Posts filed under 'Dessert'
Recipe of the Week – Gluten Free – Flourless Chocolate Cake
(From the Gluten Free Collection at emealsforyou.com)
Flourless Chocolate Cake
As you may know we are adding new areas to our website. Besides expanding our Vegan category we have added a Gluten Free category. It seems everywhere I go someone says they are gluten intolerant. Being the huge “bread” person I am that really bothers me. Along with registered Dietitian Lisa M. Ronco, MS RD CDN, we will endeavor to develop recipes and meal plans for our readers and members of our website: emealsforyou.com, who have problems planning meals around their eating preferences.
Most of us consider gluten free foods to be bland and tasteless; not so around here. This cake is wonderful, smooth and chocolaty without a speck of flour. As with all of our recipes in the Gluten Free category this is a keeper that you will find the whole family will enjoy, even without flour.
Dessert – Flourless Chocolate Cake
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 10 |
| Category: | Gluten Free |
| Meal: | other (General) |
| 8 | Tb | butter, salted |
| 16 | oz | chocolate, semi-sweet bar |
| 9 | large | egg, separated |
| 1 | cup | sugar, white |
| 3 | Tb | cocoa |
| 10 | oz | chocolate, semi-sweet bar |
| 1 | cup | cream, heavy |
Preheat oven to 350. butter a 9” springform pan; line the bottom with buttered wax paper, dust with cocoa powder. Melt chocolate and butter together, allow to cool slightly. Separate eggs; beat yolks on medium for 1 minute, add sugar and beat until light yellow. In a separate bowl beat egg whites until just peaking. Blend cooled chocolate with egg yolks, add cocoa; fold in egg whites. Pour into pan, bake for 40-45 minutes. This is a very moist cake and an inserted knife should come out barely wet. Allow to cool for ½ hour prior too removing from pan.
Heat cream until just below boil, remove from heat, and stir in chocolate until melted.
May be reheated slowly to melt.
Pour chocolate ganache over top, leave on counter until ready to serve.
If you refrigerate this cake the ganache will lose its shine.
·Note: This is almost a souffle; it will rise and drop, if the center caves in don’t panic. Fill with berries and pretend it was on purpose. It happens to all of us.
Find more recipes like this at emealsforyou.com.
Add comment August 30, 2010
Recipe of the Week – Uncommon Results from Common Ingredients – Grapefruit Sorbet
(From the Appetizer Collection at emealsforyou.com)
Grapefruit Sorbet
I’m big on “pantry cooking.” I believe you should be able to make wonderful meals from what you have around the kitchen, whether in the pantry, frig or freezer. With just a little imagination you should be able to cobble together an easy appetizer, meal or dessert from items you have on hand. At emealsforyou.com we give you a list of what we consider essentials for stocking away.
This weekend we were running a little short on appetizers so I went to the pantry and started looking for a quick, easy appetizer to make. A can of black beans from the shelf, some fresh cherry tomatoes from the garden, some pickled pepper rings from the frig and some frozen pita bread all went together to make a very good relish and chips. Add a few spices and herbs to your taste and you will wish you had written the recipe down for future use.
Along these lines I give you the easiest recipe I can think of. Serve this grapefruit sorbet between courses at a formal dinner or have it following a salad for lunch to make it special. So the next time you are in the store pick up a can of frozen grapefruit juice to save for a “rainy” day.
Grapefruit Sorbet
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 8 |
| Category: | Appetizer |
| Meal: | J & B’s Silent Auction Dinner (Distinctive Dinners) |
| 12 | oz | grapefruit juice, frozen concentrate |
| 24 | oz | water |
Combine frozen concentrate and water and process in ice cream maker until frozen. May be made in advance. Use as a palette cleanser between courses.
Add comment August 9, 2010
Recipe of the Week – Hot Fudge Sundae
(From the Dessert Collection at emealsforyou.com)
We are having a going away party for a couple in our neighborhood group this weekend and I am responsible for the desserts. I have over 100 dessert recipes on my website (emealsforyou.com) so finding something to make wasn’t the problem, deciding what to make was. After kicking around several ideas we hit on having an old-fashioned Ice Cream Social. We will set up a dessert station with ice cream, hot fudge sauce, caramel sauce, whipped cream and of course cherries to top it all off. The perfect finish for the neighborhood party.
This hot fudge sauce is extremely easy it make and has always elicited rave reviews. Make a double batch, it lasts forever in the frig, well almost forever depending on your families addiction to chocolate.
