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Come Party With Me: Half-Birthday Housewarming - Dessert

partysugar — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 12:50:34 -0700

The theme for the cuisine at my half-birthday housewarming is Italian. I'm serving a spread of store bought and homemade goodies and naturally, one sweet treat. Classic tiramisu is my favorite Italian dessert, but it's not too cocktail party friendly. I don't want to worry about slicing, plating, and serving it with utensils.

Luckily, Martha Stewart has come up with a clever solution to my problem: tiramisu cupcakes! The batter is light and fluffy like ladyfingers, and the frosting is a whipped confection made with mascarpone cheese. To get the recipe, which must be made in advance, keep reading.

Make Baileys Pots de Creme For St. Patrick's Day

partysugar — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 13:00:37 -0800

I recently organized my recipe collection, so when I decided to make a St. Patrick's Day dessert, I looked to my archives to see what recipe gems I could find. I had my heart set on the Irish cream chocolate mousse cake I made for my half birthday four years ago. However, I didn't have a lot of time and wanted an innovative, but easy dessert. Luckily I came across this recipe for Baileys pots de creme! I cut it out of the San Francisco Chronicle in 2007, but never got around to making it. Until now. Although it needs to chill overnight, this luscious and creamy dessert is super quick to put together. It's not too sweet and the flavor of Baileys and coffee blend scrumptiously. It's the sort of addictive dessert that you can't get enough of; I found myself shamelessly licking the rich mixture off the side of the bowl. To get the ridiculously simple - there's only five ingredients! - technique keep reading.

Apple and Pear Tart

OnSugar Blog — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 04:00:45 -0800

Below, OnSugar blog Fresh Tart makes the most of leftover pate brisee - and the end of the season's apples and pears - by rolling out a rustic galette.

You can thank the asparagus & leek tart for this treat. The original pie crust (pate brisee) recipe makes two crusts (I halved it for the posted recipe), so I had extra dough sitting in the fridge. I brushed over it a couple of times, thinking I'd probably make another quiche and freeze it. But then I noticed my fruit bowl, holding two very ripe pears, and two dusky apples, and well...a tart was born.

See how her dessert comes together when you read more.

Come Party With Me: St. Patrick's Day - Desserts

partysugar — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 10:30:29 -0800

On Saturday a big group of friends and I are going to the St. Patrick's Day parade in downtown San Francisco. This is our fourth year in a row, and it should be a blast. Before the parade, we're meeting at an Irish pub in lower Haight. I'm making some snacks and one sweet treat.

Since it has to be portable and something I can put together the night before, I've decided on these festive and cute clover cookies. The cookies that aren't eaten at the bar can be packed in my purse and reserved for the beer garden later. To look at the recipe I'll be using, read more.

Clover Cookies
From Martha Stewart

Ingredients

4 cups sifted all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
2 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Green sanding sugar

Directions

Sift together flour, salt, and baking powder into a large bowl; set aside. Combine butter and granulated sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with paddle attachment; cream on high speed until fluffy. Beat in eggs.
Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in two additions, mixing until well combined. Mix in vanilla. Divide dough in half, and cover with plastic wrap; refrigerate 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roll out 1 piece of dough on a lightly floured work surface 1/8 inch thick. With a 3-inch cookie cutter, cut out 25 rounds. Working with 1 round at a time, place clover stencil on top; sprinkle surface with sanding sugar.
Arrange rounds on parchment- or nonstick baking mat-lined baking sheets. Refrigerate until firm, about 15 minutes, or until ready to bake. Repeat process with remaining dough.
Bake, one sheet at a time, until edges just start to brown, 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool completely on sheets on wire racks. Store cookies in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

Makes 50.

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Grasshopper Pie Two Ways - Beginner and Expert

YumSugar — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 05:50:54 -0800

'Tis the season for green garb and mint chocolate cookies - so why not combine the two in a fitting dessert that pays homage to the Emerald Isle? Based on the post-dinner drink of the same name, grasshopper pie is the epitome of mint chocolate heaven, with a cocoa wafer cookie crust and a creamy, cooling center. Keep things simple with the help of premade crust and instant pudding mix, which'll shave off set time for the filling. Or, for a stepped-up version, build your crust from scratch, and add a twist with the use of fine white chocolate instead. Make either one now.

