Happiness is...dessert!

Truly.  Who out there doesn't enjoy a deliciously decadent dessert every now and then?  Raise your hands.  Good. Now that you've identified yourselves, kindly commit yourselves to the nearest insane asylum.  Even if your version of a decadent dessert consists of fresh berries with some thick, cool, lightly sweetened whipped cream we've all got a sweet tooth of some sort. 

Well, this weekend I indulged mine a little more than I should have.  But it was worth it!  I blame it on my friend (who insisted on inviting me to a cookie swap on Saturday) and my penchant for setting New Year's Resolutions (which lead to my wanting to try new recipes and impress whoever I happened to have invited to dinner this time) and take no responsibility for my actions at all! :)

My first excursion into recipe adventure was a tasty, homemade version of the Whoopie Pie (the cakey, Oreo-ish goodness I believe was invented by the Amish.) I found a fantastic recipe on Bakerella.com for a chocolate/peanut butter version.  You can see it much better in her beautifully professional photographs.  Maybe one day I'll be that good, but until then this is what you get...

 

You probably can't tell, but the cake was light and moist and just a bit crumbly, while the middle was creamy and oh so yummy!  I used crunchy peanut butter as it was all I had on hand so there were bits of peanuts in the middle as well and it had just the perfect amount of saltiness to balance the sweet chocolate...mmm, to die for!  And super, super easy.  I took them to my cookie swap and they were the hit of the party.  Everyone loved them!  So, if you've got an extra 45 minutes or so in your day with nothing to do, I highly recommend you make these.  You'll thank me, I promise!

My second adventure involved a cheesecake.  I've always presumed cheesecake was hard to make.  It's laborious and time consuming, yes, but it wasn't nearly as hard as I'd thought.  I'm a sucker for anything pumpkin flavored and didn't really get my fill this fall so I googled pumpkin cheesecake recipes and found this one.(recipe)  It turned out beautifully, just the perfect amount of cheesiness and pumpkin flavor, light texture and the crust was a great balance of spice and nuts, mmm!  

Again, you can't really tell from my horrendously lit photos (when I ever get my own house there will be lights and windows EVERYWHERE!!!) And I didn't think to take the photo until after we'd dished it up and enjoyed most of it, but here's what was left.  (And don't tell my mother, but I ate another piece for dinner tonight, smothered in whipped cream....mmm!)

I'm afraid I have a bit of a fixation with food, but I really do enjoy eating.  I love taking time to really savor what I eat; the combination of flavors, textures, smells as well as the ambiance of the environment and the presentation of the food.  I'm even coming to enjoy more and more the process of creating the food (though it still seems that the best food is the kind you don't have to cook for yourself!) 

Readers, what is your relationship with food? Is it something that simply fuels your body or something you find pleasure in? Do you eat a healthy diet or one based on convenience alone?  What are some of your favorite things to eat and/or make? I hope you find a bit of happiness in what is on your plate today. Me, I'm off to eat the last Whoopie Pie from the freezer.  G'nite!