Hot Fudge Sauce
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 8 |
| Category: | Dessert |
| Meal: | Santa Fe Feast (Share-a-Meal Plans) |
| 0.5 | cup | sugar, white |
| 0.5 | cup | corn syrup, light |
| 1 | Tb | vanilla |
| 1.5 | Tb | butter, unsalted |
| 0.25 | cup | cream, heavy |
| 0.5 | cup | cocoa |
Heat sugar, syrup, vanilla, cream and butter in a heavy sauce pan until blended. Mix in cocoa and stir.
Hint: may be kept in the refrigerator for weeks. Re-heat in microwave.
Add comment August 3, 2010
Recipe of the Week – Homemade Italian Ice
(From the Dessert Collection at emealsforyou.com)
Lemon Italian Ice
It has been a couple of crazy dessert weekends around here lately. Last weekend I made dessert for the local Memorial Day picnic; Croissant Bread Pudding and Hazelnut Cheesecake. This weekend the friend, who had the Memorial Day party, called and asked if I could help out with some desserts for her mom’s Red Hat Ladies meeting; dessert for 20 or so. No problem; I made a huge Mary’s Special Birthday Cake and a Brenda’s Favorite Lemon Tart, both travel well and both feed an army.
The thing I had forgotten was the dinner party we were having on Saturday night for our new neighbors to meet our old neighbors and our “before the old neighbors” neighbors. What to make for dessert. The new neighbor stopped by as I was icing the Red Hat Ladies chocolate cake and it became immediately obvious he was a big fan of chocolate icing. That solved part of the equation, make a Flourless Chocolate Cake, but what to make that was lighter and easier on the waistline. I baked some pears to serve with honey and blue cheese but the winner was the Lemon Italian Ice.
As I was a little busy in the kitchen I welcomed a dessert that basically requires mixing frozen lemonade with water and placing it in an ice cream freezer. This is the perfect dessert when you are looking for something different, not expensive, easy to make and always a crowd pleaser.
Give this a try on a hot summer’s night.
Lemon Italian Ice
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 6 |
| Category: | Dessert |
| Meal: | Easy Comfort (Quick Meals Planner) |
| 1 | 12 oz can | lemonade |
| 20 | oz | water |
Place frozen (but softened) lemonade in an ice cream maker, add water and turn on for about 20 minutes until fluffy and white. Serve immediately or re-freeze in a separate container until needed, Thaw sightly before serving, Scape lemon ice with a spoon and layer in a bowl or glass.
5 comments June 7, 2010
Is your temperature really what you think it is? – A Helpful Rant
As frequent readers will know we moved just before the New Year. Setting up the new kitchen, getting things where I want them, getting a “good flow” of movement has been a building process. Sometimes it’s the little things we miss.
This weekend I was responsible for the desserts at a neighborhood picnic. I settled on Croissant Bread Pudding and Hazelnut Toffee Cheesecake, as both are great and serve a ton of people. Baking the desserts seemed to take longer than it should have. I should have looked into the reason why but rushed through and they came out great, although taking longer and requiring me to constantly check on them.
I should have remembered installing a new oven for my mother-in-law a few years ago. Visiting months after the install she said her recipes were taking a longer time to bake. I cooked some David Lee Shrimp ((From the Appetizer Collection at emealsforyou.com) and they seemed to take forever to bake. Pulling an oven temperature gauge from her closet I found her oven to be off by about 25 degrees. The fix was an easy one, the manual instructed me to push these buttons in sequence then that button to raise the temp and it is fixed.
Back to my problem. When the light bulb in my brain went off I simply checked the real oven temp, hence the picture of the gauge above, and found my oven was off by 10 percent. That means that my desserts, requiring 350 degrees, were baking away at only 315 degrees. The bottom line is for a few bucks you can check your oven and perhaps save time when baking or at least have piece of mind that what you set your temp to is actually the temperature in the oven.
Here’s the Hazelnut Toffee Cheesecake recipe.
Hazelnut Toffee Cheesecake
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 12 |
| Category: | Dessert |
| Meal: | N/A |
| 0.5 | cup | sugar, brown |
| 1.5 | cup | hazelnuts, ground |
| 2 | oz | bourbon, Jack Daniels |
| 8 | Tb | butter, salted |
| 8 | large | egg |
| 4 | large | egg, whites |
| 2 | cup | sugar, white |
| 2 | tsp | vanilla |
| 48 | oz | cream cheese |
| 2 | cup | heathbar bits |
Have everything at room temperature. Combine brown sugar, bourbon, nuts and butter, spread evenly on bottom of spring- form pan. In a food processor mix everything except the toffee together until very smooth. Stir in toffee. Pour into spring form pan, place on cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Turn off oven and let cheesecake sit ( in oven) for 1 hour.
