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Easy Dessert Recipes
Cold dessert recipes for you
Here are some Easy Dessert Recipes and several types of easy cold dessert, from fresh, light fruit salads and mousses to rich, creamy egg custards, cheesecakes, and filled meringues. They all have the advantage that they can be made in advance, leaving you free to prepare and serve other courses.
Easy Dessert Recipes: Preventing Problems
• Preventing skin: Lay a piece of waxed paper over puddings and custards as they cool, to prevent a skin from forming on the surface.
• Slicing meringue: Prevent a soft meringue dessert from sticking when being sliced, either by buttering the knife blade first or by dipping the knife into boiling water.
• Adding sparkle: Pep up the flavor of an over-sweetened or plain fruit salad by adding a splash of sparkling wine just before the dessert is served.
• Making creme caramel: Rinse the dish being used in hot water before pouring very hot caramel into it. This will help prevent the dish from cracking.
• Caramelizing Sugar: For a perfect, golden caramel topping on crème brûlée, sprinkle the set custard with a thick layer of superfine sugar, and spray with a fine water mister. Caramelize under a hot broiler.
• Preventing Breakage: Spoon the meringue mixture for a pavlova onto a ceramic, ovenproof pizza plate so that it can be baked and served in the same dish. You will thus avoid cracking it while transferring it.
Easy Dessert Recipes: Gelatin-Set Desserts
Gelatin is the most common setting agent used in cooking. It is available in powdered form and should be thoroughly dissolved in hot water before use. Agar-agar, a vegetarian setting agent, made from seaweed, is used in much the same way.
Easy Dessert Recipes: Using Gelatin
• Dissolving gelatin: Always add gelatin to hot liquid to dissolve. Do not add the liquid to the gelatin.
• Preparing fruits: Cook fresh pineapple or kiwi fruit before using in gelatin-set desserts; this destroys the enzyme that keeps gelatin from setting.
• Eating outdoors: If serving a dessert outdoors in warm weather, slightly increase the amount of gelatin used. Add an extra 1 tablespoon (5 ml) gelatin for every portion.
• Turning out set desserts: Wet a mold for a thin gelatin mixture such as jelly to make turning out easy. Lightly oil a mold for a thick mixture.
• Layering With Fruits: Set fruits in a gelatin mold by swirling a little unset gelatin into the mold. Arrange the fruits around the base or sides. Chill, to set. Continue layering the fruit until the mold is full.
Serving Set Desserts
• Retaining flavor: Remove a gelatin-set mixture from the refrigerator 15 minutes before serving, since overchilling will reduce the flavor of a dessert.
• Using water: Before unmolding a gelatin mold onto a serving plate, rinse the plate in cold water. Unmold, and slide into position.
• Unmolding: To unmold set mixtures, dip the mold briefly in hot water. Put a plate over the mold, flip it over, and shake to dislodge the dessert.
• Serving frozen: A cold soufflé that has not set can be served frozen. Put it in the freezer until firm, remove the paper collar, and serve.
Chocolate Cesserts
When using chocolate in either hot or cold buy the best you can afford, the better the quality, the more chocolate tasty your dessert will be. Use cocoa to add chocolate flavor to cooked mixtures, but remember to include some sugar to taste.
Shaping Curls
Using a Zester: Make decorative chocolate curls using a citrus zester. Spread melted chocolate evenly over a cool surface, and let stand until just set. Pull the zester across the surface to remove small curls.
Making Edible Leaves
Imprinting Leaves: Select clean, unblemished rose leaves or other non-poisonous leaves. Brush melted chocolate evenly over each leaf. Let set, then very gently peel off the leaf to reveal its imprint.
Using Chocolate
• Melting chocolate: To melt chocolate without a double boiler, use a heatproof bowl over hot, not boiling, water.
• Making curls: Add store-bought chocolate couverture to melted chocolate to make it pliable when shaping curls.
• Adding gloss: Add a rich gloss to a chocolate sauce or a chocolate topping by stirring in two pats of unsalted butter.
• Substituting cocoa: If you run out of baking chocolate, use 3 tbsp (45 ml) of cocoa and 1 tablespoon (15 ml) of butter for every 1 oz (25 g) needed.
• Replacing alcohol: Replace the alcohol in a chocolate dessert with the same amount of black coffee, if preferred.
Ice Creams and Sorbí
Ice creams are based on simple mixtures. Heavy cream and egg custards are very can be produced easily with or without a successful made by hand, but sorbets and frozen ice cream maker. Ice cream mixtures based on yogurt benefit from machine churning.
Making Ices
• Flavoring ices: Slightly over- flavor or over-sweeten sorbet and ice cream mixtures, since freezing masks flavors.
• Using gelatin: To make a firm, scoop-able sorbet, add a little dissolved gelatin to the mixture before freezing.
• Sweetening with honey: For a soft texture, use honey rather than sugar to sweeten ices.
• Making ices by hand: Whisk handmade ices at frequent intervals while freezing to break up ice crystals and produce a smooth texture.
• Maturing ices: Mature the flavor of ices in the freezer for 24 hours. Soften at room temperature before serving.
Using an Improvised Bombe Mold
1. To make an ice cream bombe without a mold, set a freezer-proof bowl in a basin of ice. Pack the base and sides of the bowl with firm but slightly softened ice cream. Fill the center, and freeze.
2. To turn out the bombe, wrap the bowl briefly in a dish towel that has been wrung out in hot water. Run a knife around the inside edge of the bowl, then invert the bombe onto a serving plate.
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