Pudding Perfection

Every once in a while, Keith has to remind me that I am not a baker. I am an excellent cook. And I love the idea of baking. And I especially love (like every other sane-minded person) the end result of baking. The part I have trouble with is that middle part, somewhere in between the idea and the finished product. Somewhere in the meticulous measuring, the extremely exact and necessarily precise ordering of step by step by step. It's so mathematical, it's so rigid. There's no room for sudden inspiration, or for dreamy distraction, or heaven forbid making it up as you go along. Baking requires perfection, and I just don't have it. I'm more of a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants kind of girl.

So, every once in a while, Keith has to remind me that I am not a baker. He has to remind me, because sometimes I forget. I become bewitched by the dream of creamy frosting, entranced by the idea of separating eggs. I crave the sight of something rising like a perfect puff of goodness as I peek into my oven door. And we've learned from experience, through various distasters and melt-downs that it's better, far better, if I resist the urge. Oh, it always ends up tasting just fine. Always. But it hardly ever looks like anything you'd even want to bother tasting. I simply lack any and all finesse when flour and eggs and butter and mixers are involved. The things I create when I bake are never pretty. And I need all the things I create to be pretty. Thus, meltdown.

So, when I find myself, as I have this week, with a shower to throw for a friend and the need to attempt something sweet and tasty for it, Keith kindly reminds me that I am not a baker. I racked my brains and the internet for some kind of less bake-y dessert to profer. And the Muse (aka Martha Stewart) delivered...banana pudding. Mini banana puddings, actually, tucked into adorable phylo shells and topped with whipped cream.

And maybe it's because it's not technically baking, or maybe it's because the recipe is fool-proof, but I have to say, the finished product from my test run today is outstanding! I was supposed to the let is set in the fridge for at least an hour but I Just. Couldn't. Resist. I would have taken a picture if I'd thought of it, but I was too busy enjoying. I didn't come up for air until spoon hit bowl. And then I seriously considered licking every single centimeter of that bowl clean as well. This dessert is pretty, it's delicious, it's (dare I say it?) perfection. And I'm gonna make it again and again and again.