Sander's Cream Puff Sundae

My very dear friend Fran joined me on a girls' day out recently. (You might remember that I featured an interview with Fran last year, in which she offered an amazing recipe for Chocolate Pecan Pie.)

The primary goal of our adventure was to go to the Sander's store at a mall about half-an-hour away from Ann Arbor. It's the closest we were going to get to reliving one of Fran's best childhood memories:

"Another favorite treat was going downtown and having lunch at Sanders. It always consisted of their amazing tuna sandwiches (who knew they could be good?) and Sanders had a yellow cake with buttercream frosting that also had crushed nuts on the outside. It was heavenly .... (My) favorite treat as a kid was the Sanders hot fudge cream puff ...."

If you grew up in Detroit, as Fran did, or if you had relatives in Detroit who would bring presents when they visited, as I did, then you know about Sander's. It was a very special luncheonette and candy store, noted for an assortment of sweets and - in particular, for me - the hot fudge sauce that my grandmother would bring as a gift when she came to see us in New York.

So, why order a salad or a sandwich or something nutritious while enjoying our day out???  Fran and I ordered cream puff sundaes for lunch! Anything else would have just been excess calories. The sundaes had been a significant raison d'être for our trip, after all.

When given a choice of ice creams, there was no reason to go with plain ol' vanilla or even one of my favorites, mint chocolate chip. Because the quintessential core of a Sander's cream puff sundae would, of course, be a variety of ice cream featuring another Sander's classic: the Bumpy Cake, a devil's food cake with rows of buttercream frosting on top that are then covered in chocolate. Sigh with me ....

The sundaes were enormous, and I couldn't even finish mine. While you might think this was excessively and cloyingly sweet, it actually was perfectly balanced - the cream puff seems to offer sufficient substance and breadiness to counter the sugar high of cake-infused ice cream with an abundance of hot fudge sauce. This was a pure, decadent indulgence!

So, although the beautiful new dress that I bought for Rosh Hashanah was a definite perk (a $100 dress on sale for $25!), the cream puffs - and spending time with my beloved Fran, of course! - were absolutely the highlights of the day ... :)

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cream Puffs

Regular readers know that I don't watch television, movies, or anything other than a very few shows: baseball, Michigan football, royal weddings, and the Academy Awards.  And the Oscars are this Sunday night!

So a few loved ones are coming over to watch, debate, be catty about dresses (though it's not as much fun now that they all have stylists), and - of course! - eat.

It doesn't matter that the only nominated movie I saw this year was "The Muppets" - it's about the spectacle.  And I've read enough about the other movies to have opinions, and to know that "Hugo," "A Cat in Paris," and "The Artist" are the only ones I really want to see.  Something has to be very enticing for me to devote time to just sitting and staring at a screen.

The menu for my little soiree is still a work in progress, but the dessert is going to be rich, sophisticated and delicious: Chocolate Peanut Butter Cream Puffs filled with ice cream.

I recently received a very generous marketing gift of the new Peanut Butter-flavored Multi-Grain Cheerios, and had promised to use them in recipes.  I was tempted to eat them for breakfast in the morning, but I'm a woman of my word so I didn't devour my stash!

Chocolate and peanut butter are a classic combination, as we all know; it only made sense that if I was going to be making a chocolate dessert that the Cheerios should somehow be incorporated.  So I ground them and mixed them into the cream puff batter, adding both flavor and texture.

These are ridiculously easy to make, but make such a dramatic presentation!  They're perfect for your Oscar party, or for any other occasion when you want a special treat.

Be sure to check back next week for my "Chopped" challenge, in which Food Floozie readers suggested ingredients for me to use in creating appetizers, entrees and desserts!



Chocolate Peanut Butter Cream Puffs
(adapted from the recipe for Chocolate Profiteroles in Mainstreet Ventures' Distinctive Recipes from Distinctive Eateries)

6 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons sugar
3/4 cup skim milk
1/4 cup cocoa powder
3/4 cup flour
1-1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 cups Peanut Butter Cheerios, ground
4 eggs

Preheat the oven to 400F.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or greased foil.

In a medium saucepan, combine the butter, sugar and milk; bring to a boil, then remove from heat.  Add the cocoa powder, flour, salt and Cheerios; stir vigorously until the mixture forms a ball and comes away from the sides of the pan.

One by one, stir in the eggs until each is fully incorporated.

Using a 1 tablespoon ice cream scoop, drop batter onto the baking sheet.  (These won't spread, so you can place them fairly close together.)  Bake for 15 minutes, then turn heat down to 350F and bake for 10 more minutes until firm and glossy.  Let cool completely before slicing and  filling with ice cream or pastry cream.

Makes about 48 puffs.

Frugal Floozie Friday -- Roma Bakery

All summer long, I'd been watching a new place on Washtenaw as it put up signs and promised to be open soon; but each day it didn't seem to be ready for customers. Finally, though, just 3 weeks ago, the Roma Bakery - an institution in Dearborn - was ready to offer its wonderful treats to Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti.

Roma Bakery is famous for its pepperoni rolls. But when Jeremy and I bee-lined for the shop - driving by on a sunny Saturday afternoon, seeing the "open" sign, veering into a neighborhood across the street to turn around, then aiming straight for the goodies - we had already eaten lunch. So we chatted a bit with the owner and the very friendly gentleman behind the counter, and we chose an assortment of sweets which readily fell into our $5 per person Frugal Floozie Friday budget.

For a mere $2.50, Jeremy chose a box of 10 miniature cream puffs. He couldn't wait until we got back to my place to eat them, so I rushed to take a picture in the car before they were devoured. The cream filling in these is just lovely, not as thick as it often is. And, as Jeremy put it: "You can taste the sweetness not just from sugar but from real cream." Absolutely!

I had chosen an assortment of cookies for $3 (pictured above), to sample a variety of goodies. And just as I was paying, I noticed a bowl of mahmoul - beautiful Middle Eastern cookies made with special carved molds - and couldn't resist buying one for $1. Mahmoul often feature a date filling, but this one had ground nuts and just a hint of rose water; they were truly unique and wonderful.

The sprinkle-coated treats were decadent chocolate coconut truffles. There were also rich fudge-filled chocolate sandwich cookies, and some chocolate-dipped shortbread cookies with just a hint of cinnamon. The ladyfinger was sandwiched together with a schmear of apricot jam that shone in unison with the buttery cookie.

There are many potential Frugal Floozie Friday options at Roma Bakery, from 9" pizzas ($1.75-$3.50) to the $3 Pepperoni Rolls to traditional Middle Eastern spinach and meat pies ($1.25-$1.50). I will absolutely have to go back to sample more of the menu!


Roma Bakery
4837 Washtenaw
Ann Arbor, MI 48108
734-879-0100


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