I Hope There's Pudding!

Hello dear fans of I Hope There's Pudding! I know you have missed us and our country-wide adventures of desserts. Well, I've got good news and bad news. The good news is that we are returning to write about delicious desserts for you all! The bad news is we are no longer doing desserts across America. I know. Tragic. We are going to making what we want on our time. We both enjoy baking, but at our own paces. Life happens to all of us and it felt more like a chore, than something we wanted to do. Now, I know what you are thinking... Shut up Amanda and show us the desserts. Don't worry, I hear you. Today I bring to you something simple, since I just wanted to alert the world that we were back. I present to you, edible cookie dough. Since it is super easy to make, I had help from my little helper with making this. I got this recipe from Unbaked Bar . I discovered this company from an Instagram ad a few months back, and let me tell you, THE BEST. So, I don...

In case you were wondering, the only thing more American than fried apple pie, is fried apple pie with ice cream.  This week brought us to Oklahoma where the fried pies are the chosen dessert. I found a seemingly easy recipe and was excited to dive in. That was a bit of sarcasm. I hate dicing apples and making pie crusts. This recipe had both. Regardless, I sucked it up and prepared myself for the task on hand. First up... Dicing the apples. Three apples later, it was done. Thank goodness... I almost broke a sweat.  Next came the pie crust. Pie crusts are finicky and delicate. I do not enjoy them. But with (what I thought) the hardest parts out of the way, I moved on to filling and frying. The making the filling part was easy... Cook the apples in spices, water, and sugar. Easy enough.  Then came the filling. I thought I hated dicing and pie crusts... No. Filling the dreaded crusts with the dreaded diced apples, was an arduous task...

Every time I visit Ross or Home Goods on a mission to find something, I usually come across something I love. This specific journey, I was looking for a bundt cake pan. The recipe I found for a Meyer Lemon Cake was a bundt cake one. I didn't already own one and decided it would be a worthy addition to my collection.  I struck gold with the one I found. Because it sure made a beautiful cake... This was as delicious as it was beautiful. The recipe used made more than enough batter for my pan. I may have overfilled the pan a little bit, as my oven had a little bit of cake shared with it on the bottom. There was also this... Due to the overfilling of the pan, I had to bake the cake for a little bit longer than the recipe required. This yielded a little bit more brown of a cake than I prefer. This also made it a little tough around the edges. Fortunately, the glaze hid the over-baking and it was still delicious. This cake makes a delicious addition with coff...

Watch this Video Before Reading Glad to be back in the saddle again, cross country baking with the best little sister known to man (or woman). We started off this year with North Carolina (sweet potato pie) and California (meyer lemon cake) because they both required produce that is in season. There's no clear winner in my book, both for desserts and states. North Carolina I have converted a number of Californians to sweet potato pie. I use a personal recipe that has developed over time, and uses bourbon. The bourbon is key, as are the candied pecans. (Also, using sweet potatoes and not yams.) Here she is: Comments on this pie include: --"The best pie I have ever eaten." -- Huge Notre Dame Fan --"I'm on the fence. It's good, but I'm not sure it's the best ever." -- Queen B --"I love it! Except for the sweet potato part." -- Random 7-Year Old I am also nearly certain that I only get invites to Thanksgiving because of th...

I have a confession to make... For the longest time, I was very anti-sweet potato. There was no real rhyme or reason to it. I just did. But have no fear, I am Team Sweet Potato and I am a changed woman. Especially with this pie. Jennifer and I decided to renew the challenge this year after debating on it a few times previously. We started in the great state of North Carolina since sweet potatoes are currently in season. This pie... let me tell you. It was delicious. With the sweet potatoes and the maple whipped cream... I was in heaven. It is very simple to make. A little consuming, solely based on baking the sweet potatoes beforehand. The recipe I used made way too much filling for just one pie and I made a second crustless version. It was not as good as the original, but still tasty. I am a fan will definitely be making this one again! Love, Amanda Recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/calleys-sweet-potato-pie-recipe-2085595

Dessert is coming for you. XOXO, America

THE BEST COOKIES OF ALL TIME* For Alaska, I wanted to try Agutuk (Akutaq), which was described by the internet as: This is the most Alaskan of desserts, though only a few hardy travelers try it. Native Alaskans create this “Eskimo Ice Cream” by mixing seal oil, reindeer fat, snow, and berries. The ingredients are hand-whipped until they form a foam. Sugar is not traditional but adds fluffiness. This food was originally eaten for survival rather than as a treat, and recipes have been passed down through generations of Native families. Other traditional ingredients include moose, caribou, and fish. Modern variations often include Crisco. ASN, the party pooper, wanted none of this, complaining that she wouldn't be able to find reindeer fat. THE INTERNET defeats ASN. (She was unconcerned by the utter lack of snow in Raleigh, apparently.) So we decided upon Tongass Forest Cookies, which sounded positively yucky, and which the internet admitted had no origin story. But, ...

