Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Crusty Stale Desserts

I don't know about other households, but when I make a batch of cookies or brownies or even a cake, there are always leftovers that get stale and hard and eventually thrown out. Well, here's an idea. Take your stale leftover desserts, and whir them in a food processor or blender until they are bread crumbs. Then store them in a baggie in the freezer until it's time to make a cheesecake, pudding pie or other yummy that may benefit from an extra boost of flavor. Can you imagine how wonderful a homemade cheesecake would be with a chocolate chip cookie crust? Or a chocolate pie in a fudge brownie crust with chocolate shavings on top.

Related tips: If you are going to try this with leftover cake, either don't use an iced cake or make sure you don't use the part of the cake that's touching the icing. For soft dessert leftovers like brownies or cake (without chocolate chips in it - they'll just melt and get nasty during toasting) crumble them on a cookie sheet and dry them out a little more in a warm oven (but by all means, don't turn your oven on especially for this task - energy waster) just pop the sheet into the oven after you're done using it for something. This way you don't waste the heat that's already been produced and you're not cranking up the oven again ($$$) just to try to re-use something that may save you a buck or two.

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