And I noted above that I'll be bringing chai-spiced rice pudding with saffron apricots.

Hellodali wrote:And I noted above that I'll be bringing chai-spiced rice pudding with saffron apricots.

Duly noted. I must have missed that in my haste. . .

happy_stomach wrote:I've never had a deep-fried candy bar, so I think I'll stop by World Market, pick up a range of candy and put together some batter. I imagine deep-fried chocolate won't travel well, so that'll be more for tasting at the exchange. I'll also bring some kind of green tea cookie that folks can take home.

If you make a deep-friend Mars bar, you will be making the Scottish National Dessert.

aschie30 wrote:

happy_stomach wrote:I've never had a deep-fried candy bar, so I think I'll stop by World Market, pick up a range of candy and put together some batter. I imagine deep-fried chocolate won't travel well, so that'll be more for tasting at the exchange. I'll also bring some kind of green tea cookie that folks can take home.

If you make a deep-friend Mars bar, you will be making the Scottish National Dessert.

Yeah, I know! I've been doing some reading up on deep fried candy bars, trying to figure out what kind of batter to make. I'm not a Mars bar fan--I'm more of a Snickers kind of girl--but I'll pick one up just so that we can say we did it.

I am so, so disappointed, but I have just learned that there is a meeting I need to attend the evening of the dessert exchange.
I apologize for the late notice. I do hope there is someone who can take my spot.

Jyoti

jygach wrote:I am so, so disappointed, but I have just learned that there is a meeting I need to attend the evening of the dessert exchange.
I apologize for the late notice. I do hope there is someone who can take my spot.

Jyoti

Jyoti -- sorry to hear it.

There's now a spot open if someone wants to take it. It's not too late!

I'm gonna bring fried custard squares...they sound too interesting to pass up. I might also make a snow pudding to add something light to all the fried goodness.

Ok, so I think I am going to fill my "beignets" with cream cheese filling instead. I'll also make strawberry coulis and maybe even a chocolate sauce too for dipping.

sorry i won't be bringing anything to fry (though i think anything fried has to be yummy -- but going to attempt maple bacon cupcakes

thanks,
yumi

Wendy,

Just occurred to me--do you need me to bring oil?

Sharon

happy_stomach wrote:Wendy,

Just occurred to me--do you need me to bring oil?

Sharon

Nope, I'm good. Thanks for offering.

Can I say how incredibly sad I can't come?

I read your posts and my mouth waters -- I gain poundage just thinking about it.

Delightfully fried deliciousness! When I visited France in my youth I have a very strong memory of having something like a fried custard square. I've never seen or tasted it's like again...Ah...Chartres.

I'll miss the fun!

shannon

In addition to the pudding, I'm going to bring an apple cake. I had gotten ingredients to make it for a dinner party that got cancelled and I have tons of apples around the house already. I just took it out of the oven and am now going to go to fall asleep to the scent of fresh baked cinnamon apple goodness.

Last-minute change for me. I'm bringing parnsip cake with buttercream frosting instead of green tea cookies. I'll still bring candy bars, too.

Pie Lady wrote:I wonder what a fried Peep tastes like...

I don't know about fried, but I was just in St. Louis and I found a shop selling chocolate covered Peeps on a stick.

Mmmm. Unnecessarilicious!

stevez wrote:

Pie Lady wrote:I wonder what a fried Peep tastes like...

I don't know about fried, but I was just in St. Louis and I found a shop selling chocolate covered Peeps on a stick.

Ooh! Idea for a dessert future exchange...chocolate-dipped everything! Marshmallows, cookies, ice cream cones, fruit... Anyone have access to some liquid nitrogen?

