My love affair with desserts comes from desserts traditionally being part of my family’s meals.
No matter what the main course might have been — even Kraft Dinner or leftovers — we always ended the meal with dessert. It might have been fruit that Mom had canned in the fall, a dish of ice cream, a slice of cake or pie or a pudding made in the oven.
Bananas sliced and sprinkled with caramel or chocolate sauce were often my contribution to the end-of-meal.
Carrying on the sweet tooth tradition, this week’s recipes offer more ideas for end-of-meal sweetness.
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Hot Fudge Pudding Cake
2 cups flour
2 tbsps. cocoa
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup melted margarine or butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 tbsps. baking powder
1 cup milk
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
Sauce:
2 cups brown sugar
6 tbsps. cocoa
3 1/2 cups very hot water
Combine all ingredients except the walnuts and blend until smooth. Add walnuts and pour into an ungreased 9x13 inch pan.
For the sauce, combine the brown sugar and cocoa together in a bowl. Spread evenly over the cake mixture.
Gently pour the hot water over the sauce and cake. Do not mix.
Bake for 45-50 miutes at 325 degrees F.
Cake should pull away from the sides and may jiggle a bit in the centre. Serve warm.
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Heavenly Hash
1 small can crushed pineapple
2 tsps. flour
2 tsps. margarine or butter
1 egg, well beaten
2 cups small marshmallows
Drain the pineapple. Place flour and butter or margarine together in a small skillet or saucepan. Mix well. Add the pineapple juice. Cook slowly, stirring constantly until thickened.
Add the beaten egg and cook slowly for a minute or two. Remove from stove. Add marshmallows and drained pineapple. Transfer to a large bowl and let set overnight in the refrigerator.
Before serving, add extra fruit, such as bananas or mandarin oranges. Mix in carefully.
Serve with a small scoop of ice cream topped with a maraschino cherry.
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Baked Rice Pudding
1/2 cup short grain rice
5 cups milk
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsps. nutmeg
Mix rice, milk and sugar together. (Do not substitute long grain rice.) Place mixture in a large baking dish.
Sprinkle with nutmeg.
Bake at 325 degrees F until thick and creamy, about 2 1/2 hours.
Joyce Walter can be reached at [email protected]
