With about 30 recipes from this book of great desserts under my belt, the strangest phenomenon has occurred.

My original plan involved moving sequentially from section to section baking the recipes in order. I realized, though, that my eaters (my children) also held relevance and began to slip away from that plan to choosing recipes I thought they would like. Here’s the strangeness, I’m having a problem finding that. How in this book of ultimate desserts are there so few that my children would consider great? It could be they’re too picky or it could be today’s best desserts have changed from the 1970’s. Another problem lands on the fact that I need to find more eaters.

This vanilla cream pie has a chocolate cookie crumb crust. I thought it sounded like a cookies and cream rendition and that ranks among my son’s favorites. I told him I was baking something he would love. The reality: he liked it, not loved.

Truth be told, I don’t blame him. Something went wrong. I followed Maida’s meticulous instructions, but the vanilla cream filling came out lumpy ruining the eating esthetic. So, I chose another recipe for my next endeavor that I think he will also like. And I’m trying to muster my courage to reach out to other potential eaters.