Defining Dessert

I have a question to pose: what is dessert? Is dessert just whatever you eat after dinner? If you eat some pickles at 9pm is that a dessert? What about cheese plates? Chips? I think most of us associate desserts with sweet things like chocolate, ice cream, and cookies. Despite a wave of new age chefs making desserts using bacon or avocado foam, dessert seems to have mainly remained a traditional, sweet delicacy enjoyed after a meal that gives you that small burst of pleasure mixed with guilt.

The first night that Ryan asked me if I wanted dessert I got pretty excited. He hadn't offered before, and I'd assumed that meant he didn't possess sweet food, a not terribly uncommon occurrence. I take after my mother with a strong affinity for all things sweet and especially those that are rich and chocolatey, so you can imagine that I was moderately disappointed when Ryan brought out two bowls of yogurt. Yogurt isn't dessert to me; maybe breakfast or a snack, but I wouldn't call it dessert.

Ryan's larder it seemed was blemish-less, with no traces of sweet or savory indulgences. I have never eaten terribly unhealthily, but I did always keep a bag of chocolate chips in the freezer for days when fresh baked chocolate chip cookies just sounded too good to resist. However, we all grow and change, and I decided that I would do my best to adapt to my new roomie's food choices and not bring chocolate into the house. Instead, I brought granola.

Granola walks a fine line between crumbled up cookie, and seemingly healthy snack. We started buying granola at the store, but then the latest issue of Bon Appetit inspired me to try to make it myself. I don't follow recipes terribly closely because I hate having to go shopping every time I cook, so my recipe is what Bon Appetit would have come up with if they had my kitchen and not their crazy big, fully stocked, state of the art, totally wonderful, oh man, I've got to stop because I'm beginning to drool thinking about their kitchen. Anyways, I use recipes as guides, which is why I try to offer substitute ingredients when I write them; I'm hoping that if I name enough substitutes, eventually I'll describe something that you have in your kitchen. So for all of you with roommates, husbands, wives, partners, etc. that lack a sweet tooth, fool everyone by making some granola. I am also including Yogurt Dessert a la Ryan because I think it might change your mind about dessert forever.

Easy Granola
3/4 c coconut flakes
4 c oats
1/2 c veg oil or melted margarine (butter fine too)
1/4 c honey
1/4 c sugar
1/4 c water
3 tbsp additional butter or margarine
3/4 c almonds, sliced
1/2 c flax seed
1/4 tsp salt (preferably sea salt)
any other fruits, nuts, berries you have around (suggestions: raisins, pecans, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, craisins, apricots)


Toast coconut flakes on a baking sheet in an oven preheated to 325 for about 8 minutes or until golden brown. Combine oats, margarine, honey, sugar, and water in bowl and stir together. Place on a baking sheet and put in oven to cook until oats have toasted (appr. 40 minutes). Place the 3 tbsp butter in a saucepan. Add the almonds, flax seeds and/or any other nuts you are using. Cook for about 10 minutes on low heat until nuts are brown and toasted. When everything is ready, combine all together and sprinkle with the salt, then put granola in a container with a lid that seals. I used the oats container that I'd just finished up and it worked great! 

Yogurt Dessert a la Ryan 
1/2 c yogurt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
a handful of frozen blueberries (or fresh if you have them, but frozen are quite good actually)
1/4 c granola
2 tbsp peanut butter


Mix and munch. You won't even miss the chocolate.