Hi there Friends! What do you do when a recipe you've made successfully countless times, results in an epic fail? Well, today I'm keeping it real and sharing what I did when it happened to me and more importantly, what I learned...
If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen the photo of me celebrating Mother's Day with Favorite Son. My sweet boy brought me hydrangeas, then treated me to a delicious pasta lunch followed by an afternoon of antiquing in Boerne. He celebrated his 23rd birthday just a few days later and of course I wanted his birthday dinner to be special.
He chose my herbed pasta salad for dinner and ice cream pizza for dessert. Both are family favorites I've made for years without any bumps whatsoever--that is until I made the dessert pizza! As usual, I prepared brownie mix and spread it onto a parchment paper covered pizza pan.
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I baked the brownie crust and allowed it to cool. Once it cooled, I took the carton of mint chocolate chip ice cream out to soften for about 5 minutes before spreading it onto the brownie crust. I spread the ice cream almost to the edge of the brownie crust before placing the pan in the freezer to chill. Once the ice cream set, I planned to cover the pizza with whipped cream. This is how I've always made ice cream pizza, but....
...when I went to check on it, instead of the ice cream setting, it was turning into ice cream soup! At this point, taking photos was replaced by my frantic attempt to clean dripping ice cream off of every surface in my freezer. Even though I removed some of the ice cream from the dessert, the more I tried to do damage control, the more it dripped everywhere.
This is how I felt!
We'll come back to that melting mess in a minute. Have you heard of Comparison Trap? I've been participating in a Facebook group Bible study using the free app which includes a series of four videos--one for each week of the month.
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There is also an accompanying study guide with daily scriptures. The subtitle is Choosing Contentment in an Age of Awareness. In a nutshell, it addresses in depth our culture's obsession with presenting the perfect image--whether it's a selfie or a blog post--on social media and resisting the trap of comparing ourselves to these unrealistic expectations. Let me tell you, it is powerful. So...on Tuesday when I was in my kitchen mopping up melted ice cream, after I had been reflecting on the previous night's study the whole day, I came to a few realizations. First, I was able to laugh at myself which is pretty significant considering my perfectionistic tendencies. To tell the truth, there was a time I would have felt my dessert fail had ruined my son's birthday and would have been devastated. Wow, that sounds dramatic, but I'm just being honest ;) Next, I realized that sharing my mistake might be more helpful to some of you than another dessert recipe. In addition to challenging me not to compare myself to others, the study has also made me more aware of what message I may be sending. Several times a week, I share projects, pretty photos and what I've learned from my frugal lifestyle, but real life isn't picture perfect and I'm sure not! Please know my posts are always meant to come from a place of encouragement.
Are you wondering if I salvaged dessert? I'll confess I was tempted to trash the whole mess but I'm too cheap thrifty to waste the food! Since the flat pizza pan had created a waterfall of melting ice cream, it finally dawned on me to scoop the ice cream into the deeper dish I use for pies. Next, I literally broke the brownie crust into large pieces that would fit in the smaller dish. Picture little brownie mountains in a sea of mint chocolate chip ice cream--it was not pretty! I let it freeze, then covered the whole dessert in whipped cream topping, and sprinkled chocolate chips on top. {Note to self: Whipped cream is my new best friend.}
When Favorite Son arrived, he was none the wiser but I shared my dessert shenanigans with him over dinner and we had a good laugh, and guess what? He loved my "new" ice cream pie and I have to say I think it tasted just as good, if not better than the original dessert pizza!
I'm still not quite sure what went wrong since I've made the dessert pizza so many times before and never had a problem. In hindsight, maybe the brownie crust hadn't cooled enough or maybe the ice cream I used had a softer consistency than usual. I did notice later I'd grabbed a slow churned version and I don't know that I've used it before. {If you decide to try ice cream dessert pizza, keep those two things in mind!} I came to the conclusion, that the why wasn't as important as making the best out of a mistake and I learned a new recipe in the process, too. Next time, I'll start by making the brownie crust in the pie dish ;)
Do you struggle with comparison or unrealistic expectations of yourself?
