Category: Desserts

These (recipe here) were so delicious and easy. The really wonderful thing is that they can be prepared in advance, so they’d be wonderful for a dinner party. I served them with ice cream, because I wasn’t sure how my crew would take to them, on their own. They definitely liked them with the ice cream, but we had some of the leftovers, plain, for breakfast the next morning and they were also, quite well-received. Instead of serving the entire pear, you could also cut the pear into slices for a different presentation, with smaller portion sizes.

Milk-Chocolate Cookies with Malted Cream from Food & Wine magazine
Holy cow! These were perfection. Delicious, with wonderful consistency. I have had problems in the past with making sandwich cookies and having the filling be too soft for cookies that were too hard, so that filling squished out in the middle when you bite into them, but there were spot-on. The filling had the EXACT consistency of Oreo cookie filling and stayed put exactly as it was supposed to. Definitely have a glass of milk handy. Be really careful with the way that you roll the dough out – I should have rolled mine a little thinner to have thinner completed cookies, but these were still pretty fabulous.

This recipe from Cooking Light magazine is a HUGE winner. Big hit with all four of us and pretty simple to make. I had a hard time getting the sorbet to freeze very firmly in my ice cream freezer, but I got it to be at least slushy and then just put it in a Tupperware in the freezer and gave it a thorough stir about every 15 minutes for the next hour or so, until it was at the right consistency. Another hint: use a vegetable peeler to get the orange rind strips off the orange.

Butterscotch Pudding from Cooking Light magazine
Click here for recipe

This recipe was phenomenal. I made it exactly according to the recipe directions and didn’t have any problems, although some of the on-line reviewers mention that they had difficulty getting a thick enough consistency. I think as long as you get it going at a pretty good boil for 1 minute, it would be hard for it to be too thin. It was really popping and bubbling; there were actually little droplets flying out of the pan, so be careful!
When I make this again (because I definitely will), I will cut back the sugar a tiny bit. It was pretty sweet. I also think this could be divided into 8 servings, instead of 6, because it’s pretty rich, as well (but not overly so.)
VERY good and a big hit with my sis-in-law, who is a new mom and needs all the calcium she can get (this pudding has almost 200 mg per serving!)

This recipe (from August 2008 Bon Appetit magazine) is amazingly easy and was absolutely delicious. This would be the perfect thing for a dinner party if you’re serving Italian food and want a dessert that is tasty, universally appealing and impressive, but very easy to execute. Seriously, I had this on the table in less than 5 minutes (I used Ghirardelli Sweet Ground Chocolate, which we keep on hand to decorate fancy coffee foam, instead of grinding my own, so that saved a little time). While I sent Girl out to the garage (where the extra freezer is) to retrieve the ice cream, I whipped the cream. While I scooped the ice cream, she crumbled the ladyfingers and Hubby made the espresso. Boy? Well, he mostly said, “Is it ready yet?” Luckily, it was ready so quickly, he didn’t have to wait long…
This would still be a lightning-fast dessert to execute, even if you didn’t have any help…

(ugh. yet another over-exposed photo. I’ve GOT to take some photography classes!)
Lemon Creme Brulee Tart. Recipe here.
Mmmmm…perfection. The broiler in my oven doesn’t work perfectly, so I used a kitchen torch instead, but this was fabulous. All four of us loved it.

Chocolate Malted Creme Brulee
Dear Chocolate Malted Creme Brulee:
It’s true that our relationship didn’t start off on the right foot. When your recipe first turned my head and I attempted to prepare you, I didn’t read clearly enough and realized that I had misjudged you. You cannot be rushed. On that day, our paths were not meant to cross. You are not a last-minute kind of dish…Oh, no, not you… to gain access to your company, a suitor must begin early in the day and allow for plenty of time to allow you to simmer and then cool again, gently stirring, then warm you up again in a sultry oven bath…and then chill again, before the eventual climax of sugar and open flame.
After that first initial attempt, it would have been easy to turn away forever, dismissing you as “fussy” or “time-consuming” or even “high maintenance,” but to do that would be to forever miss out on your creamy goodness, your decadent richness, your vanilla bean-speckled loveliness. How shall I describe what one would forever lose if one is unwilling to put forth the effort that is necessary? A warm version of a rich chocolate malt, with a crisp and crackly-sweet crust that melts in your mouth? Something sweet and wholesome enough to put a smile on the face of not one, but two, innocent children, but sultry and decadent enough to satiate two jaded adults as well?
Yes, it’s true…you’re not “easy”, but if one is willing to read carefully and plan ahead, then you will make it all worthwhile.
Chocolate Malted Creme Brulee, I love you.
Until we meet again,
Yours very sincerely,
Lara
This recipe is originally from the “RSVP” column in Bon Appetit magazine, from a now-closed Martha’s Vineyard restaurant called Bittersweet, and not available “officially” online anywhere, but some lovely soul has done us the favor of typing it in here. I halved the recipe (yes, I halved an egg yolk) to make 4 portions, but this is so rich that the portions could easily be sized down and baked in smaller ramekins to serve more.

This was SO yummy and quite easy. The recipe is from the same episode as Alton Brown’s “Orange Delicious” and has a pretty similar ingredient list.