Serves: 5

How many times have you refused a tempting dessert offered to you, only to finally give in and ask for "just a small piece, please?" Or perhaps you have agreed to share a favorite dessert at a restaurant? (Of course, that may be as much about the cost as the calories.) But I look at it this way: If you’re going to indulge, you want to be sure it is worth it! Know that what you are preparing for your guests is going to be a surefire winner that all of them will declare most scrumptious, and go home raving about whatever you served.

I have to believe that these sorts of guilty pleasures ought to be around for the times when we absolutely need them. Okay, want. But regardless, Barbara Moseley and I are making no bones about being proud to bring you a “scrumpdillyumptious” collection of downright delicious indulgences in this cookbook. Having been around thousands of cookbooks for more than thirty years, believe me, these fabulous recipes are all Recipe Hall of Famers, for sure.

Guilty Pleasures was begun as a baking book, geared around entertaining and the holidays, but we soon realized that baking, to us, said . . .
“Bake a cake.”
“Bake cookies.”
“Bake a pie.”
“Bake something sweet.”
. . . more so than it said, “Bake a casserole.” And so we left those out.

I have always finished a meal with a dessert. It never is very much, but it is the “icing on the cake,” so to speak, and I was raised to expect it.

My sweet little mother, who incidentally lived to be 95, planned her dessert first, then the rest of her meal to go around it. Born and raised in New Orleans, and on its delicious cuisine, her sweet treats were legendary, and were awaited with great anticipation. The care and attention she gave to the baking process, and the magnificent dishes she achieved, instilled in me a standard of excellence that we have endeavored to convey in this cookbook.

Indeed, Mother’s scratch cakes were the first to be sold at the school fairs, and she was asked so often to make a cake for assorted special occasions, that when we came home to that delicious aroma in her kitchen, we feared it was not for us—and it often wasn’t. But suffice it to say, Mother didn’t let us go without dessert of some kind. Nevah!

This cookbook is not meant to tempt you to eat something you think you shouldn’t. And for that reason, we have titled it so that you will KNOW there are Guilty Pleasures inside. Perhaps you should treat yourself and others only when the occasion calls for it. After all, we don’t toast champagne all the time, but I do like to keep a bottle chilled lest an occasion suddenly arises. It’s fun to pop the cork to immediate jollity of whatever you are celebrating. Likewise, Guilty Pleasures is cause for celebration. It should make you sleep better just knowing so many delicious desserts are right here at your fingertips. For sure, my mother would have thought so.

Remember, stressed spelled backwards is DESSERTS

Gwen McKee