This candle will brighten your holiday and it tastes wonderful!
1 cup alfalfa sprouts, divided
4 pineapple rings
4 ripe bananas
1 cup strawberry yougurt
4 fresh strawberries
1. Spread 1/4 cup alfalfa sprouts on four individual serving plates. Place a pineapple ring on top of the sprouts.
2. Peel and slice a 3-inch (8 mm) piece of banana. Stand the banana upright in the pineapple ring. Cut a notch across the top of the banana.
3. Pour yogurt over the banana and let it drizzle down the sides to resemble melted wax.
4. Slice strawberries about 1/4-inch (.6 cm) thick. Stand the strawberry slice on the tip of the banana, to look like the flame on the candle.
5. Cut four 1/2-inch (1 cm) slices from the remaining banana, stand them on the edge of the pineapple ring for a handle. Serve immediately.
This recipe is from the December 2008 Friend magazine, which arrived in my mailbox yesterday.
By Common Consent, a Mormon Blog 
Delightful!
I can just picture the… er… wait… WHAT??
Forgive me for being skeptical… but I had to check for myself… and there it is, page 36.
You can also make this with parsnips.
Ok, so let me try to picture this desert… WHA??!
“dessert” that is… and now I need to picture something, anything, else
Hmm, trying to encourage wholesome recreational activities?
Yup, it’s real. And let’s just gloss over the “Someone gave Thomas Kinkaid an Airbrush and a Red Bull” cover art this month, too.
That cover rules. I love the pointing kid. “Lo! Yonder lies improbably puffy and disgusting depictions!”
That cover rules spray-painted on the side of building.
When I opened up the pdf for the first few seconds the r in Friend didn’t appear.
I can’t believe that recipe. Stand the banana upright and cut a notch in it?
holy crap.
What is this world coming to???? This dessert could also be used as a visual aid for the nasty effects of certain venereal diseases.
Hey, I liked the cover art, and actually considered trying to use it as a desktop background this month.
We need to make this at the next blogposium.
OK, I think everybody can stop kvetching about whether or not the latest PBR was inappropriate.
The Friend has outdone us all in that department. Holeeee cow! What were they thinking!? Or were they even thinking at all!?
I imagine that some heads will roll at The Friend over this. I mean, gah ah ah. Imagine this salad being served at a Daddy/daughter function. Again, gah ah ah.
And beside, the recipe is disgusting. Is there a person anywhere in the world who eats yogurt on sprouts? With pineapple?
What are the sprouts supposed to represent?
It could have been worse. They could have suggested putting two banana-disk handles, one on each side of the candlestick.
This reminded me of Scott Meyer’s cake story. To quote:
“Here’s what I came to realize about the cake. The obscene image was just obvious enough that you can’t help but recognize it, but also obviously innocent enough that you don’t want to say anything for fear that you’re the only one who sees it.”
No good can come from anything that includes instructions to “stand the banana upright.”
Thanks for the link Starfoxy. I am still laughing at that post.
Looks like the file has already been disabled. I can’t access it anyway. Shucks.
At least they didn’t feel the need to illustrate the recipe.
I had to sigh at this; I realize that I need to oversee the books my small children check out from the public library (I still giggle at the memory of my poor dear, innocent, staunchly conservative MIL bringing my daughter home from the library with a copy of And Tango Makes Three).
I didn’t realize I might have to censor the Friend.
I am shocked! SHOCKED!! at all of your filthy minds.
(Actually, I’m not shocked at all. Sadly, I’ve become accustomed to it.)
If it wasn’t for the sprouts I could believe that this was innocent. But I’m sure that some sicko is having a good laugh right about now.
Somebody in quabity assuance at the Friend dropped the ball.
This is unfortunate.
Tracy, this Thanksgiving, I’m thankful for you….
And my boss is thankful that I clean up my soda after I spit it out on my keyboard while explosively laughing….
The PDF version of the December 2008 Friend is still at LDS.org (it takes a long time to load) and does indeed have the Candlestick Salad (on page 36 of the PDF file, under “Christmas Workshop”).
It does not have a photo of said salad, which probably suggests how this got past the various editorial processes. Interestingly enough, it is the only one of the five ‘Christmas Workshop’ items that is not illustrated in some way. Sigh. ..bruce..
A little google searching reveals that this recipe dates back to at least a 1950’s-era Betty Crocker cookbook for kids that features many such recipes (various animals, etc, made out of fruit and veggies). There are comments scattered around the web from people who recall making it with their families or at church functions. It seems the more common name is “Candle Salad” as opposed to candlestick (photos). I think the strawberry is probably a great improvement, as far as looking candle-like, over the version in the Betty Crocker book and photos, which features a cherry.
Jack be nimble,
Jack be quick,
Jack for heaven’s sake don’t ever make Candlestick Salad.
As usual, I’m with gst.
Those photo are way worse than I had imagined. The one with the whipped cream is especially bad.
We’re making these tonight.
Cynthia’s photos are good, but lettuce is no replacement for sprouts. That candlestick needs to put on some socks!
We should give The Friend credit for using a flame-shaped strawberry slice in place of the rounded cherry of Cynthia’s photos. Also, if you cut a straight section out of the middle of the banana, so that it has a blunt, flat end rather than the natural curve and rounded tip, it might not be quite so disgusting. Maybe. Perhaps. And avoid hairy alfalfa sprouts at all costs.
That cover creeps me out. The recipe? Well, I have nothing to add.
Those photos are bad, Cynthia. Plus, one of the websites has creepy bunnies, too! It’s a knitting blog. Tagline: Dream, believe, do!
Actually, this recipe is the start of a new series. Next month the Friend will have a special recipe involving avocado halves.
My eyes! My eyes!
I’m not sure which would have been worseA: to have an actual photo of the candlestick salad, or the cutsie cartoon rendering used for some of the other Christmas Workshop specials. ..bruce..
I really like the addition of the dripping yogurt.
sick. sick. sick.
Sometimes a candlestick salad is just a candlestick salad.
In a few years, John at “MormonMatters” will be able to blog about this recipe in his “Will this make it past correlation” column! Then we will all have to guess where it first appeared.
Those who prefer yogurt without active cultures should make two small incisions at the base of the banana before consuming.
Kathryn!! (*snerkle giggle*)
Tracy, you started it.
;)
i just made one of these. all I can say is, wow. they are WAY worse than any of those pictures. especially if you use the whole strawberry on top of the banana as the flame. and the alfalfa sprouts? wow, wow.