Posts tagged ‘easy dessert’
Recipe of the Week – Frangipane Tart
(From the Dessert Collection at emealsforyou.com)
Frangipane Tart
Our youngest son stopped in from his Super Bowl assignment in Indy as a sound assistant for the Jimmy Fallon SuperBowl Show. He had Saturday free and thought the 2 hour drive was worth a meal at home. We asked him what he wanted to eat and he picked Coq au Vin, Caesar Salad and any dessert we felt like making. We don’t get to see him that often and wanted to make this a good meal opportunity, based on his “food on the run” the last two weeks.
The Coq au Vin is a great meal as it is easy, once you get it started you just let it cook for a few hours; makes the whole house smell great. To compliment the meal I made a Pecan Pie, a request from another family member, and the Frangipane Tart. The tart is impressive to look at, easy to make and even better to eat. The poached pears surrounded by ground almonds, butter and brandy. As the Barefoot Contessa would say, “how bad can that be.”
Frangipane Tart
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 8 |
| Category: | Dessert |
| Meal: | Sunday at Mom’s (Share-a-Meal Plans) |
| 1 | recipe | Tart Dough |
| 8 | Tb | butter, unsalted |
| 0.5 | cup | sugar, granulated |
| 1 | large | egg |
| 1 | cup | almonds, blanched,finely ground |
| 3 | Tb | brandy |
| 1 | Tb | flour |
| 0.5 | recipe | poached pears |
Pie dough and poached pear recipes can be found in the Misc category under Recipes. Cream butter, egg and sugar in a bowl. Add ground almonds, brandy and flour and mix until smooth. Spread mixture evenly over unbaked tart shell in a 10 inch tart pan. Refrigerate while you prepare the pears.
Cut poached pears in half lengthwise, remove core and stem. Slice into 1/8th inch slices crosswise. Arrange slices on frangipane evenly. Bake for 30 minutes at 400 degrees or until tart is lightly browned.
Brush reduced poaching liquid onto pears. Serve at room temperature.
Give this one a try the next time you want to celebrate an occasion. You might want to try the Coq au Vin and Caesar Salad from emealsforyou.com as well.
The Message Said – Bring Cookies
(From the Dessert Collection at emealsforyou.com)
Teresa's Oatmeal Cookies
Just before I left for my very brief trip to NJ a couple of weeks ago I got a message from my brother-in-law to bring some “finger food” desserts for a family gathering. I don’t know about you but I would prefer larger desserts as they take less time and effort to make. Biting the bullet I decided on some very good brownies, chocolate macaroon jam tarts, some individual fruit tarts and at the last minute some of these cookies.
They are called Teresa’s Oatmeal Cookies, named for a friend and fellow cook, who gave me the recipe. These are without a doubt the best oatmeal cookies you will ever try. Very easy to make and the best part is they travel well; unlike my individual tarts that arrived in NJ looking more like individual tartlets. Make these, stand back and watch them disappear.
Teresa’s Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
| Complexity: | Medium |
| Serves: | 8 |
| Category: | Dessert |
| Meal: | Dad’s in charge???? (Share-a-Meal Plans) |
| 3 | large | egg |
| 1 | cup | raisins |
| 1 | tsp | vanilla |
| 16 | Tb | butter, salted |
| 1 | cup | sugar, brown |
| 1 | cup | sugar, granulated |
| 2.5 | cup | flour, all-purpose |
| 1 | tsp | salt, table |
| 1 | tsp | cinnamon. ground |
| 2 | tsp | baking soda |
| 2 | cup | oats, old-fashioned rolled |
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine beaten eggs, raisins, and vanilla and cover with plastic wrap. Let stand for one hour. Cream together room temperature butter and both sugars. Add flour, salt, cinnamon, and soda to sugar mixture and mix well. Blend in egg-raisin mixture and oatmeal. Dough will be stiff. Drop a heaping tablespoons onto ungreased cookie sheets and bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned.
Delicious: Soaking of the raisins is the secret!
More of Teresa’s and my recipes at emealsforyou.com.
