Profiterole

Why ruin a profiterole?

So why is it that supermarkets now sell desserts that contain alcohol?  I don’t mean the good old Christmas pudding that is well known for being laced with spirits and has been part of the Christmas tradition for a lifetime, I mean a 2 pack of profiteroles and a 2 pack of caramel tarts.  Eating cakes, sweets and chocolates is a new experience for me, this is because during my early adulthood days with a young family and when money was tight I would always opt for an extra alcoholic drink rather than a treat for a dessert.  So there is no surprise that now I am not drinking alcohol I have a bit of a tendency to go for a sweet option. 

 

As a treat this week for our anniversary, I picked up a few pudding options from the local supermarket … profiteroles and caramel tarts, nothing extravagant just a treat to add to our celebratory dinner.  After dinner when opening the desserts, I was staggered by what I saw in front of me, the words “Soft choux buns filled with a vanilla-flavoured with a rich, smooth chocolate sauce.  Contains alcohol” what the actual!  Alcohol in a profiterole, when did that become a thing?  Have profiteroles always contained alcohol and I have never noticed? 

 

I took out the next option 2 x crème caramel tarts, phew no warnings on the front of this one to warn of alcohol content, flip over to the back for the description and there it is “Crème Caramel.  Cream dessert with caramel sauce.  This product contains alcohol.”  Now I am raging, bewildered and without a dessert!  Now don’t get me wrong I can’t even begin to imagine how many of these bad boys I would need to consume to feel the effects of alcohol so I assume it’s not that big of a deal if I ate them or not BUT it leads to the question  WHY?  I am also mindful there are no age restrictions to these desserts so presumably my teenage daughter can happily buy them...that’s another rant for later.

 

Why do our treats need to be laced with poison that quite literally kills thousands of people in the UK every year?  Isn’t it difficult enough for those of us that do not want or need alcohol in their lives to get through a supermarket shop without having to check every product we throw in our basket?

 

Intrigued and slightly confused I resorted to a Google search….“Why do profiteroles contain alcohol?” Google response “… for added flavour”.  Really?  Alcohol is actually considered to positively enhance the flavour of a product, wow – who has ever drank alcohol and thought to themselves “ohh yum lets have some more of that, I love scrunching up my face and having the burning effect in my throat and my eyes watering, dish me up another choux bun please Mr Cake Baker!”  Clearly this has annoyed me so I searched some more only to find this remark when I posed my original question into Google again:  “Must say I wouldn’t expect there to be alcohol in profiteroles.  They are taking a risk though, I can see the Daily Mail sad faces as an unsuspecting Tee Total family have their dinner RUINED by Tesco!” followed by a response “Maybe cheer them up a bit” WTF! now my hackles are up (my purchase wasn’t from Tesco by the way) and I now need to get a profile set up so I can challenge these morons that assume the only way to be cheery is by consuming alcohol through whatever means available.  And so here I am with my first ramblings of a pop drinker and ready to take on the world.

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