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The first and most memorable is Carvel Ice Cream Cakes. We had them for every birthday celebration,and Father's/Mother's Day. I couldn't wait to get through dinneand attack the cake diving straight for the middle with the cookie crunch. The second is hearing the first ring of the Mr. Softie Ice Cream truck of the season.

Mango Ice Cream from Sultana in Cairo (yes, Egypt). We only went once every few years and I could not wait to get off the plane to get the ice cream cone with the most glorious frozen dessert ever created. I was in heaven when at age 7 I met the owners of the shop, as I had made an assumption it meant they could ship it to us in the States!

Watching the candy room (Augustus Galoop, etc.) scene in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Box cake...sometimes I still crave it.

My favorite food memory is of making sugar cookies at Christmas with my mother, grandmother, and brother. The best part was applying the icing after the cookies had cooled.

fluffy vanilla angel food cake with fresh strawberries and whipped cream. my mother makes the best whipped cream--it's never too sweet or stiff. mmm

My-T-Fine Chocolate Pudding with Reddi-wip. Out of a box, and canned whipped cream but it was so comforting.

my grandma's "sugar and cinnamon cookies" made with scraps from the crust of whatever pie/quiche she was making. she'd cut leftover dough into little triangles, sprinkle them with sweetness and we'd watch them puff up and brown in the oven for a buttery, flaky snack.

Most of my memories of childhood are related to dinner with my family. Between my grandmothers chicken soup as you enter the kitchen to my mother brisket baking in the oven for hours. My grandfather has long since passed away but we loved taking day old bread, soaking it in eggs, milk and vanilla and sweetening the kitchen with the smell of sweet toast with warm maple syrup.

My most favorite dessert was a pound cake my mother made. Every time she made the cake it would fall in the middle. The cake was never a pretty pound cake but was very tastey. She died when I was only 8 years old and her baking the cake is such a very special memory.

By far my best childhood dessert memory was Gram's strouffles and zeppoles..there was nothing like it in the world. I looked forward to eating them more than I looked forward to the holidays themselves! I can't remember anything better than those fresh zeppoles right out of the frying pan, coated in powdered sugar, and those beautiful little honey balls with the colorful sprinkles on top, yum!!

My fondest childhood dessert memory is baking peanut butter cookies with the chocolate Hershey's kiss in the middle. I remember unwrapping all of the chocolates and eating them as I worked. Nothing beats those cookies fresh out of the oven with the melted chocolate center.

Galatoboureko without question. This greek honey custard desset is just the best. I remember my sister and I making AND finishing a whole "tapsi" (pan).

From anywhere in our house I could hear the electric mixer in the kitchen, which usually meant my mom was making her famous chocolate chip cookies. We'd eat them as soon as they can out from the oven, or (my favorite) we'd eat the dough with a spoon right from the bowl. I sometimes got a tummy ache from too much cookie dough, but it was worth it.

My favorite childhood dessert is called Struffoli. It is an Italian dessert like Honey Balls. My Nana and I would make them every holiday season. We would spend hours rolling out and kneading the dough and cutting it into small slices. My favorite part was melting the honey with orange rinds and dropping the small-fired balls into the warm honey. The finishing touches were colored sprinkles to bring the dessert to life.

Although my grandma was a great baker, especially her pies my fondest childhood memory was always with my great aunt Florence. She made the best applesauce cake and many times she babysat me when family went to "adult" things like funerals and always begged to have auntie bake that very special cake. She always let me sit in the old kitchen and watch as she mixed what seemed like 50 ingrediants and I loved the spicy smell as it was baking and then she and I shared a piece with whipped cream. She did that well into her 90's and I have never had an applesauce cake like that again.

I didn't have a lot of sweets when I was growing up, but I remember every summer my mom making a rhubard soup that I loved and when you added vanilla ice cream to it, it was even better!

