Three Minutes Filling a Page

Normanday #49: Sky’s the limit.

Write for three minutes about…

…anything.

Email what you wrote to woof at bright dot net by the end of the day October 14 (put “Norman Likes to Knit” in the subject line). I’ll post as many of my favorite entries as I want next Monday. Include your first name (or, even better, use a pen name) and age (unless you’re tortoise-old). If you’re a published children’s or young adult writer, include a biography to be posted with your entry.

Here are the entries from last week when I asked you to write for three minutes about…

…the most delectable dessert you can imagine.

Cranberly

The Trifle Tower

Bottom of the container: thick layer of chocolate mousse. (Not to be confused with chocolate mouse.)

On top of the mousse, fresh raspberries and raspberry coulis. 

On top of the raspberries, homemade whipped cream with a hint of hazelnut flavoring.

On top of the whipped cream, a layer of warm, chocolate cake.

On top of the cake, thick, hot fudge.

On top of the hot fudge, thin sliced strawberries.

On top of the strawberries, vanilla gelato drizzled with more hot fudge.

Crumbled on top, glazed pecans.

Wes C. Pie

I was recently asked, “What was the most delicious dessert I have ever eaten?”. I began to remember all sorts of food and drink. I remember being my son’s age and discovering soda pop in small, single serving bottles. The flavors included grape, orange, root beer, and cream soda. We only had them during the summer when our neighborhood beach club held their annual picnic. I remember when I lost my front teeth and my mother cut the corn off the cob for me. For some reason it tasted the best then. I never liked meatloaf until my wife insisted on cooking it for me. I don’t know what other people do to theirs, but I can’t get enough of my wife’s meatloaf. I enjoyed the best coffee in a hotel in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Canada. Maybe the century old building in another country had something to do with the taste. I had my best steak in a restaurant that shortly after cooking it for me burned down. But which dessert was the most delicious? I have eaten so many desserts. I have the reputation for always leaving room for dessert. I believe the peach cobbler my mother used to make was the most delicious. Maybe because she is no longer here to make it. Maybe because when she did make it the house filled with the sweet smell of peaches and brown sugar. Maybe it is really the memories of that moment, sparked by a particular taste or smell, that are really delicious.

Schae D. Lane

This is not imaginary, it is real!

I’ve just discovered the most delicious dessert, ever! It’s a cookie. Now, I know what you’re thinking…How can a cookie be the best dessert, ever? How could a simple cookie trump cake, pie or truffle? Have I gone mad?

Well, let me tell you a little bit about myself and then how I discovered this marvelous cookie.  

First, I love to try new recipes. I usually find them in magazines, newspapers, on the internet or from other daring kitchen crusaders, like myself, only much more crafted in the art of flavor, technique and presentation. What can I say, I try, but I’m not a great baker by any means.  

However, what I lack in culinary savoir-faire, I make up for in enthusiasm.  

So now for the cookie! The wonderful creation is called the Italian Lemon Drop Cookie. It spoke to me, electronically, from the internet. I have Italian blood running through these veins, and though I’m not really a big fan of lemon, I felt this cookie couldn’t help but turn out great!  

See what I mean about enthusiasm.

Plus, I had all the ingredients on hand in my pantry. Bonus! That is usually a good indication that the oven will soon be heating up to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

The recipe was easy enough to follow. The first batch came out of the oven. I allowed for the cooling period and taste tested one. Yuck, something was wrong. Why was the cookie bitter? What did I do wrong?  

Looking over the recipe’s ingredients, I found my mistake, baking soda instead of baking powder. I hate when I do that! Okay, second attempt. See, I told you, I’m not the greatest of bakers.  

Second try turned out, oh so much better, delicious in fact!

I let the round, little cookies cool as I whipped up the icing. I added a couple of drops of yellow food dye into the icing to help associate the lemon flavor of the cookie. Then I dipped the top of each cookie into the super sweet mixture, coating the top half with the yellow, gooey icing and setting each on a cooling rack to harden. Once hardened, I sprinkled a hint of powdered sugar on top. Not that it needed more sweetness, I thought it would add texture.

So here is why it is the best dessert…The consistency of the cookie is not crunchy. It’s more cake like, but denser. The cookie itself isn’t sweet, it’s lemony, but not overwhelmingly so. In contrast, the top layer of icing will send your pancreas into shock if you eat too many cookies in one sitting.

The combination of sweet icing, coupled with the lemony flavor of the cookie really is the best of both worlds. Perfection. Best dessert ever.