This is best if made the day before and refrigerated over night.
This recipe serves at least 12.
Add comment June 1, 2010
So Many Desserts – So Little Time
(From the Dessert Collection at emealsforyou.com)
Croissant Bread Pudding
One Christmas weekend down and one to go. We celebrated with some of the family last weekend and will travel to New Jersey on the 24th for further celebration with more of the family. I have almost 100 different dessert recipes on the website and so it makes sense that I make the dessert for the meals. Last weekend we had a cheesecake with cherries and the cranberry cake shown on a recent blog. For the Jersey trip I have solicited suggestions and requests from my brother-in-law. His list includes: Ada’s Butterscotch Pie, Brenda’s Favorite Lemon Tart, the flourless chocolate cake, and a carrot cake. My wife suggested Croissant Bread Pudding with Bourbon Sauce and I am leaning towards the Tiramisu.
Now that our blood sugar levels are up just from reading the list, it’s time to get serious and decide what I will take for the trip. We will have four big meals during the visit. I always like to have a couple desserts for people to have a choice so I think I will take about 4 desserts. I have the lemon tart cooling its heels in the freezer so now my list is down to three more. The bread pudding is easy and travels well so that will probably make the list. I guess you will have to check back next week to see what the finalists are?
Croissant Bread Pudding
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 12 |
| Category: | Dessert |
| Meal: | New Neighbors (Share-a-Meal Plans) |
| 3 | large | egg |
| 8 | large | egg, yolks |
| 5 | cup | cream, half and half |
| 1.5 | cup | sugar, white |
| 1 | Tb | cinnamon. ground |
| 1.5 | tsp | vanilla |
| 1 | cup | raisins |
| 2 | oz | bourbon, Jack Daniels |
| 6 | large | croissants |
| 1 | spritz | PAM |
Slice croissants and leave on counter overnight. Mix all remaining ingredients in large bowl. Dip croissants in mixture, place in large, greased, oven-proof pan, and pour remaining mixture over the top. Bake 40 minutes in a 350 degree oven, or until lightly brown
Add comment December 17, 2009
Recipe of the Week – Cranberry Cake
(From the Dessert Collection at emealsforyou.com)
Cranberry Cake
We had our “early” Christmas on Saturday. Some of us won’t be here for the real Christmas so we gathered together to celebrate and enjoy each other’s company. As usual the food highlighted the weekend. We had pan-roasted chicken, Caesar salads and pasta with four cheeses. Our finale was Steak Diane, twice baked potatoes, French Vinaigrette salad and homemade artisan bread.
I made my usual Christmasy dessert of cheesecake, this time with cherries on the side for that festive look. My wife made her always great Cranberry Cake. This buttery delight hits on all cylinders, sweet, tart, crunchy and moist. It goes together in a flash and can’t be beat for a wonderful company dessert or even a mid-week surprise for your family.
Cranberry Cake
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 8 |
| Category: | Dessert |
| Meal: | Other (General) |
| 2 | cup | cranberries, fresh |
| 1.5 | cup | sugar, white, divided |
| 1 | cup | walnuts, halved |
| 2 | large | egg, lightly beaten |
| 1 | cup | flour |
| 0.75 | cup | butter, salted |
| 1 | spritz | PAM |
| 1 | Tb | sugar, powdered |
Place cranberries and nuts in a large bowl and pour 1/3 of the sugar over the top; mix. Mix the slightly beaten eggs, the remaining sugar, the flour and the melted butter together. Pour over the cranberries and mix. Spray PAM in a pie pan and add the mixture. Bake in a pre-heated 325 degree oven for 60 minutes or until lightly browned. Sprinkle some powdered sugar over the top just prior to serving.
1 comment December 15, 2009
Cookies Past and Present – A Look Back
My Mom's Sugar Cookies
It was about this time of the year, growing up in New Jersey, that my mother would make her buttery, sugar cookies. She had a can in the basement that held about 3 gallons, don’t know how many dozens that translates into, of these freshly cooked, crisp cookies. The patina on the can reflected all the years it was pushed into use to keep the cookies fresh throughout the Christmas season.