Let me be the first to thank aschie30 and Cinny'sMom for hosting tonight's dessert exchange and Eli for being the frymaster extraordinaire. What a spread of desserts we had tonight. In addition to fried custard, beignets, banana fritters and deep-fried candy bars, we had pies and puddings and cupcakes and cakes, all quite delicious. I think my favorites were Pucca's cream-cheese filled beignets and foodie1's Dorie Greenspan's banana cream pie. I am now off to bed to sleep off my sugar coma. My co-workers will be so happy with the spread I am brining in tomorrow. Can't wait for the pictures!

yes, thank you wendy and maureen (and eli for his special skill in frying everything) for such a fun and sweet evening -- now i've desserts for the wk

regards,
yumi

Last night was great fun. Thanks all for coming and contributing. The frying idea turned out to be a hoot. I'll be posting pictures soon, but I still chuckle at the vision of a small group of people (always including frymaster eli) huddled over the fryer, carefully poking, prodding as if they're midwifing a birth, only to see a platter emerge a few minutes later with various fried goodies to be passed around. Seeing the sheer largesse of goodies, which covered a long counter and the breakfast bar, caused me to exclaim at one point, "What is wrong with us?!? The answer is, of course, nothing is wrong with us.

I hope the others who took photographs will post soon.

Thank you aschie30 and cinnysmom for your generous hospitality. I'm sorry I had to be so late, but I'm glad I was able to make it in time to fry. Thank you eli for showing me the ropes of deep frying. It's not so scary after all, even though my first drop created quite a splash! I'm still so impressed by the variety and quality of goodies that people bring. I'll try to post pics later tonight.

What a fabulous event and I'm so glad I participated! Thank you to our lovely hosts, Maureen & Wendy! Here are some pictures of the delicious event...


For the dessert exchange, we incorporated a deep fryer for anyone who wanted to fry up some sugary goodness. Joining my banana cream pie (Dorie Greenspan's recipe) at the dessert exchange were...



Demitra's Apple Cake



Maureen's Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes



Jenny's Rosemary & Bourbon Coffee Cake



Yumi's Maple & Bacon Cupcakes



Demitra's Cardamom Rice Pudding
with Saffron Apricots




Wendy's Banana Fritters



Eli's Fried Custard Squares



Christina's Cream Cheese Filled Beignets
with strawberry coulis & chocolate ganache dipping sauce



Sharon's Deep Fried Candy Bars


And I'm missing pics of Sharon's Parsnip Cake & Eli's Snowball Pudding...

Thanks to aschie30 and cinnysmom for hosting and to everyone for the great desserts. As someone said last night, "I'd pay money for [any of] these." I had a great time last night. I'm glad my fryer could be put to good use. Usually it just mopes about the back of the cabinet. (Also, I think I'm still sugared up...)

Thanks from me too! This was quite a night, and I look forward to diving into my box o' yum when I get home!

Thank you to Wendy and Maureen for hosting such an enjoyable exchange. I know it was only the second one, but I'm really happy with how these are going--gathering in someone's home, sharing sweets and oh-so-worth-it tummy aches.

Thank you to everyone from last night, especially eli, for creating an evening that made deep-frying a little less scary for me. I'm now seriously considering the purchase of my own fryer. It's so much fun!

Here are some additional pictures from the dessert exchange:


One of happy_stomach's candy bars happily deep-frying


eli's snow pudding


happy_stomach's parsnip cake


ymas' maple bacon cupcakes


Hellodali's chai-spiced rice pudding with saffron-infused apricots


Rice pudding, plated


Dessert spread

Dessertketeers,

One thing you should be prepared for if you share desserts at this type of event is that your wares may be further circulated the next day (or later) in the broader LTH community. I was honored to sample ymas's Maple-Bacon and Cinny's Mom's Irish Car Bomb cupcakes last night, and was rewarded by both tastings.

The Irish Car Bomb cupcake is a very creative take; I'd like to see these harmonious flavors in other desserts as well, like tortes with sabayon, mousse, ice cream, etc. I thought the frosting was (pun intended) dynamite.

Ymas, your cupcakes were much more boldly and saltily flavored than the options at More. I dug it; I like that bold of a smoke flavor. I'd be interested to see this experiment with other types of bacon as a mellower wood might suit the dessert profile better. However, we thought going the other direction entirely might work as well - use cornmeal and some diced jalapenos along with the bacon and you've got a perfect main-course accompaniment.

Brava to both, and all the LTH pastry chefs!