Dessert Club - "Mother"

Happy Mother's Day!!!

We had a special Dessert Club this month, at which we honored our mothers. Everyone made a dish that came from, or was inspired by, her Mom. Isn't that sweet?

Usually at DC, we dish up and chat while eating. This time we went around the circle and ate the same thing at the same time while the baker told a little about it. We joked that if you squeezed out a tear, you won by default, but miraculously no one cried. What we did manage was to capture and share a little piece of our Moms and childhood with each other. I would say it was definitely our most comforting Dessert Club to date. See for yourself.

Mom's Big Eat 'Em Today Cinnamon Rolls (recipe here), Lemon Ice Cream (recipe here)

Lemon Bars, Chocolate Chip Crunch Cake (mine - recipe here)

Mom's Shortbread, Carrot Cream Pies

Hot Fudge Pudding with Tahitian Vanilla Gelato, Almond Joy Bars

Mochi (Coconut) Balls, Perfect Plain Whole Wheat Cake (in strawberry shortcake)

And the winner of the evening was this gorgeous creamy confection called "Russian Cream." It looks and serves similar to panna cotta, but is even easier to make, and we drizzled ours with a fresh raspberry sauce. Of course. This was DC member A.M.'s favorite special dessert her Mom made when she was a child. This was the first time she'd ever made it herself, and even went out and bought a brioche mold for the occasion. Unmolding was a bit touch-and-go for a minute, but it came out beautifully!

Here's what one of our sampling plates looked like. You are going to die when you see next month's theme, hello delicousness! I know some of you out there have started your own cooking/dessert clubs - let's hear about them! How are they going? What themes have you used? What surprises have come up? It is the easiest thing in the world to start one - Evite a bunch of fellow foodies, pick a date, pick a theme, sweep your floor and wipe your counters that night and that's pretty much it. We usually serve milk, water and a bowl of pretzels for palate cleansing. And you don't have to, but we vote on our favorite - the winner receives a small gift that we take turns bringing (when I do it I like to have it go with the theme.) Summer is the perfect time to get one rolling!