Wonderful Washington I love a nut pie. Something about buying corn syrup reminds me of both Thanksgiving and high school home ec, both of which are awesome. I made Martha Stewart's Washington Walnut Pie, and, as usual, you can't go wrong with Martha Stewart. This pie is perfect and it fills my heart and stomach with joy. JMN wouldn't try it because "it looks gross." Never have I been so happy to have an unadventurous four-year old. I feel like I should say more, so I started thinking about Washington State. Home of the best dessert so far on our adventure, it also reminds me of My So Called Life, plaid, grunge, and this song: Which reminds me of this time this spring when I was in Atlanta. I'd walk past the Tabernacle going from work to pick JMN up at daycare. One day, it was drizzling but I'd forgotten an umbrella, so I was huddled up in my coat/hood (will I ever wear that heavy coat again?). I nearly ran into someone while cutting acro...

Or: How I Learned to Never Skimp On Fat Straight Talk: Cobbler is gross. Yucky. Nasty. Why the heck would you ruin these delicious blackberries by turning them into mushy milk-addled versions of themselves? Look at these beautiful berries (California-grown, not Oregon-grown): I toyed with the idea of making a blackberry-apple crumble instead, but it just felt like cheating. So I made the cobbler. However, like an idiot, I made it with skim milk. Without the fat, the cobbler turned to candy and was super-chewy. I found a way to make cobbler worse! I did not share this atrocity with anyone. Sorry, Oregon, I still think you're the best! Note: JMN and I decided to use blue and green sugar on top. It is fun!

One Dessert for A Giant State When ASN and I decided to embark on this dessert-a-venture across the U.S., ASN suggested we start in California and work our way across the country. I was excited to start with a meyer lemon dessert because (1) I love meyer lemons, and (2) I live in OC, so I have to be able to find meyer lemons, right? Well, turns out there were no meyer lemons to be found because they were out of season. A week later, I finally found the first-of-the-season meyer lemons, and good golly were they delicious! I made this cake: http://hilahcooking.com/meyer-lemon-olive-oil-cake/ The recipe was easy to make, and the cake was delicious! I thought that the cake was a little dry, but that's probably my newness cooking in this dry climate moreso than the recipe.   That said, I ate a quarter of the cake in a single day. Oops? JMN tried it and informed me that it was missing frosting, which I otherwise never would have noticed! Work folks must...

I have to admit, I was none too thrilled about this one. I was never a big fan of nutty desserts. Alas, I gave it a good effort for the sake of the blog.  While I wasn't the biggest fan of the pie, it did turn out nicely and had a few fans.  Look at that beautiful pie.  I have never made a pie crust and I didn't start for this one. It's very easy to make and made my house smell quite heavenly. (I will add a link to the recipe later... I am on my phone and not sure how to do a link on the app yet! But it was Martha Stewart's Washington Walnut Pie recipe.) -Amanda

Who doesn't love blackberries? Crazy people, that's who! And what's better than blackberries? Blackberries in a cobbler covered in ice cream. This week our travels brought us to Oregon and tasty blackberries. I've never made a cobbler before, so this one was pretty exciting for me. I was amazed how easy it was to make. Not only was it easy, but it was super delicious too. It was obviously delicious fresh out of the oven, but it even reheated decently. Here is my tasty cobbler right before I put it in the oven. Look how big those blackberries are! Unfortunately mine didn't come from Oregon... They were from Guatemala. But hopefully Jennifer found some Oregon blackberries in California! Here we are, fresh out of the oven. Look how fantastic that looks??!! And believe me, it was fantastic. Christy (my other half's mother) had the pleasure of trying this concoction and I'm fairly certain she was in heaven.  Bottom line? I wou...

Out of the blue, about a week or two ago, my lovely sister emails me this list of desserts for every state. She told me that she wanted me to join her in a weekly trek across the country via desserts. Also, she was doing it with or without me. Me, being the sweet toothed, junk food lover that I am, couldn't say no. After a brief discussion of what order to go in, we decided to start on California (since Jennifer lives there) and travel towards me in North Carolina. So, without further ado, California: The wonderful Meyer Lemon Cake was the first stop on our journey across the country. The recipe I used can be found here . At first, the thought of having a delicious cake staring at me for 24 hours before I could indulge in it was a bit heartbreaking. But I assure you, it was well worth the wait. The Meyer lemon juice and sugar glaze had set in and made it that much more lemony delicious. The cake itself was quite easy to make. I baked it a tad too long, so it tur...

My Cross-Country Challenge to My Little Sister: Eat Yourself Across America in Desserts. California - Meyer Lemon Cake Oregon - Blackberry Cobbler Washington State - Washington Walnut Pie Alaska - Tongass Forest Cookies Montana - S'mores Idaho - Huckleberry Pie Nevada - The Sugar Factory's King Kong Sundae Arizona - Navajo Frybread Utah - Jell-O (the state snack!) Wyoming Colorado New Mexico - Bizcochito Texas - Pecan Pie Oklahoma Kansas Nebraska South Dakota - Kuchen North Dakota - Krumkake Minnesota - Seven-Layer Bars Iowa Missouri - Gooey Butter Cake (note: state dessert is ice cream!) Arkansas Louisiana Mississippi Tennessee Kentucky Indiana Illinois Wisconsin - Kringle Michigan Ohio - Buckeyes West Virginia Pennsylvania - Chocolate Chip Cookie New York - Oreo Cheesecake Vermont - Apple Pie New Hampshire Maine - Blueberry Pie (wild Maine blueberries) Massachusetts - Boston Creme Pie Rhode Island Connecticut New Jersey Delawa...