Sunday, July 5, 2015

The Taste of Dissapointment

Goo Goo Pie Parfaits:


This week's recipe can be found here: http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/goo-goo-pie-parfaits

Peanut Caramel Sauce:
  • 1/2 C heavy cream
  • 2 T unsalted butter
  • 1 C sugar
  • 1.5 T light corn syrup
  • 1/4 C water
  • 2T whiskey
  • 1 C peanuts


Have you ever come across a recipe that sounded too good to be true, and after making it, found you were correct in your assumption? Well, this was my experience with the Goo goo pies. The recipe hit on so many flavors I adore: chocolate, peanut, caramel, whiskey (whiskey!), yet I was utterly disappointed with the result.
My overall assessment of the recipe was underwhelmed. For any dish that requires multiple steps at different times, the result must be amazing. Otherwise, why bother making it at home?


Sometimes simple is a good thing in cooking 
and sometimes, it's well, too simple

Now that I've thoroughly expressed my disappointment about this dish, I will tell you what I liked about it:

The whiskey caramel sauce was amazing! I highly recommend making this for an ice cream sundae topping, or if you're as obsessed as I am with whiskey and caramel, simply to spoon into your mouth. My only suggestion would be to add the whiskey while the caramel is still cooking to evaporate off some of the alcohol in the sauce.

Milo quietly considers if I will notice one parfait missing.

What I didn't like about the recipe:

When I hear the words "goo goo" (and not from the mouths of babes), I think I'm in for something so delectable that I will need multiple napkins to wipe away the drool as I devour the dish. This was not the case with this dish. It wasn't bad but it wasn't that good and it certainly wasn't goo goo good!

I also found the recipe instructions to be lacking in technique. Many times I will be half way through a recipe before I realize, "I don't know how to do that, wait, I don't even know what that is!" This is why we always read recipes multiple times before trying them, to ensure we know what the heck we're doing. I knew what this recipe implied but I felt a lesser informed cook would have struggled making the chocolate pudding.

In case you've ever wondered what they mean by 
"thick enough to coat a spoon"

Despite my disappointment with the result of this recipe, I do not regret the experience. When we go out to eat, we're only eating the best dishes a chef could create. They leave the goo goo parfaits and other unworthy creations on the back table for the restaurant staff to eat (and they do, they're animals-they'll eat anything!) My point being, we win some, we lose some but we always keep playing.

1 comment:

  1. Shoot! The name made my mouth water but I'll pass after reading your review.

    ReplyDelete