Posts under ‘Desserts’

Summer Fest Ingredient: Stone Fruit
I’ve never met a cherry cobbler, peach clafouti or plum crisp I didn’t like. There’s just something quintessentially summer about desserts made with the season’s peak stone fruits. Add a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream and I’m sold.
So while I opted to make a savory starter for last week’s Summer [...]

Summer Fest Ingredient: Corn
I know what you’re thinking. You have a beautiful bounty of fresh summer corn to saute, grill, puree and bake (i.e.: the whole point of Summer Fest) and you did what with this week’s ingredient?
Yep. I popped it. No husking, no picking through for a good cob, no fidgeting with silken strings [...]

Holy hotness, New York City.
It’s a summer of triple digit temperatures, when few foods sound appetizing thanks to the fact that you could cook them on the city’s sidewalks. The only solution? A no-cook culinary repertoire loaded with freezing favorites, like this campfire classic turned chilled treat. It’s chocolate meets toasted mallow with a graham [...]

Nothing says Happy 4th of July like this chilled patriotic pie, piled high with fresh strawberries and blueberries. I use a pre-made crust for convenience, but you can use any pastry, shortbread or graham cracker crust as the base for the quick-fix custard. And don’t fear the gelatin! It’s a simple ingredient that gives the [...]

Homemade banana ice cream, minus the cream, and the eggs … and the sugar, and pretty much everything else. That leaves us with one thing: frozen bananas.
The ingenious folks over at The Kitchn came up with this technique of slicing, freezing and blending the bananas. And the result is a quick-fix treat that has the [...]

My mom, Noni, has been my inspiration in the kitchen for as long as I can remember. From her famous Fried Spaghetti to her unbeatable Baby Back Ribs, Noni is known for her killer cuisine. So while I’m more than 3,000 miles away from my mom today, I’m sending her all of my love and [...]

Master baker Nick Malgieri’s Perfect Chocolate Loaf Cake was, well, perfect.
And chocolate cake perfection can only be topped by one thing – chocolate custard perfection. So, naturally, I referred back to one of the nation’s best bakers for the seamless marriage of creamy and crunchy and sweet and savory. Meet Chocolate Pots de Crème with [...]

Monet was to the art of painting as Nick Malgieri is to the art of all things confectionery. Author of nine cookbooks and Director of Baking Programs at The Institute of Culinary Education (ICE), Malgieri has established himself as the foremost authority on delectable desserts. From Supernatural Brownies to Chocolate Chunk Zucchini Cake, this man [...]

I have been eagerly awaiting Module 4 of my culinary arts program, as it signals the start to four straight weeks of intensive pastry and baking. From cream puffs and croissants to pâte à choux and palmiers, we will be covering every inch of sugar-topped and butter-stuffed glory.
We’ve made the transition from culinary lessons, where [...]

Get ready for Valentine’s Day with a simple shortcut to homemade toffee, no candy thermometer required! What better way to celebrate one of the sweetest days of the year than by layering chewy oats with semisweet chocolate. Toasted coconut and chopped pecans add a final touch of crunch to this quick-fix candy that’s guaranteed to [...]