Learn How to Make Eplekake, A Norwegian Apple Cake

Yum Community — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 12:50:15 -0800

This story was written by member MénagèreModerne and comes from the Kitchen Goddess group in the YumSugar Community.This is a very traditional and popular cake here in Norway. It is normally made with heavy cream or milk, but I prefer to use buttermilk to make it lighter, but still get a very moist and fluffy cake. It is delicious served warm with whipped cream, caramel ice cream or vanilla custard or alone at room temperature with a cup of coffee or tea.

To get her recipe, keep reading.

Come Party With Me: Oscars - Desserts

partysugar — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 06:50:15 -0800

On Sunday evening, the stars in attendance at the Governors Ball, the official afterparty to the Oscars, will be enjoying baked Alaska with espresso glace, Guittard L’Etoile du Nord chocolate sorbet and toasted meringue for dessert. Although it sounds incredibly fancy, a baked Alaska is quite simply an ice cream cake topped with meringue. Take some help from the grocery store and you can serve this elegant treat to friends at your Oscars viewing party. All you have to do is follow this easy - yes, easy - recipe for individual baked Alaskas. Use your favorite flavor of ice cream, or to be authentic, a rich chocolate sorbet. Sound delish? Here's the recipe.

Sunny Lemon Mousse Is Light as Air

partysugar — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 04:00:35 -0800

As much as I love gooey, warm, decadent, and rich desserts, sometimes, in the long cold dead of Winter, it's nice to have a cool, refreshing, and bright treat. This lemon mousse is just that - it's tart, yet sweet and incredibly smooth and creamy. It's so good, it's hard not to eat it all in one sitting. The thing to remember about mousse is that it must be made in advance, so start the day before you plan on serving it. This recipe is large enough to feed a crowd and makes use of homemade lemon curd. Sound scrumptious? Wait until you taste a spoonful! Get the method and read more.

Fresh Lemon Mousse
From Ina Garten

Ingredients

3 extra-large whole eggs
3 extra-large eggs, separated
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (4 lemons)
Kosher salt
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup good bottled lemon curd, at room temperature
Sweetened Whipped Cream, recipe follows
Sliced lemon, for garnish

Directions

In a large heat-proof bowl, whisk together the 3 whole eggs, 3 egg yolks, 1 cup sugar, the lemon zest, lemon juice, and a pinch of salt. Place the bowl over a pan of simmering water and cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, for about 10 to 12 minutes until the mixture is thick like pudding. (I change to a whisk when the mixture starts to get thick.)
Take off the heat and set aside for 15 minutes. Cover with plastic wrap directly on the surface and refrigerate for 1 to 2 hours, until completely chilled.
Place half the egg whites and a pinch of salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat on high speed. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons sugar and continue to beat until the whites are stiff and shiny.
Carefully fold the beaten whites into the cold lemon mixture with a rubber spatula. Place the cream in the same bowl of the electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment (no need to clean the bowl) and beat on high speed until the cream forms stiff peaks.
Carefully fold the whipped cream into the lemon mixture. Fold in the lemon curd, and pour into a 7-inch-diameter, 3-inch-deep souffle dish. Decorate with sweetened whipped cream and lemon slices that have been cut into quarters. Chill and serve cold.

Serves 8-10.

Sweetened Whipped Cream:

1 cup cold heavy cream
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Place the cream, sugar, and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Whip on medium and then high speed until the cream just forms still peaks. Spoon the whipped cream into a pastry bag fitted with a large star tip.

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Name That Dish!

partysugar — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 16:00:44 -0800

The classic dessert pictured below would be excellent drizzled with homemade lemon curd. Do you know what it's called?

Score Brownie Points With Homemade Samoa Tartlets

YumSugar — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 14:30:53 -0800

There are a few bright spots in every Winter, namely the following, in no particular order: snow sports, the Super Bowl, hot cocktails, and Girl Scout cookie season. But sadly, my attempts to track down cookies this year have been in vain, as I haven't seen so much as a single Daisy, Brownie, or Junior anywhere in the Bay Area.

To remedy the situation, I took matters into my own hands with a homemade variation of the Caramel DeLite, or Samoa, the Girl Scout cookie to end all other Girl Scout cookies.

This version, if I must say, is even better than the original. It starts out with a tartlet base of brown sugar, chocolate, butter, and toasted coconut, then gets the royal treatment with a scoop of coconut ice cream, dulce de leche, and more toasted coconut. The only drawback? They'll be gone in seconds. For the recipe, keep reading.