Recipe of the Week – Mixed Berry Tart
(From the Dessert Collection at emealsforyou.com)
Mixed Berry Tart
During a quick trip to New Jersey last week I got into a discussion about recipes and how Charlie Trotter, of Chicago fame, once said he never strives to make the same recipe exactly the same each time. The reasons for this is the ingredients might change, or if you cook like me, adverse to measuring, you may add more or less of something. The other topic that came up is “cooking like a French farmer’s wife”, this means using ingredients you have on hand. With this in mind we had a dinner party Sunday night, comfort food really: pot roast, roasted potatoes and carrots. For dessert I had some berries in the frig and decided to make a cake using them. Borrowing the basic recipe for a Cranberry Cake on the site at emealsforyou.com, I made the cake without the cranberries and used the berries. A quick dusting of finishing sugar and we had a spectacular, both visually and taste-wise, finish to a good, cold-weather meal with friends.
Mixed Berry Tart
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 8 |
| Category: | Dessert |
| Meal: | other (General) |
| 1.5 | cups | sugar, granulated |
| 1 | cup | walnuts, chopped, toasted |
| 2 | large | egg, lightly beaten |
| 1 | cup | flour, all-purpose |
| 0.75 | cup | butter, salted |
| 1 | cup | mixed berries |
| 4 | Tb | apricot jam |
| 1 | spritz | PAM |
| 1 | Tb | sugar, finishing |
Place 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 nuts and mix. Spray PAM in a 9-inch springform pan and add the mixture. Bake in a pre-heated 325 degree oven for 45 minutes or until lightly browned. Melt the jam in the microwave, pour over the berries. Arrange the berries on top of cooled cake. Sprinkle the finishing sugar over the top just prior to serving.
More like this at emealsforyou.com.
Recipe of the Week – Roasted Seckel Pears
From the Appetizer Collection at emealsforyou.com
Roasted Seckel Pears
Our old neighbors from Chicago came for the weekend to catch up on all that has happened in the past couple of years. We were joined by the other Chicago neighbors who live down here in Cincinnati now. As travel timing issues had to be taken into account; we opted for “small plates” for dinner. Pan-seared tuna in a ginger dipping sauce, steelhead trout on cucumber slices with hollandaise sauce, mushroom caps stuffed with blue cheese and a few more were rounded out with the roasted seckel pears.
These pears are smaller than the normal size pears. Usually only available in late October and November, they are the perfect size to add a fruit to our small plate offerings. Sweet pears join with a smooth, tasty goat cheese fondant to give a punch to any dinner. They may be served as an appetizer or even a dessert. Especially good with my goat cheese ice cream.
Roasted Seckel Pears with Goat Cheese
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 8 |
| Category: | Appetizer |
| Meal: | N/A |
| 16 | medium | seckel pears |
| 3 | oz | cheese, goat |
| 2 | Tb | honey |
| 0.5 | tsp | pepper, fresh ground |
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut pears in half, scoop out the seeds with a teaspoon. Place cut side down on parchment paper on a cookie sheet. Place in oven for 6 -8 minutes, until the pears are tender. Remove to a serving platter, cut side up, spoon a dollop of goat cheese in the center, dust with fresh cracked black pepper and drizzle with honey.
More small plate ideas at emealsforyou.com
Recipe of the Week – Brownies
From the Cooking for the Kids Collection at emealsforyou.com
Teresa's Brownie
I am not a big fan of brownies. To me they are like a long car ride to see the leaves change; okay once in a while but not on a steady diet. But when that once in a while hits, these brownies, named after my original partner on the website, emealsforyou.com more than hit the spot. As you can see we put them on the Cooking for the Kids recipe collection on the site mainly because brownies are for kids. So why not be a kid for a day and bake some brownies.
Teresa’s Brownies
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 8 |
| Category: | Cooking for the Kids |
| Meal: | other (General) |
| 4 | oz | chocolate, semi-sweet bits |
| 0.75 | cup | butter, unsalted |
| 2 | cup | sugar, granulated |
| 4 | large | egg |
| 1 | tsp | vanilla |
| 1 | cup | flour, all-purpose |
| 1 | cup | walnuts, chopped |
| 0.125 | tsp | salt, kosher |
Melt butter and chocolate. Stir in sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Mix, add flour and walnuts, stir until blended. Pour into a 13 X 9 greased baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees until done; 30 to 35 minutes.
More great recipes for the kids and beyond at emealsforyou.com.
