Just Desserts

Recipes

Written by Elke Probkevitz

Wednesday, 23 March 2011 21:32

Finding room for dessert after a meal doesnâ€™t usually pose a problem for most. Finding time to make desserts, on the other hand, might just be the difficult part. Although many people look forward to dessert as the best part of the meal, taking the time to concoct a delicious confection can be challenging. I try to make desserts towards the start of my Shabbos cooking, before I run out of steam. Here are some ways to make â€œalmost homemadeâ€ desserts that will save you time and still leave your guests happy and satisfied.

Trifles. Trifles are easy to create and elegant at the same time. And since itâ€™s all about the assembling, you can leave it till the last minute. Take a store-bought cake of your choice (sponge, angel food, or pound cake all work well), cut it into cubes, and layer it with whipped cream and strawberries, mixed berries, or other fruit. You can make it your own by adding toppings such as cookie crumbs, nuts, caramel, or fudge.

Ice cream or sorbet layer cakes. This is a refreshing dessert for warm weather, but can be made all year round. Take a loaf pan and line with Saran wrap. Soften three different flavors of ice cream or sorbet just enough to spread. Place one flavor at a time evenly in pan and then refreeze. Flip pan over onto plate to reveal an impressive layered frozen dessert. You can use vanilla ice cream and orange sorbet to create a Creamsicle-like dessert. To make it more homemade, purÃ©e fruits such as kiwi, orange, blueberry, or strawberry into softened vanilla ice cream to make your own flavors before layering.

Cake lollipops. Make a brownie mix or simple cheesecake and let chill in the freezer for about 20 minutes. Cut into squares or rounds, stick in lollipop sticks, and dip into melted chocolate. For added pizzazz, dip lollipops in sprinkles or chopped nuts. Let set on baking sheet lined with parchment paper. The kids will love them!

CrÃªpes. Basically as simple to make as pancakes, crÃªpes can be made in advance and assembled later. Create crÃªpes and store them in a ziplock bag. Spread with chocolate and fill with strawberries, then top with whipped cream and more strawberries. Another option is to push crÃªpes into large muffin cups, then bake at 400Â°F for 5 minutes to create crÃªpe cups. When ready to serve, fill with ice-cream scoops and top with fruit or chocolate syrup and confectionersâ€™ sugar.

Fruit skewers. Make a fruit salad on a stick by stringing chunks of fruit in skewer sticks. You can mix different fruits or use one type of fruit on each stick. To make the dessert even sweeter, dip skewers in melted chocolate. Strawberries and bananas work very well with chocolate. You can also create a dipping sauce out of strawberries or raspberries purÃ©ed with a little sugar and water.

Chocolate Strawberry Trifle

Ingredients:

51â„2 cups prepared chocolate pudding (soy chocolate pudding is available for pareve meals)
1 cup sour cream (or Tofutti soy sour cream)
2 cups whipped cream
1 chocolate marble loaf cake or pound cake, cut into slices and then halved
3.5-oz. bar bittersweet chocolate, shaved with vegetable peeler into shavings
11â„2 pints strawberries, sliced

Directions:

Combine pudding and sour cream in a medium bowl. Arrange half the cake slices on the bottom of a 3-quart trifle bowl or clear glass bowl with straight sides. Spread with half of the pudding mixture and sprinkle with one-third of the chocolate shavings. Top with half the strawberry slices and 1 cup whipped cream. Repeat layers of cake, pudding, chocolate shavings, strawberries, and whipped cream. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to serve. Top with remaining chocolate shavings.

Want to learn how to cook gourmet, delicious meals right in your own kitchen? Take one-on-one cooking lessons or give a gift to an aspiring cook that you know. For more information, contact Take Home Chef personal chef services by calling 516-508-3663, writing to elke@TakeHomeChef.net, or visiting www.TakeHomeChef.net.