When I first visited Hong Kong when I was little, I had the best Triple Mango dessert ever and still crave it to this day! Mango ice cream, mango sorbet, topped with fresh mangos, all drizzled with condensed milk..... soooo good!!! I've desparately tried to look for the same dessert here in NYC, and alas, no place to this day has been able to match the mango experience i had in Hong Kong....

We used to go to Boston to get Mocha Cakes; not a mocha flavored cake but heaven on earth. These Mocha cakes must be a local favorite and my mom would try to make them she got as far as the jelly roll. When we took the train to Boston I always got one. Mmmmmm.
They are slices of a jelly roll I think raspberry. So its white cake rolled up with raspberry jam spread on the inside. The jelly roll has a light sprinkle of white coconut. The roll is sliced and then mocha frosting is swirled on top in concentric circles with a had marachino cherry in the middle. Back home they now have the best ones at Rose and Vicky's in Manomet on 3 A. I don't get home much but always make it a point to get a Mocha Cake and sit on top of Point Rd looking over the ocean and savor it the tastes of my past and sweet memories.

Videotaping a "How To" project in elementary school, of how to make my grandma's famous brownies.

When I was about 7 years old there was a huge snow storm in my area. My brother and I would go around with a snow blower and clean up peoples' driveway and sidewalk. Well this one time, they ran out of oil, so my brothers told me to go home and get a container of it. Well when I got home, I found that my mom had baked chocolate chip cookies and I was so excited that they were coming out of the oven, I forgot why I had gone home in the first place. Its obvious to say - my brothers never got the oil they needed.

Oh, this is no contest. I was lucky enough to grow up with a father who was a chef. Special occasions were and still are incredible food-centered events in my family. My most-oft requested birthday dessert was Kahlua Trifle. I don't know where I tasted it first, but from about age 8 and onwards, I have always associated this scrumptious dessert with my birthday and the happiest moments of my childhood. Of course, I had no idea that there was alcohol in it until I reached my teens!! I had always called it "Double Trouble" after the color scheme, apparently it reminded me of a pair of villains on Carmen Sandiego (remember that show?!). Now, I can't help but think that the combination of the rich pudding, pounds of fresh whipped cream, and kahlua soaked chocolate cake could make anyone giddy...But as a kid, I knew it was a special and magical treat for me - the birthday girl.

For anyone that doesn't know Kahlua Trifle, here's a rough breakdown of the ingredients:

Chocolate cake, cubed, soaked in chilled kahlua for a few hours
Chocolate pudding (*my brother always called it "gooding" as a kid; how appropriate, no?)
Whipped cream or Cool Whip
Heath bar bits

Layer until the trifle bowl is filled and sprinkle with heath bar bits. YUM!

Shortly, immigrating to the United states, my mother was raising my two brothers and me. We did not have much money. Whenever the generic frozen banana cream pies would go on sale, she would us one. I remember it was so delicious, we'd let it thaw out and cut a slice and it was creamy and fluffy with a flaky buttery crust. The sweet taste of banana was scrumptious!

The 400 cookies my family made around the holidays, especially the meringues with chocolate chips and spritz cookies.

A special dessert treat when one of the kids was sick was cinnamon toast -- regular sandwich bread, plenty of butter, and cinnamon and sugar sprinkled on top. Unexceptional ingredients, but the combination was completely wonderful. It made me really wish my parents would buy Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal, until the day I tasted it and discovered it was nothing like cinnamon toast...

I grew up in Kentucky and was practically raised on my grandmother's oatmeal raisin cookies. She would have them fresh from the oven when we would arrive at her small house in Lebanon, KY (...the next town over from Maker's Mark in Loretto, KY). But the bond that really kept my Dad and I together was sharing Cookies 'N Cream Milkshakes from Steak 'N Shake whenever my report would arrive from my school (needless to say, I was a good student!). Indeed, desserts have a magical way of bringing people together and instilling memories to last a lifetime.