Recipe of the Week – Peach Melba Crisp
From the Dessert Collection at emealsforyou.com
Peach Melba Crisp
I advocate meal planning to save money and save your sanity. Planning your meals makes it easier to feed your family great meals that are cost effective and offer good nutrition. Our website emealsforyou.com provides numerous aids, ideas and hundreds of meal plans and recipes to choose from. Having said all this we also advocate using fresh, local produce whenever possible. This helps support your regional or local Farmers’ Markets and also provides great food.
Our normal Saturday includes stops at the local Farmers’ Market and lo and behold the fresh peaches are starting to show up. Now we are really fond of the peaches from the Carolinas but have to wait a few more weeks, so we settled on the Georgia peaches. We had a dinner party planned that evening with slow cooked ribs and I thought a Peach Crisp would top off the evening. I noticed I had an abundance of raspberry jam in the fridge so I decided to add that to the recipe. Boy what a difference. The jam blended into the nooks and crannies and provided a visual and well as very tasteful addition to what was going to be a good crisp; raising it to a great crisp.
This quick and easy dessert may become your go-to dessert for those backyard bbq’s or to take to a friend’s for a dessert party. We had ours with good vanilla ice cream; why not, when you go this far a few more calories won’t hurt that much. Go to go now and walk my 3 miles; it might be guilt from the dessert.
Peach Melba Crisp
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 8 |
| Category: | Dessert |
| Meal: | other (General) |
| 1 | spritz | PAM |
| 2.5 | cups | flour, all-purpose |
| 2 | cups | sugar, granulated |
| 2 | lb | peaches, fresh |
| 0.5 | cup | sugar, brown |
| 3 | Tb | raspberry jam |
| 1 | cup | fruit juice, any fruit |
| 1 | Tb | cinnamon. ground |
| 4 | Tb | butter, salted |
| 1 | Tb | sugar, finishing |
Spray bottom of 10 X 10 baking pan with PAM; mix 1/2 of the flour and 1/3 of the sugar together. Sprinkle enough in pan to cover bottom about 1/2 “ thick. Peel peaches and cut into slices, mix with brown sugar and arrange evenly around pan. Place dabs of the jam on the peaches. Mix remaining flour and the remaining sugar together, cover top with remaining flour/sugar mixture, add fruit juice. Sprinkle top with cinnamon. Cut butter into small pieces and dot top of crisp. Sprinkle top with the finishing sugar. Bake @ 350 degrees for about 40 minutes or until the top is golden brown and crunchy
You may can find the rib recipe as well as many great summer dessert recipes at emealsforyou.com
Recipe of the Week – Strawberry Pie
(From the Dessert Collection at emealsforyou.com)
Strawberry Pie
We are spoiled; strawberries are available all year-long in the local grocery. I love strawberries. One of my earliest memories is climbing into my aunt’s backyard growing up and eating the fresh strawberries in June. She would come out with a bowl of sugar and we would dip the fresh, ripe, red berries in the sugar bowl and our chins would be covered with juice. I must have been all of 3 at the time.
It’s hard to walk through the market and not pick up a quart of strawberries. This weekend there was a special on them so I picked up 3 quarts. My mind was set on making a strawberry pie. We were unable to find any gelatin so I tried with pectin; not a good idea. Good idea for jam not for pies. Not to be deterred I found the gelatin today and started over. Here is the result of my efforts. While the first one was tasty and really, really juicy the second hit right on the mark.
I guess practice makes perfect. Maybe you should get a little practice in; your family will love you for it!
Strawberry Pie
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 10 |
| Category: | Dessert |
| Meal: | other (General) |
| 1 | recipe | Pie Dough |
| 3 | qt | strawberries, sliced |
| 2 | cups | sugar, granulated |
| 1 | Tb | gelatin |
| 2 | Tb | lemon, juice of |
| 2 | oz | water |
| 1 | Tb | sugar, finishing |
Prepare a baked pie crust. Heat 2/3rds of the sliced strawberries; retaining remaining for decoration, in a pot on medium heat. Add sugar and cook until the strawberries cook down and the sugar forms a syrup, about 20 minutes. In a separate bowl mix the gelatin, lemon juice and water; add to the cooked berries. Allow to cool. Spoon into the pie crust and cut the remaining berries in half and place around the top of the pie. Sprinkle the finishing sugar over the top. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours before serving.
More great pies and desserts at emealsforyou.com.
Creme Brulee or What to do with all those extra egg yolks
From the Dessert Category at emealsforyou.com.
