As fall creeps in and the weather turns cold, the mirage of baking appears on the horizon. The weather signals the arrival of fall foods, of apple pies, thick stews and baked brownies. They’re warm foods — not just warm from being cooked, but warm in the way they make you feel. They’re the kind of food that really makes you feel happy. And they feel like a part of the year.
But set against that is the diet. There’s a good reason seasonal celebrations, holidays, and birthdays so often prove to be the undoing of a well-intentioned plan — because these foods feel like they belong. And, indeed, they do — these foods were always celebrations, extravagances to be enjoyed on special occasions. The problem is that, because they’re much more ubiquitous than they once were, eating a slice of apple pie on Grandma’s birthday can sometimes lead to eating half a whole pie on a largely meaningless Thursday.
I could make a lot of arguments at this point, but the main point is this — after some years on the same plan, we know healthy desserts. They require a little effort on our part to make, but they don’t stir up cravings (or at least, not much) and they’re all healthy — sweetened with honey alone, entirely free of gluten and the like, and rich in foods that are actually good for you. Which can be hard to believe when you’re eating them, because these are desserts that we’d make and eat when we’re not dieting. And that’s got to be a winner, right?
Anyway, as the weather grows colder and whispers promises of increased gas bills, I’m looking forward to getting my chops around some of these — and at some point, maybe I’ll even post a recipe. Or maybe not. Who knows?
In the meantime, here’s a song with a vague link to this. I did find a live performance with an actual video, but the vocals sounded so different it was hard to believe it was even the same guy — I’ll stick with the original…
(Addendum: this is an old post, and I guess I never posted a recipe for this pie, nor a picture of it. But it did look good, and it was–and still is–delicious.)