I absolutely adore Chestnut Cream. Chestnuts, sugar, candied chestnuts, what’s not to love?

If I have a container, and I’ve opened it, odds are good that it will be gone shortly, nutrition plans forgotten in the sugar rush.

I can’t purchase it locally, so I tend to buy about six cans (Faugier brand) online, and hoard them carefully to prevent myself from eating them all at once.

My favorite way to eat it is probably one of the simplest, smear a bit on a fresh crepe, top with a bit of whipped cream, roll it up, and enjoy.   (Eating it off a spoon is, oddly enough, less satisfying.)

This year I think I’ll create a jelly roll type cake with a chestnut filling, and maybe some filled cookies, but I don’t have definite plans.

Before I discovered chestnut cream, I think Elmer’s Gold Brick ice cream topping made the top of my list. It’s a Milk Chocolate sauce, studded with pecans that hardens when spooned over ice cream. Yum. (at room temperature it’s kind of firm, so you warm it a bit before putting it on ice cream.) 

What’s your weakness?

Well, there was this amazing Haagen Dazs ice cream flavor called Cappucino Commotion (coffee ice cream with a hint of cinnamon and little almond bits of crunchy goodness - heaven!). I was very disciplined and only purchased one pint ever couple of months or so. Had I known they were going to stop selling it, I would have cleaned out the store’s supply. Imagine how sad I was when I couldn’t find it anymore - I called the company, only to be told by one of their customer service people that it wasn’t going to be sold in grocery stores anymore (heartbreak upon heartbreak!). She did tell me that it was still available at the Haagen Dazs ice cream parlors, but the closest one to me at the time was over an hour away, and it closed down shortly after that.

Now I find myself glancing at the ice cream case every so often, hoping it will reappear. Last summer I noticed a new flavor that looked promising - Macadamia Nut Brittle (vanilla ice cream with crunchy caramel bits of macadamia brittle). Now, this wasn’t the same as the Cappucino Commotion, but it was very, very good, so I called the company immediately to see if it was a limited special flavor and they assured me it would be available at the grocery store year round. Guess what, I’ve never seen it again.

Unfortunately, not all grocery stores carry all Hagandaz flavors, it just depends on what sells. I absolutely love the Sticky Toffee Pudding flavor (I love sticky toffee pudding anyway, gotta keep that stuff way from me, or I will eat the whole pan!), but there is only one grocery store in my area that sells it.

Ice cream is always my weakness. I can’t buy more than a pint at a time, otherwise I just want to eat it all the time.

My other weakness is the Spicy Nacho Doritos. I was a chip fanatic when I was a teenager, and still love those Doritos, so I can’t keep those in the house either .

Oh yes, Spicy Nacho Doritos are addictive.

Although I love to bake…my favorite food is any high quality vanilla icecream

Coconut macaroons, coconut macaroons and more coconut macaroons.  I don’t bake them (or even buy them) very often because I can - and have - eaten the entire batch in an afternoon.

Plain Lay’s potato chips and onion dip is my other weakness - I can put away an entire (large) bag of chips accompanied by a pint of dip during the course of one Cowboys game.  Heck, the first half.  That also goes for Frito’s scoops and warm queso.

Milk chocolate.  In anything.  Or by itself.

Nutella.  It’s actually banned from my house because I’ll eat the whole jar in one sitting if there is any Italian bread or fruit around.  And there usually is.

Frozen custard.
I mean the real stuff, made with eggs and cream, not the pale (literally) imitation that is soft-serve.
I usually have to make my own, because nobody around here sells the real deal.

Thomas, you should come visit Wisconsin, then! Frozen custard is big around here. We have two “chains” that sell it, Culver’s and Michael’s. Some other places offer it too.

Jim and I used to visit Michael’s Frozen Custard often for their Turtle Sundaes. Maybe it’s a good thing we don’t live nearby any more. On the other hand, now we live near a Culvers, and their “concrete shakes” are to die for!

Ice cream is hard to resist in the summer. In the winter—hm—really buttery cookies like shortbread or pecan sandies.

In the summer, I also love snacking on Sungold cherry tomatos fresh out of our garden. And the fresh wild black raspberries…umm, there’s nothing like really good fresh fruit straight off the vine, tree or whatever.

One thing I regret about living here in Wisconsin—no really fresh, tree-ripe citrus fruit. I’d love to find out what one of those darling little Satsuma oranges tastes like when it is fresh off the tree!

Happy eating,
Barbara A.

Barbara,

Wisconsin sounds like my kind of place.  Frozen custard, brats, cheese curds ... you folks know how to eat!

I went to college in St. Louis, and I have fond memories of Ted Drewes frozen custard, though I’ve heard it’s gone downhill a lot in the 25 years since I’ve been there.

Thomas - 08 December 2007 10:27 AM

I went to college in St. Louis, and I have fond memories of Ted Drewes frozen custard, though I’ve heard it’s gone downhill a lot in the 25 years since I’ve been there.

You might be right - I lived in St. Louis about 10 years ago - Ted Drewes drew huge crowds, but I honestly don’t know why… their custard tasted fairly average to me.

utz, salt and pepper chips, and onion soup mix, dip…. ben and jerry’s phish food…and after taste testing a bailey’s chocolate chip cheese cake that I made at work, I’m here to say, that I sat down with that plate, (doesn’t happen much in a restaurant kitchen) and savoured the entire piece, sans one bite, that I offered to a fav line cook… I think that cheesecake has made it to the “fav” list..

clement - 09 December 2007 01:21 PM

.... ben and jerry’s phish food…

Yep, there’s another one ... along with Dove’s Unconditional Chocolate.