Creme Brulee
After I made the Strawberry Angel Cakes I was left with a ton of egg yolks. I just couldn’t dump them down the drain so I decided to make some Creme Brulee. This is a very easy recipe and worth the few minutes it takes to make it. I dressed it up with a sliced strawberry. The crunch that the caramelized sugar makes on top adds up to a special dessert that everyone will love and they don’t have to know you were just being frugal.
Creme Brulee
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 6 |
| Category: | Dessert |
| Meal: | other (General) |
| 1 | large | egg |
| 4 | large | egg, yolks |
| 0.5 | cup | sugar, white |
| 2 | cups | cream, half and half |
| 1 | cup | milk, 2 % |
| 3 | Tb | sugar, white |
| 1 | tsp | vanilla |
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.
In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the egg, egg yolks, and the sugar together on low speed until just combined. Meanwhile, scald the half and half and milk in a small saucepan until it’s very hot to the touch but not boiled. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the cream to the eggs. Add the vanilla and pour into 6 to 8-ounce ramekins until almost full.
Place the ramekins in a baking pan and carefully pour boiling water into the pan to come halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until the custards are set when gently shaken. (Internal Temperature of 170 degrees) Remove the custards from the water bath, cool to room temperature, and refrigerate until firm.
Sprinkle .5 Tb of sugar on top of each creme brulee and place under the broiler until just starting to brown. Carefully, very hot, remove from broiler and cool to serve.
Look for more great and easy recipes at emealsforyou.com.
Recipe of the Week – Cookie Dough Pizza
From the Dessert Category at emealsforyou.com.
- Fruit Pizza
At least I am consistent. With snow flying all over the plus I decided it was time to make my mother’s butter cookies for the holidays. I knew I had written about them before and checked the date and sure enough 1 year and 1 day later here I was rolling out the dough. (see Cookies Past and Present – A Look Back) As stated back then the recipe makes soooo many cookies that I lose interest about halfway through. This year I decided I had had enough; with about 8 dozen made, I decided to make a tart or fruit pizza with the remainder of the dough. This involves simply rolling out the dough and then putting it in a tart pan and baking for about 15 minutes until golden. The topping is really easy and you may use any fruit you have around or even frozen. I show it here with berries but I have made it with kiwi, bananas or even peaches and blueberries.
PS – don’t try to toss this pizza dough over your head.
Fruit Pizza
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 12 |
| Category: | Dessert |
| Meal: | N/A |
| 1/2 | recipe | My Mom’s Butter Cookies |
| 8 | oz | cream cheese |
| 0.5 | cup | sugar, white |
| 1 | tsp | vanilla |
| 3 | cups | mixed fruit |
| 1 | Tb | apricot jam |
| 1 | Tb | sugar, powdered |
Prepare tart shell according to the recipe. Mix cream cheese, sugar and vanilla in a bowl until smooth; spread evenly over cooled tart shell. Arrange fruit on top of cream cheese mixture. Heat jam in microwave until spreadable. Spread jam over top of fruit. Sprinkle the powdered sugar over the top and serve.
Find the recipe for these and many more at emealsforyou.com. For the cookie dough recipe click here
Recipe of the Week – Fig and Hazelnut Tart
(From the Dessert Collection at emealsforyou.com)
Fig and Hazelnut Tart
The weather is getting cooler during the day and that means it is time to break out the tart recipes. This one is special as it puts two of my favorite ingredients together to make a great dessert. It comes together fairly easily. Make it for company or for family and watch the reaction when you bring it to the table. This will become one of your favorites as well.
The tart dough recipe can be found on both the blog and at emealsforyou.com
Fig and Hazelnut Tart
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 6 |
| Category: | Dessert |
| Meal: | 1st Chilly Night Diiner (Distinctive Dinners) |
| 1 | recipe | Tart Dough |
| 1 | cup | cream, heavy |
| 2 | Tb | honey |
| 1.5 | cup | figs, dried |
| 0.5 | cup | hazelnuts, toasted |
Make tart shell. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine cream and honey in a small sauce pan, heat until honey melts (2 minutes). Remove from heat and set aside. Cut dried figs into halves. Cut hazelnuts into large chop. Combine figs and hazelnuts in a bowl; add half the cream mixture. Fill baked tart shell with fig mixture. Top off with remaining cream mixture. Bake 25 minutes until golden brown.
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