I hate to admit it but my favorite childhood dessert memory are the apple pies from McDonald's. As a treat, my parents would take us to McDonald's after church (if we behaved) and I'd always look forward to eating the apple pie.

I was raised with grandparents who were the children of Italian immigrants, and I have the best memories of, every Christmas, being in the kitchen with my grandmother, my mom and my sister, making strufoli. For the unfamiliar, these are little lemon-scented fritters which you then mix in honey while they're still hot, then pile them up on plates in pyramid-type shapes and sprinkle with nonpariels. I will always treasure the memory of rolling out those countless balls of dough and then eating them and being left with honey-coated fingers.

back before kindergarten days, my grandmother would take care of my while my parents worked. I'm sure she made me lots of treats, but the one I remember most is a slice of toasted white bread and a small dipping dish with a small precious pool of sweetened condensed milk. mmmm.

every christmas my mom and i used to make the yule log, and every year i'd look forward to licking the pot of rich chocolate frosting, and then eating it for dinner christmas eve, and for breakfast the next week

My grandmother used to make a dessert called a chocolate butter roll. It was basically some kind of biscuit dough into which she'd tuck a chocolate cream filling, then bake. Those things were delicious, and now that she's gone, I don't know how to recreate them. The closest thing to them would be a pain au chocolat, but it's not the same.

I remember baking with my mother, her letting me help when I was little. As I got older I was able to take on more responsibility until I eventually baked on my own. I used to surprise her with cookies or brownies. I now make a cake, cookies, or whatever I can create for friends and family to celebrate special occasions.

"Helping" my mom bake chocolate chip cookies or birthday cakes, standing on a chair to reach the counter and licking batter from the beaters. She wasn't the most enthusiastic cook, but she always liked to bake.

My favorite childhood dessert has to be my mother’s banana chocolate chip bread. This treat, which my family has lovingly referred to as “Bananacake,” “Mama’s BB with CC,” and “The world’s yummiest batter,” has been a favorite for as long as I can remember. My earliest memories of making this bread involve trying to lick the batter after the eggs had already been added- a no no in mom’s book. With its moist top, purple cooked banana veins, and squares of gooey chocolate, Mom’s banana bread is simply the best!

CNDY - I knew I had a sweet tooth before I could spell. But my favorite childhood dessert memory would have to be hot chocolate and animal crackers...nothing seems more comforting after playing out in the snow all day!

Flashback (doodley doot, doodley doot): Third Grade...I was rocking a hot pink slap bracelet that coordinated with my hot pink puff paint sweatshirt...My most treasured possession was a book called "Kids Cooking: A Very Slightly Messy Manual" that I bought at a Scholastic Book Fair. It came with brightly color measuring spoons that I still have (and use) today. My birthday was around the corner and I was dying to bring the Frosted Chocolate Conecakes into class instead of the standard cake or cupcakes or cookies. Mom mom obliged and she not only made a huge batch, but she frosted the conecakes all different colors--pink, green, blue, purple--and topped them off with rainbow sprinkles. When I opened the box at school to share with my classmates, they freaked out at the awesomeness that is the conecake. I mean, who wouldn't? Moist cake, slightly crunchy cone and plenty of frosting (and sprinkles!). And for that one shining moment I was the coolest kid in my class. :)

That would definitely have to be baking cinnamon sugar cookies with my grandmother when I was little. I was her official cookie cutter and sugar and cinnamon sprinkler. As they came out of the oven, there was a warm smell of cinnamon throughout the house. They were so delicious and, to this day, the smell of sugar and cinnamon brings back memories of my grandmother and the warmness of love that comes out of cooking with family!

My favorite dessert dates back to when I was about 6 years old. It was Halloween night, and my neighborhood friends and I went out trick-or-treating. As we went from house to house, we would get the usual candy bars or apples, but at one house, we were invited inside and, sitting on a plate, was a selection of freshly baked cream puffs. They were a new experience, as who knew at that age what a cream puff was. We each got to take one and eat it right there, and it was heaven. I still remember that as the best Halloween treat I ever had, and I am still looking for another cream puff as good as that night 40+ years ago.

