Dessert Club - Secret Ingredient

 Would you like to play a little game?  Our Dessert Club theme in August was "Secret Ingredient", meaning, you make something with a surprise ingredient you think will be hard to guess.  We skipped our usual protocol of labeling our dishes upon arrival, and instead just dished them up and ate without knowing exactly what they were.  We nibbled and chatted as usual, but our oft-used question, "What's in this?" was prohibited. 

After we'd eaten, I handed out a list of ingredients, and everyone's challenge was to match the dish with the secret ingredient (everyone had told me theirs ahead of time.)  I know it's hard without tasting, but can YOU guess the secret ingredients in these dishes?

Here are your choices:  Ancho chile peppers, cashews, chai, cottage cheese, cottage cheese/white beans/chickpeas, lentils, mashed potatoes, Nutella, sauerkraut, zucchini

So...what do you think?  It was pretty fun, and we definitely had some good surprises, and some really good food.  I won't hold you in suspense any longer.

Chocolate Sauerkraut Cake 

with Whole-Egg Chocolate Buttercream (mine)

 

 I thought it was incredible. The vinegar reacts with the baking powder to make a light crumb, and the cabbage imitates coconut in texture.  Plus that frosting was something else.  One of my favorites of the night!

Nutella-Swirl Meringues

Citrus Pound Cakes 
with Melon-Scented Swiss Meringue Buttercream (cottage cheese)

Vanilla Chai Cake 
(I could eat that frosting ALL DAY)

Zucchini Dessert Squares (totally tasted like apple)

Lentil Cookies

Spudnuts with Dark Chocolate Nutella Glaze (mashed potatoes)

Deep Dish Cookie Pie à la Mode
My standout favorite of the evening

 

 The cookie was made with chickpeas and white beans - no flour or eggs!!!  And the ice cream was made with cottage cheese - decadent, incredible, and very surprisingly healthy!

Ancho Chili Fudge Pie
This one won "Taster's Choice" of the evening - it was really awesome.

Chocolate Coconut Cream Pie
And this one stumped us all.  Not a single person guessed the right secret ingredient for this pie.  Seriously, how do you hide cashews in a cream pie?!  And it's not in the crust.  She just ground them up really finely - if it had been on the list, I would have guessed a hint of ricotta cheese in her chocolate cream, the texture was that fine.  Really awesome job by everyone! 

I definitely want to do this theme again sometime!

And our Dessert Club: Next Gen is growing.  New babies Abigail and Paul joined us for August's gathering. And their moms looked incredible.  One of them even ate chocolate that night, knowing it would wreak havoc on the baby the next day.  We all make our sacrifices, and apparently none is too great for DC.