Dessert by Default

Today was the perfect day for an autumn dessert.

Although it was warm, the leaves were blowing and it LOOKED chilly, so I was ready to cuddle up with a bowl of something soothing.

I've been drooling over Stephanie's Crockpot Crème Brulee for two weeks now, and this seemed the time to do it. On the last trip to the store I'd actually bought cream, and the egg supply in the house is high, so I grabbed all the ingredients and started plotting.

Fortunately I looked for a baking dish first (which is highly unusual for me). You see, the dish has to fit inside the crockpot insert, and then is given a nice water bath. Problem was - none of my baking dishes fit inside my 4 quart slow cooker!

Despair!

I finally pulled out the ramekins that I purchased years ago (when I was convinced I'd be entertaining scads of people on a weekly basis) and tried them. Well… one fit. Just one.

Dejection!

If that wasn't enough to convince me to purchase a larger crockpot, I don't know what will.

In the meantime, I was dessert-less.
However, I did have apples… oh yes… I have apples! Yum!

I've been making apple crisps for most of my adult (and even adolescent) life, so I hardly ever use a recipe anymore. Just throw the things together. You know how it is - just put that brain in neutral and cook!

So I started slicing apples and then I threw together the flour and spices (which smelled heavenly) and sugar, and tossed the apples… Whoa… wait a minute…

About that time I realized my hands were making apple pie, not apple crisp. Doh! Worse, I also found that the only rolled oats in the house are in the big twenty pound bag I just bought for food storage.

*sigh*
I really need more sleep.

Although apple pie sounded good, I didn’t want to make crust, so - time to punt.

Last week I purchased a box of store bought ginger snaps. Don't ask me why - I hate those rock hard versions of my favorite cookie. But I was auditioning a pumpkin pie/cream cheese dip recipe for a Halloween party and I needed SOMETHING to dip in it. The pumpkin dip turned out to be, frankly, blechy - so I was stuck with almost a full box of these tooth chipping cookies.

Out came the cookies, artfully arranged on top of my lovely apples, dotted with butter, and the whole thing is in the oven now, baking away.

I've got fork in hand.
I'll let you know how it turns out.

UPDATE:
I checked on the pudding (for lack of a better name shall we use the English designation? I always wanted to do that.) The cookies looked, if anything, even harder. So I pulled it out, grabbed a spoon and mixed the topping (cookies) into the apples.

15 minutes later the cookies had melted into a warm, gooey gingerbread and dessert was ready!
My sister Holly said it was very good, and she's not as gahgah for ginger as I am.
I'd post a picture but...um... it's gone.

Verdict - any dessert is a good dessert. :)