Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Valentine's Day Desert Competition

Yesterday, February 13th, our stake had a Valentine's Day dinner. A part of the dinner was a dessert competition for the guys. The grand prize for the best dessert was one night at the Black Swan Inn which is a fancy hotel here in town with theme rooms, much like the Anniversary Inn. When Charlotte found out this she wanted to win more than anything.

To make her happy I set out to win. I contacted everyone I could think and looked in any recipe book I could find for help choosing a winning recipe. I decided on the Black Forest Pie. It was great. It is a chocolate cherry pie to die for. I will include the recipe at the end.

To make a long story short, the competition was stiff. In the end it came down to two desserts, my pie and a strawberry short bread thing. It was a tie and an alternate judge was brought in to decide. We lost. I couldn't believe it. That alternate wouldn't know good taste if it bit him. Even though I didn't win I thought the recipe was good enough to share with all of you.

Black Forest Pie
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup baking cocoa
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/3 cup milk
1/4 cup butter or margarine
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 can (21 oz.) cherry pie filling, divided
1 unbaked pastry shell 9 inch.
Whipped topping, optional but recommended.

In a saucepan, combine sugar, cocoa, flour and milk until smooth. Add butter. Bring to a boil; cook and sir for 2 minutes or until thickened. remove from the heat. Stir a small amount of hot mixture into eggs. Return all to the pan. Fold in half of the cherry pie filling. Pour into pastry shell. Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes or until filling is almost set. Cool completely on a wire rack. Just before serving, top with remaining pie filling and whipped topping if desired. Serves 6-8.

I don't know the nutritional information. I am sure that this recipe is not too healthy but it is good.