MY HEARTFELT THANKS TO THE FOLLOWING FOR FEATURING THIS POST:
Oh well...as they say, "Better luck next time," Looks delish anyway! I would be perfectly happy to sample the "fail"! Appreciate your comments on thje comparison trap too. Don't we all do that???! And your son looks just like you, as I'm sure you've been told many times! What a thoughtful gift he gave you too...something he knew you would love!
ReplyDeleteOh no, I can just imagine the panic when seeing the ice cream dripping all over the place. Yikes! Good save though. And oh man, do I struggle with the whole comparison thing. I finally realized I had to limit the amount of time I spent looking at all those perfect homes pictures. I've had to tell myself my home is wonderful and perfect for us, it would never look like other people's homes (thank goodness! because that wouldn't be me), etc. I think I may need to do the Bible study. Thank you, Cecilia for sharing and being honest. (Wouldn't you love to see your home as others see it? )
ReplyDeleteHugs,
Cecilia
I would eat that pie no matter how it looked!! I do not compare myself to others (much!) but I do have lots of fails on things I have made over and over. One coffee cake in particular that is just beyond delicious, and I used to sell, has to stay in the recipe file. No matter how I try, I cannot get it to come out right anymore. What is that??!!
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your transparency, Cecilia. The references you made to social media perfection reminds me of family Christmas letters (does anyone do those anymore?). No one ever writes about the trouble their kids get into, the financial woes they have, or anything else about real life. And so they always come across as the perfect family. The perfect mom with the perfect kids in the perfect house. I dreaded getting those letters because reading them I felt so inadequate. Now at the age of 66 I'm smart enough to know that nobody's life is perfect, least of all mine, and I'm fine with that. To learn to be content with what I have and how God made me is a great gift. I like the way you saved the ice cream pie, and it reminds me that God can always take our failures and turn them into something wonderful, if we will let Him. Hugs, Nancy
ReplyDeleteWow, that pie looks good...lemonade from lemons! ;)
ReplyDeleteWe all have times like that. Look how resourceful you were...creating something new with it...you didn't give up on it! I love the photos of you and your son!
ReplyDeleteYum! How I wish I had a slice of this goodness tonight. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteI thought you were going to say something was wrong with your freezer! I actually need to make something for my husband's birthday and this looks like the perfect idea. However, I'm sure I will mess it up worse than you did - I'm not very pinterest talented!
ReplyDeleteMy flavors of choice is either mint or lemon. This looks amazing!
ReplyDeleteI loved that I Love Lucy episode! And the "after" desert looks and sounds amazing! Glad you were able to make an awesome treat!!
ReplyDeleteWhat a yummy recipe. Thank you for sharing at Dishing it and Digging link party. Have a great week.
ReplyDeletePinned! This sounds amazing! :)
ReplyDeleteI would love for you to share this with my Facebook Group for recipes, crafts, tips, and tricks: https://www.facebook.com/groups/pluckyrecipescraftstips/
Thanks for joining Cooking and Crafting with J & J!
Loved this post! I think we're kindred spirits!
ReplyDeleteThere's so much to love in this post. I can so relate to letting something little like that ruin your day..or if you were me, I might just fall apart! I've been working on that tendency too because I've realized how hard it is on others. So proud of you for enjoying your day and making a mistake into something delicious. Sharing. :)
ReplyDeleteIt looks good.... nice save. :)
ReplyDeleteI am so glad that you were able to save that awesome birthday cake for your sons birthday. What a smart idea and not waste it Cecilia! I really want to try and make either version this summer.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this at C&C with J&J.
Julie xo
Well, it sure looks delicious and I am glad you were able to salvage it.
ReplyDeleteThe 'new' ice cream pie looks delicious! Thanks for sharing at Sew It Cook It Craft It.
ReplyDeleteLooks yummy and pretty on your jadeite. Thank you for sharing at the Snickerdoodle Create~Bake~Make link party!
ReplyDeleteIt looks yummy anyway! You saved it perfectly!
ReplyDelete