Sweet Teeth

Please take a look at my Favorite Recipes list in the left hand column of this page (this has now become my recipes index). Go ahead, you may do it now. Did you look? Did you? Ok, if you are being honest and you really looked, you may read on. One thing you may have noticed is that half of the recipes listed are...desserts.

This isn't because half of what we eat are desserts. We eat healthy breakfasts, lunches and dinners every day. And we occasionally have dessert. On Thursday nights my brother and future sister-in-law come over for dinner. It's not that they need a dessert. It's just a good excuse for me to make one. So, I do. Almost every time.

You see, I have a problem. I don't have a sweet "tooth" like some normal people do. Every one of the teeth in my mouth are sweet. Every one.

I blame this somewhat on the way I was raised. There were always sweet, baked goods on the counter (cakes), in the fridge (pies) and in the freezer (huge tubs of ice cream and frozen cookies). Yes, often all at the same time. My mother, bless her, packed my lunch all the way through high school (I know, spoiled). I would have a sandwich, a bag of grapes or an apple and one of the following: a piece of pie or cake or a gob (a.k.a. whoopie pie) wrapped in wax paper or a bag of cookies. And for special occasions? Not one dessert. Several desserts, meaning lots of dessert leftovers lounging around the house after the company had left. All homemade, mind you. We are Mennonite.

Now, there were rules about how many sweets we could have, but when it's always sitting around and your mother is out hanging up wash or in the garden and you're hungry, who's gonna know?

Wow. I am really talking about this a lot. The point is, this all may have contributed to my sweet teeth. Maybe not. Once, we were out to dinner with Jamey's former boss, an amazing woman, by the way, who said that they always had bowls of M&Ms and other candy sitting around when they were raising their kids. She said their kids had some sometimes, but now, as adults, they really don't like sweets. She believes this was due to the availability of the sweets- they weren't forbidden. Sweets certainly weren't forbidden at my house growing up. On the contrary, they seemed to be encouraged.

So, does this mean it's my personality? My heritage? What?

Whatever it is, it requires desperate measures- at all times. I cannot keep chocolate in the house- in any form, except cocoa, since that doesn't taste very good at the height of sweet teeth desperation. I cannot keep icing in the house. Even vanilla, because while I don't like vanilla icing, you can always add cocoa to it, turning it into chocolate icing, which I adore eating. Straight. I also enjoy cookie dough and brownie batter and the baked versions of them both (of course). I mean, since I'm laying it all out here, I might as well just tell you everything.

When my brother and future sister-in-law leave after their meal, there is usually dessert left, but only a few pieces (since I've learned to bake in 8x8s to minimize leftovers lounging around my house), and those are usually wolfed-down by my runs-daily-high-metabolismed-very-low-percent-body-fat husband.

So, below is one of the strange compromises I had to invent when my sweet teeth were calling. Raspberries stuffed with soft (I microwaved them for 10 seconds) white chocolate chips leftover from baking scones the other week. They were pretty yummy and better for me than icing or half a bag of chocolate chips, right? (Sorry it's blurry. I was in some serious withdraw.)


So, if you have any idea what I am suffering from, please let me know. Farah, dear? Is there a treatment? Anyone? And what in the world do I do with my kids? Set bowls of candy around the house? Become a dessert pusher? Or pray that sweets in moderation is best? What do you do? Anyone? Anyone? Pin It