I found her recipe the other day and thought I would make some for the kids and the kids’ kids. I cut the recipe in half and still found that I really don’t have the patience to mix, roll, cut and bake all the cookies the recipe made. I don’t know how she stood there all day and rolled the cookies out and baked them. She must have made about 4 recipes to fill that old can.
I am glad I made them. For a short while my kitchen smelled just like hers a long, long time ago.
Find the recipe for these and many more at at emealsforyou.com.
Add comment December 10, 2009
Recipe of the Week – Nut Roll
(From the Dessert Collection at emealsforyou.com)
Nut Roll
Preparing for our early Christmas I suddenly realized that “Mr. Sweetooth” is coming home and I really didn’t have much in the way of goodies for him to eat. I remembered that my brother sent me his recipe, the old family recipe, for his nut roll. He makes it every Christmas but I have never given it a try. We had this at every house we visited during the holiday season growing up. You couldn’t pass up the Slovak treat of nut roll, by the end of the day you were so full you didn’t think you could eat any more, but then you did.
This is a very easy recipe, great for snacks around the holidays and especially nice to give away as gifts to friends and family. The nice thing is that it isn’t overly sweet, like the grocery store bakery makes. Give it a try and it may become a family tradition just like at my brother’s house.
David’s Nut Roll
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 12 |
| Category: | Dessert |
| Meal: | N/A |
| 0.5 | lb | butter, salted |
| 0.5 | cup | sugar, white |
| 4 | large | egg |
| 2 | package | yeast, dried |
| 4 | Tb | water |
| 4 | cup | flour, all-purpose |
| 1 | tsp | salt, kosher |
| 1 | cup | milk, whole |
| 2 | lb | walnuts, chopped |
| 0.5 | lb | butter, salted |
| 0.5 | cup | sugar, white |
Cream butter and sugar, separate yolks and whites and reserve the egg whites. Add egg yolks and mix. Dissolve the yeast in warm (not hot) water; add to mixture. Add about 2 cups flour and mix; add the milk and then the rest of flour. You may have to add additional flour to make dough ball. Place dough ball in greases bowl. Put plastic wrap on top then dish towel. Allow to rise in a warm area until it doubles. Punch dough down and let rise again 1 hour
For the filling: Mix together the walnuts, melted butter and sugar.
To assemble: Roll dough on board ¼ – ½ inches thick. Spread nut mixture on dough and roll up. Place on cookie sheet covered with parchment paper. Cover with a towel and let it rise for about 1 ½ hours. Brush top with reserved egg whites. Bake 40-45 minutes at 350 degrees until golden brown. Makes about 5 rolls, may be frozen until needed.
Note: In a pinch for time, omit the first part of the recipe and use filo dough in place of the dough.
Add comment December 7, 2009
Recipe of the Week – Holiday Desserts
(From the Dessert Collection at emealsforyou.com)
Cherries Jubilee
Mini Dessert Tray
My holiday desserts run the gambit from the very easy, Cherries Jubilee to the time intensive, but well worth it, Mini Dessert Tray. Depending on your schedule pick a dessert that fits the meal you are serving. Always consider desserts that may be made in advance, either something you make the day before or desserts that freeze nicely and can be made weeks in advance.
We will be celebrating Christmas in Ohio early to accomodate some of our family who will be traveling and then Christmas on Christmas Day in New Jersey with some more of the family. This means many desserts. The desserts for the early Christmas can be made a day or so in advance. I am thinking I will forgo the Christmas Log and do a cheesecake, Laurie’s Cake (cornmeal cake) and some cannoli for the early one. A Fig and Hazelnut Tart, Bourbon Gelato and the Cherries Jubilee will round out the Christmas on Christmas meal. Maybe some Hazelnut Toffee for both, that’s because I am a nutcase about holiday desserts.
Cherries Jubilee
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 12 |
| Category: | Dessert |
| Meal: | Other (General) |
| 2 | 15 oz can | canned cherries, dark, sweet |
| 0.5 | tsp | cinnamon. ground |
| 1.5 | Tb | sugar, white |
| 1 | tsp | arrowroot |
| 0.5 | gal | ice cream, vanilla |
| 1 | oz | brandy |
Place cherries, cinnamon and sugar in a medium size pot. Remove about half of the liquid and mix in a small bowl with the arrowroot. Return to pot and mix well, heat until thickened. Add brandy or rum and heat. Careful as this will flame, light cherries with a candle lighter. Allow flame to subside and serve over good vanilla ice cream.
Recipes for all of these and many more can be found at emealsforyou.com.
Add comment November 30, 2009
