Sweet Thoughts

Tonight I am ruminating on dessert. I have to make one. (I know what you're thinking. "Jenny, you don't have to make one; you just want one.") But I tell you truly, I have to make one. Something inexplicable happened. Jeff and I have been invited to a friend's house for dinner on Friday (Yes, I plan to eat and tell!) and were asked to bring a dessert. Honestly, Jeff and I were so excited that someone else is cooking that we gave each other high fives and did a jig around the table. (Don't hurt yourself falling out of the chair laughing at this vision of gracefulness.) So tonight I must start contemplating what we should take.

Our hostess is serving salmon (a light and delicate epicurean delight - I hope), so it seems to me that something decadent is in order. My first thought, of course, is something chocolate, but that seems a little obvious. The next idea I have is to make some sort of cupcake bouquet, (Sandra Lee has a beautiful one on the cover of this month's magazine.) but I don't think four of us really need two dozen miniature lemon cakes covered in butter cream frosting. What about a pie, I pondered. However, I plan on making a butterscotch meringue for this Saturday night's theatrical outing to Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit, so two nights in a row seems like overkill. (Although, if I wane lazy I could use that pie shop coupon Jeff received for Christmas.) Still, the idea of being invited to someone else's house for dinner seems to call for something homemade - after all, I want to be invited back. Cookies are always an option, but that sounds more like something I would send with Jade when he's off to Alec's house rather than something worthy of an elegant salmon dinner. A classic bread pudding made from cinnamon rolls and topped with a buttery vanilla sauce is homey and wonderful at the same time, but not Jeff's favorite. (Though I have to add that if I made one and took it with us, he would eat it just to be polite. What a guy.)

Perhaps a cheesecake is the ticket - rich and creamy, especially filled with chocolate chips and slivered almonds. Actually, the best cheesecake I ever made was of the Neapolitan variety. After whipping up the regular batter, one third was mixed with melted chocolate and another third with pureed strawberries. The batter was then layered over a lovely graham cracker crust before baking. Yum! Another hit at our house was Paula Deen's pumpkin cheesecake (wow), and who could forget the Grand Marnier cheesecake on a chocolate cookie crust. (I seem to be caught up in cheesecakes. Perhaps it's time to move on.)

Unfortunately, some of my favorite desserts - like bananas foster, fried ice cream, and baked Alaska - don't travel well. Can you picture me rummaging through my friend's cabinets looking for the perfect skillet, perusing her kitchen drawers for a sturdy spoon, and igniting a pan full of brandy only to set off her smoke alarms? Yeah, I can too, but I don't think my friend would appreciate it much. (Although, I have a single girlfriend who would probably love for me to cook dinner at her house, but that's another story.)

It seems there is only one good way to solve this dilemma. I must spend the evening with a stack of cookbooks. Alas, it might take two hours of pouring over luscious desserts before I find just the right concoction for the occasion. It's a tough job, but somebody has to do it.