter cookies because I cannot duplicate the plain butter cookie, with its ever so delicately browned edges, no matter how hard I tried.
Let’s hear your vote for the incomparably delicious dessert recipe or you can submit your own mouth-watering recipe. There should be a lot out there waiting to be exposed.
Article by Van T, you can learn more about him at his profile