A selective sweet tooth

Hi Everyone, I often tell people that I do not have a sweet tooth and that I prefer savoury, and it’s the truth. I almost never order dessert when dining out, and I have been guilty of treating dessert as an afterthought when entertaining. However, I’ve come to realise that I have a selective sweet tooth. In other words, there are certain sweet products and dishes that tempt me, lure me, seduce me and beckon me with their sexy sweetness. Don’t be fooled though, for me to let go and surrender to their pleasures, they have to be of good quality and taste. Often, I’ve found the homemade variety to be best.

So what are some of these things that weaken my resolve and lead me down a sinfully delicious path? Bread Pudding, Rice Pudding (aka Sweet Rice and Kheer), Banana Bread, any baked apple dessert and fruit sorbets.

The first time I had bread pudding many years ago, an old boyfriend had baked it for me. I immediately fell in love with it; can’t say the relationship lasted as long as the memory of the bread pudding but I digress. Anyway, since then, whenever I’m invited to someone’s home in particular and bread pudding is on the dessert menu, you bet I’m having some. This enthusiasm however, has led to many moments of disappointment with the bread pudding being thin and dry and where it seems to have been made only with the crust of the bread and not the soft, sponge-like body of the bread. In some cases I could tell that the custard did not get a chance to soak into the bread properly because when you bit into it, there were dry parts of the actual bread.

I found also that with some of the bread puddings I’ve had, that without the rum sauce, Bailey’s sauce or Amaretto liqueur, the actual bread pudding was left wanting. I feel that a bread pudding should be super moist and tasty on its own and transport you to a higher plain when eaten with a sauce or drizzled with a liqueur.

I like my bread pudding thick and moist from being drenched in custard, a long soak that can even extend to overnight will ensure this; whatever flavourings you want to add is fine just as long as that basic requirement of long soaking is met. When I made the bread pudding for this column, I wanted something fruity and rummy so I added a heaping cup of my blended rum-fruits I’ve been soaking for almost a year now for my Christmas cake. It hit the spot with me and my tasters.

Growing up, I knew Rice Pudding only as Sweet Rice and later as Kheer. Regardless of the name, I was thrilled to find that I could eat my beloved rice as a dessert too! I’d see my Auntie Betty dutifully stirring the rice to ensure that it did not scorch at the bottom. The sweet smell of cinnamon wafted through the kitchen bathed in the afternoon sunlight. There never seemed to be enough sweet rice made and I would eat mine slowly trying to outlast everyone else eating. The raisins cooked into sweet rice were plump and sweet yet a little tart and the preserved cherries, boy, when she added those, I always ate mine last, savouring it for the finale of a grand dish.

I came to love Banana Bread through the eating of a Banana-nut Muffin a few years ago while on a visit to the United States. Since then, I have been searching for a really good Banana Bread recipe. At first I wasn’t sure what exactly I was looking for taste-wise, but having tasted quite a few Banana Breads, thinking that the next one is going to be it, I came up with a rundown of my expectations. I wanted to actually taste the flavour of banana and not just a hint of banana.  I wanted my Banana Bread to be moist inside and out, not just on the top and if they were going to be nuts or chocolate chips or whatever else, I wanted to find them throughout the Banana Bread, again, not just at the top. My friends, I am excited to tell you that I now have a recipe for a Banana Bread that suits my taste-needs! I took excerpts from 2 recipes I found online, taking what I liked best about each of them and came up with a recipe. Be sure to email me for a copy, I know you’re going to like this Banana Bread. It is rich and moist. The chocolate chips are like little treasures through the bread and not just on top. Since I’ve put together this recipe, I’ve made the Banana Bread twice for friends and co-workers.

The first time I made the Banana Bread I took a piece for a colleague, let’s call her Beverly. Beverly ate the Banana Bread and called me later and could not stop gushing about how good it tasted. Two weeks later, we were having a departmental meeting, given that it’s usually four of us at the meeting, I took three slices of the second Banana Bread I had baked, one for each of them. When I turned up, there were two other persons invited to the meeting. I apologised immediately stating that I would have brought more if I had known… at this point one of my colleagues (who had not tasted the Banana Bread before) said, rather generously, that I should not worry that they can all share. I looked up to see Beverly shaking her head and saying, “Uh uh, I’m sorry but I’m not sharing mine. You all will have to wait until Cynthia bakes again” I’m embarrassed!

Apple desserts, particularly Apple Pie I love. Not the kind made with stewed apples out of a can! Rather, the kind that’s cooked low and slow and encased in a crust that shatters when it’s cut or bitten into. Rustic is how I like it. I once had my best friend Susan, bring me an Apple Pie all the way from Champaign, Illinois. She even bought a special bag to protect the pie and held it in her hand throughout the three flights she took to get home to Barbados. I’m embarrassed and I know that I am blessed to have such a good friend.
I like sorbets because they are not made with dairy; however, my selective sweet tooth allows me to only enjoy certain fruit flavours such as mango, strawberry or mandarin orange. Mango is my favourite. The other day I tried some coconut sorbet, did not like it. And lime or lemon sorbet, I find too tart.

So what about you? Do you have a sweet tooth? Or are you like me and have a selective sweet tooth?

Cynthia
tasteslikehome@gmail.com
www.tasteslikehome.org