There is one dessert that has been on the Dirt Candy menu since the beginning, one dessert that I have never changed, one dessert to rule them all…Popcorn Pudding. And tonight, as part of Dirt Candy’s week-long Cake and Ice Cream Birthday Fiesta, if you order any dessert, you’ll get a free order of Popcorn Pudding.

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I had to go to OfftheBroiler to get a good picture of the popcorn pudding.

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Popcorn Pudding has always been a constant at Dirt Candy, like gravity, and I’ve always just accepted that it’s here. But there is a story behind it.

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“Come, my people, and I shall tell you the tale

of popcorn pudding, that most noble of desserts.”

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When I started Dirt Candy two years ago, I hired Debbie Lee to be my pastry chef. Debbie and I had worked together at Pure Food and Wine and her desserts are incredible. She worked for a while for Pichet Ong and developed a bunch of desserts for the first menu at Dirt Candy: Sesame Cake, Ricotta Fritters, Chocolate Potato Cake with Sweet Potato Sorbet and, of course, Popcorn Pudding. Then…trouble. Debbie’s mom needed her to help with the family business and so mere months after opening, Debbie departed Dirt Candy.

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I was really sad to see her go, and after she left I hired another pastry chef to execute her desserts. That didn’t work so well. Not only was this second pastry chef not putting in the hours, but she wasn’t adding any new desserts. Finally, I had to bite the bullet and let her go and now Danielle and I do the desserts together. Pastry is hard! But it’s made me step up and really sharpen my sugar-slinging skills and at times it’s even been – dare I say it – fun. But the Popcorn Pudding has been eternal – it’s one of the most popular desserts and I love keeping it on as a tribute to Debbie, one of the people who helped make Dirt Candy what it is today.

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