Cheesy desserts: Leaving the ice cream in the freezer

We tend to associate cheese with more savory dishes such as pizza and nachos, but there are some desserts that call for cheese, such as cheesecake and tiramisu. And then there are the concoctions that make us scratch our heads and think, How on earth can that be good? But if there's anything I like more than blogging about cheese, it's cheese dishes that make us think outside of the box.

Fudge is tasty, but will adding Velveeta cheese make it even better? Paula Deen seems to think so (which I must say I find completely unsurprising), and she's not the only one given the number of different online stores I found that sell the, um, delicacy.

NOTCOT.com recently had a feature on apple pie with cheese à la mode, which you can order at Mel's Drive-In. As you can see from the photo, it looks like a regular slive of apple pie but with what looks to be melted Cheddar on top. According to the adventurous diner (the writer, not Mel's), the cheese flavor is not as overwhelming as one would think. I might just have to try this the next time I come across Mel's in San Francisco.

Finally, the last cheesy dessert for today is Apple-Gruyère pie. The concept is pretty similar to the other pie, but this is really just an excuse to post a picture of Chuck from the whimsical show Pushing Daisies. Chuck is a cheese enthusiast who bakes these special pies for her shut-in aunts, but what they don't know is that she also laces them with anti-depressants in the hopes that they'll find the desire to leave their house once in a while. That, and the fact that she came back to life after having drowned while on a cruise ship, all thanks to her childhood friend who has the ability to resurrect the dead. Yeah, it's complicated.

Mac and Cheese: One of life's simple pleasures

Photo credit: dalboz17

Macaroni and cheese is like the gateway drug into the world of pasta. Think about it. Most people fall in love with this savory dish as children long before they're really aware of what pasta is, and it's when they get older that their palates begin to develop a taste for more sophisticated fare such as fettucine alfredo, gnocci, and spaghetti bolognese. But that's not to say that mac and cheese is the Plain Jane of pasta dishes; the simple amalgamation of noodles and cheese can be utterly divine and oftentimes all you really need, which explains why macaroni and cheese is often thought of as comfort food. Here's the skinny on the classic dish:

• It has been rumored that President Thomas Jefferson created the dish that we today know as macaroni and cheese after he designed a macaroni machine. Jefferson biographer Jack MacLaughlin refutes this claim, stating that Jefferson merely duplicated a recipe he had enjoyed while in France. While it's hard to determine just how mac and cheese originated, this Jefferson story seems to be the most popular explanation.

• There's a restaurant in Manhattan's East Village named S'MAC that serves nothing but macaroni and cheese. Yes, they do deliver.

• Kraft Macaroni & Cheese was first introduced in 1937, and its popularity at the time can partially be attributed to the rationing of milk and dairy during World War II. Kraft says that now they sell over one million boxes a day!

• There's a Mac and Cheese Love Flickr group! Talk about your food porn.

• Like with a lot of things, there's a science to making good mac and cheese. I'll let my man Alton Brown of Good Eats explain how to go about it.



Here's Part 2 of the episode.

Weekly Poll: Mac and Cheese pizza, Y/N?

Here's something to whet your appetite before our mac and cheese-centered article goes live within the next few days:

Nearly everyone will agree that cheese, and plenty of it, is an essential ingredient to a great pizza. But who would’ve thought to put macaroni and cheese atop a pizza pie? Apparently somebody at Cici’s Pizza Buffet felt that it’s enough of a hit to be a regular menu item. They allege that it’s intended for the kids; however, there are no doubt countless adults who indulge in this rich and creamy marriage two of America’s favorite foods. Is topping a pizza with mac and cheese a stroke of genius or a culinary disaster? Vote in our new poll and discuss.


Photo credit: abbamouse

Cheese + bread = genius

Photo credit: hellaoakland

Grilled cheese sandwiches seem to hold a special spot in a lot of peoples' hearts, no doubt because so many grew up eating them as kids. (Yours truly excluded, however, as I didn't have my first grilled cheese until high school or so. I'm a freak, I know.) It's not hard to see why these sandwiches are so popular in households with young children; kids love the cheesy, buttery taste, and they're fairly easy to make. Throw some bread, cheese, and butter in a pan, and voilà! You've got yourself a quick and easy meal.

Or is it really that simple? Participants of the Annual National Grilled Cheese Invitiational don't seem to think so. Here, people use their wits and grilling skills to battle it out in the hopes of being crowned grilled cheese champion. It sounds like a fun and entertaining event, but if you read over the information page, you can see that the event organizers take it Very Seriously. Judging (which anyone is welcome to do, and for free to boot!) is done by the use of standardized ballots, and trophies are awarded to those that place first, second, and third in each catagory, which are as follows:

The Missionary Position: White bread, orange cheese (Cheddar or American) and butter or margarine only.

Spoons: Any kind of bread, any kind of butter and any kind of cheese (or combination of cheeses) but no additional ingredients.

The Kama Sutra: Any kind of bread, any kind of butter, and any kind of cheese (or blend of cheeses) plus additional ingredients.

The Honey Pot: Any kind of bread, any kind of butter, any kind of cheese (or blend of cheeses), and any additional ingredients, but a sandwich that is sweet in flavor, or would best be served as dessert.

I have to admit that it never occurred to me to use cheese that isn't Cheddar or American, but my mouth is positively watering at the thought of all of these tasty concoctions. If you've got the same craving and you happen to be in the Los Angeles area on April 19, make it a point to attend the Invitational and have a few sammiches (their loving term for sandwiches). The rest of us will have to live vicariously through you and hope that the Invitational rolls through our towns sometime in the near future.

While we're on the subject of grilled cheese, here are some more links for your viewing pleasure:

• 10 Tips for the Greatest Grilled Cheese via Yahoo! Food.

• April is National Grilled Cheese Month. I kid you not.

• Grilled cheese sandwiches the Benny & Joon way. Can you really make grilled cheese with a clothes iron like Johnny Depp's character?

• A grilled cheese sandwich bearing an image of the Virgin Mary sold for $28,000 in 2004. I don't know about you, but if I had that kind of money, I'd rather use it to buy lots and lots of non-visaged grilled cheese. But that's just me.