My dad favored having a "treat" each evening, a couple hours after dinner. Sometimes fruit, sometimes cookies or pudding, whatever was on hand. The best nights were when mom had recently gone to the store and picked up sundae fixings. Vanilla ice cream, hot fudge sauce, a rainbow of sprinkles, and real whipped cream were an indulgence even back when I was young enough to not know what a calorie was.

My favorite childhood memory of desserts has to be S'mores...the reason being is that this is the first dessert I can remember making for myself and also for my mother. The thrill and excitement of "cooking" for someone else and making them happy as a small child is a wonderful memory. S'mores are a classic...always perfectly good!

My mother's dutch babies. Sure, they took a hour to prep and cook, but the house always smelled awesome afterwards and the apples were so very, very tasty.

Oreos with milk. And chasing down the good humor man in the summer evenings. The fudge striped bar with the chocolate crunchies on the outside.... Yum!

my favorite memory has to be Christmas cookies. We would spend hours for several days making all sorts of cookies with Mom. We always made the special family recipes and would try a few new ones each year. We couldn't wait to taste each new batch as they came out of the oven.

As a teenager I was introduced to Sara Lee's pound cake in the early 1980s, and it became an icon to me and my family. In this decade Sara Lee put out 2 sizes: small or medium, and I remember my mother always bought the small size due to the restrained on the family's budget. The rich butter and softness made the pound cake irresitible. Fast foward almost 30 years later, I still love Sara Lee's pound cake or my wife duplication.

To my great surprise, some of my favorite childhood dessert memories are of banana and orange cakes that Sara Lee used to make. Funny, but I haven't thought of them in years.

Strawberry cake that my grandmother would make me for my birthday every year.

A rare treat was a trip to Jahn's for ice cream sundaes. I loved sitting in the high back booth with my family eating a too delicious hot fudge sundae fron a tall sundae glass with a long handled spoon.

My mom's chocolate cake with buttercream frosting. She makes amazing cake!

Making caramel popcorn balls with my gradmother using her secret family recipe. She would use a whole stick of butter and lots of sugar and karo syrup. Once she had the delicious mixture boiled to just the right temperature she would pour it over the popcorn layed out on a cookie sheet and I would toss it with two wooden spoons. Then we would make it into balls using this red plastic scooper. No matter how many times my sister and I tried to make the balls by hand they always tasted better when they were done in grandmas' popcorn baller.

Favorite childhood dessert would be my mom's homemade blondies with walnuts. Everything about them from he batter to the last crumbs are amazing. She still makes them for me!

When I was 10 my parents had a freind who was an amazing baker. All of her cookies and brownies and pies were better than anything that could be bought at a bakery and I always looked forward to going to her house knwing something special was in store. On one particular occasion she made the most perfect looking homemade chocolate cake with chocloate frosting that I had ever seen. It was and still is to this day my most favorite desert. My parents kept warning us to behave and when it came time for desert I was too embarrassed to say i would like some when she asked. So i left with none even after she prodded me to take a piece home. I regretted it to this very day but it has since changed me in that I will NEVER say NO to something I truly desire! I have repeated this story to my own kids now more than few times-so much so that they roll their eyes at me...I am 48 now and have that same exact cake whenever possible and think of Catherine with every forkfull!!!

