A Compilation of Important Desserts
By Kendall Sewell
- Talenti’s “Mediterranean Mint” gelato. Found at your local grocery store. Pairs well with chocolate shell and your mom by a fire so make sure to get that together too. Weens and I are firm believers of staying up until the logs want to go to sleep. No one else in my family seems to mind heading to bed early. Long talks over a few scoops. It’s our time together whenever I come back from college during colder months.
- Krispy Kreme’s “Boston Kreme” donut. To be eaten after a midnight movie at the theater with reclining seats and the self buttering popcorn machine. Make sure they don’t confuse your order with custard because that’s happened more times than you’d think.
- Chocolate covered strawberries. At least six. I applaud this treat for its overwhelming effectiveness while being so simple, only two or three ingredients. I make about fifty of these every Christmas morning before giving and opening gifts. Ones with nuts, sprinkles, drizzled white and dark chocolate, oreo crumbles, coconut shavings, the works. Piled on top of each other in the living room after dinner, my family munches and disputes this years Yankee Swap triumphs and fails.
- Publix chocolate chip cookie. Best part besides the taste is the fact that it’s handed to you for free up until you’re sixteen. Hours spent at the grocery store with my dad has ripened me to know the greatest the store has to offer.
- Small cup of Dairy Queen vanilla soft serve. Must be decorated with rainbow sprinkles and eaten during a sleepover at your grandma’s old house. Right before bed Nana and I would quickly clean up the kitchen, put away the deck of cards we were using, and change into our dotted pajamas. We’d drive about eight minutes down the road to Dairy Queen and place our order to go. Me: a small cup of vanilla soft serve with rainbow sprinkles and her: the same thing just with pecans. We wouldn’t touch the dessert until both of us were sitting in her king size bed with some type of Animal Planet show on. That first bite was the best bite every time.
6. Pint of Ben and Jerry’s “Half Baked.” Recommended to consume with a glass of eight dollar cabernet sauvignon and an 80s film started way too late for acquiring a sufficient amount of sleep.
7. Single tim tam wafer and hot chocolate. Emphasis on one tim tam only or else you’ll suffer from a devastating chocolate coma. I discovered this New Zealand treat while on an eight day kayaking escapade with close friends the summer before splitting up for college. Nothing alleviates your soreness after a full day of paddling or silences your fears about moving away from all the perks your hometown offers like this rectangle cookie can.
8. Gas station ice cream sandwich. Specifically the kind with mini chocolate chips all around it’s edges. The ultimate road trip delight. My brother and I’s annual trek to the humid and unforgiving southern Louisiana to see family is made easy with two cookies and a bit of vanilla in your mouth. Eight hours feels like a breeze thanks to QT.
9. Brownie and french vanilla ice cream. A molten fudge brownie contrasting with a baseball sized, smooth dollop of ice cream sitting on top of it. Classic.
10. Outback Steakhouse’s “Chocolate Stampede.” Two pieces of layered chocolate cake with whipped cream on either side. Praised by many for effortlessly portioning ganache, fudge, cookie crumbles, mousse, and chocolate chips into a mouth watering cake. I have this idea that it tastes best when you choose to get it spontaneously with your best friend. I mentioned it to her on a whim at ten at night and the next minute I’m sitting under a taxidermy bull with a fork and spoon in my hand. We ended up ordering a full course meal in addition to the dessert just because our conversation wasn’t over.
11. Discovery of #8 after a long day on the road.