It has to be Banana pudding with nilla wafers. Every once in a while Mom would pull out a box of vanilla jello. I would help slice bananas and place them around the bottom of a big bowl. We then lined it with the wafers. Next, we would would heat the milk and pudding, stirring constantly with an old wooden spoon so it didnt get lumpy. Once the jello cooled enough, we would carefully pour it into the bowl, spread the rest of the bananas on top, and leave it on the counter to set. I never could wait though. There would be a big scoop missing before anyone else could admire the final creation. I think the magic ingredient was the wooden spoon (which i still have). Mom's not around to make this simple dessert with me anymore, but if i want to relive a special moment with her, i pull out a box of vanilla pudding and im magically twelve again, back in the kitchen with that spoon :)

it's no gourmet dessert, but fudgsicles from the ice cream truck...it brings back instant summer memories. My neighbors and I sitting on the concrete wall bordering my backyard, eating them as fast as we could before they melted.

My Most memorable Dessert as a child was "Flan de Calabaza" also known as pumpkin Flan, My grandma use to make this dessert around the thanksgiving festivitys in my Island, I still remember the smell that came out of the kitchen and the thought of sitting down to enjoy and savor every last bite. My only regret is not asking her for the recipe because till this day i have not had a "Flan de Calabaza" just quite like my grandma made it!

My favorite childhood dessert was warm sweet Kalakand, which was an East Indian dessert. Unlike the other mothers at school, mine didn't bake brownies, cookies, or cake. I didn't mind b/c I loved helping her make the homemade sweet cheese and add the warm milk, sugar, cream. My favorite part was adding the spicy flavors I grew to love at home: pistachio, cardammom, and saffron. It was something comforting that always reminded me of my family and from where I came no matter where I was.

I had warm apple pie with homemade vanilla ice cream at a local neighborhood restaurant. It was so perfectly tasty.

Moving from South Korea to the U.S. at the age of 8, adjusting to eating style was an interesting experience for me. But I definately did NOT have difficulty with the tastes of desserts. :)

One of the first desserts I have ever had was a candy apple my grandmother brought me home one summer day. It was red, shiny, and glazed with caramel. I fell in love with it the moment I took my first bite. (although I didn't finish the whole apple... just the caramel part)

My 2nd favorite childhood dessert is Rice Krispies Treats. I remember making it from scratch with my mom, aunt, and cousins. It was all gooey, so marshmellow-y, and crunchy! mMm~! I think the process of making it ourselves had me thinking it was the best Rice Krispies Treats in the world!!
:D

It would have to be my Grandmother Nellie's date bars. Where as many children didn't like them when we were kids, I loved the balance of sweet and tart mixed with the oatmeal. Perfect. I'm the one in the family that makes them these days. Hot from the oven with a good homemade ice cream? YUM!

My grandmother's amazing chocolate chip cake used to, and actually still does, bring a smile to my face. It was tradition that for any special occasion there would be a chocolate chip cake. It was a yellow cake with chocolate chips and shaved dark chocolate pieces topped with more chocolate and powdered sugar. The top was almost a crust and it paired perfectly with the moist buttery sides and inside of the cake. A true crowd pleaser and a dessert I will never forget.

My favorite dessert memory didn't occur until I was 22 years old and opening a hotel. Because of my job in the banquet department, I was working 100 hours a week to open a brand new hotel outside of Washington DC. My staff didn't speak English, I was living in rooms that were not completed, undergoing physical therapy on a work-related back injury three times a week, and my fiance was deployed to the Persian Gulf. Needless to say, life could have been better.

One of these awful winter nights were it was thirty degrees outside and eighty inside we had over 1,000 high school kids in for an Inaugural Ball. They ate and drank us out of house and home and worked us until two am! Exhaused, hot, sweaty and sore and made my way into the kitchen for some quiet and a glass of water. The restaurant manager, chef and I all ended up with the remainder of a five gallon bucket of chocolate ice cream and spoons. It wasn't even the best ice cream I've ever had, but it was at that moment. Cold, rich and satisfying it soothed the long event behind us and fortified me for the rest of the night ahead...getting ready for breakfast.

To this day, when it gets really rough, I reach for some chocolate ice cream and a cold, stainless steel table to ease the stress of the day and give me the strength to keep going.

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