Dessert Recipes
Savannah Buttermint Ice Cream
This an absolutely fantastic creamy ice cream with a wonderful salty butter and peppermint flavor. Delicious flecks of white chocolate are found throughout. The secret ingredient in this recipe is butter flavor drops. I don't usually use flavorings, but it really works in this case.
White Chocolate Pear - Blanc de Poire
Triple-Cherry Streusel Bars
This sweet and delicious confection is made from dried Bing cherries, cherry preserves, coconut and almonds.
Ginger-Molasses Spice Cake with Mascarpone and Clear Lady Apple Chips
Orange Cranberry Nut Fruit Cake
Moister and more cakey than a traditional fruitcake, this recipe for Orange Cranberry Nut Fruit Cake is full of sweet dried fruits and crunchy nuts like pecans or walnuts. Alcohol free, this delicious fruitcake is completed with a simple glaze of orange juice and sugar.
Chocolate Caramel Bonbon Truffles
People are always impressed by truffles. You must be a master pastry chef to make these. In reality, it is quite simple to make amazingly delicious truffles like these. Start with high quality ingredients and you're half way to perfection. This recipe starts with caramel you make yourself, followed by the addition of both dark and milk chocolates. Refrigerate, scoop and roll. Done. It's as simple as that.
Dark Chocolate Financiers with Citrus Streusel and Candied Orange
Financiers are delightful little pound cakes native to France and Belgium. The financiers are made with ground almonds instead of flour so they are very dense and rich. A streusel is added of citrus zest and almonds that pairs very well with the chocolate. The financiers are also filled with candied orange peel which really creates a scrumptious little dessert. Bake these in individual molds or in mini-muffin tins.
Chocolate Raspberry Tart
Here is a beautiful and delicious tart made with a luscious rich chocolate ganache and fresh raspberries. We use a pâte sablée for the tart crust which has a buttery, crumbly texture almost like a cookie.
White House Holiday Gingerbread Cookies with Royal Icing
This holiday gingerbread cookie recipe was created by White House Executive Pastry Chef Bill Yosses. The recipe creates a wonderfully tasty cookie or, if baked a touch longer, makes excellent Christmas tree ornaments. A recipe for decorating with Royal Icing is included.
Christmas Yule Log - Bûche de Noël
For centuries, many European cultures have burned a yule log (a large, hard log) in the hearth as part of the traditional Christmas celebration. At some point, it became fashionable to create a yule log out of cake and frosting. Tiny edible mushrooms are molded out of meringue to make the log more realistic, a very fun and delicious Christmas...
Paper Bag Apple Pie
Bake your pie in a paper bag? Yes, it really works. This is a really old way of baking pies and the crust comes out perfectly golden and crisp.
Poached Apples, Hot Buttered Rum Sauce, and Brown Butter Pecan Ice Cream
Here is a beautiful dessert for fall or winter that will fill your house with the aroma of holiday spices. Braeburn apples are poached in a cider rum sauce with cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, orange zest and crystallized ginger. Add vanilla or brown butter pecan ice cream and your family or guests will be in heaven.
Chocolate Chipotle Walnut Torte
This beautifully elegant dessert marries the smokey spiciness of chipotle chiles with smooth and rich dark chocolate ganache. For an added dimension, serve with avocado ice cream.
Maple Pumpkin Bread Pudding
Bread pudding is a wonderful dessert to serve anytime of the year - rich, flaky brioche bread is baked with a delicious mixture of pureed pumpkin, cream, maple syrup, walnuts and cranberries. If you can, use fresh sugar pumpkins (it only takes about an hour to bake), but canned pumpkin will work just fine.
Gourmet Caramel Apples
Wonderfully sweet and gooey caramel apples have been a treat for children and adults alike for at least a century. Popular at fairs and carnivals, caramel apples have become gourmet in recent years with a huge variety of delicious toppings and variations added. Making your own caramel apples at home is quite easy and much cheaper than your local candy shop.
Chocolate Dessert Recipes for Valentine's Day
Nothing says love like, "I baked it myself." Impress your valentine with one of these delicious chocolate desserts.
Ghostly White Cake
This is a very lovely white cake, very very white cake. The ghosts are made of 7-minute frosting with a little cream of tartar to help them stand up. Chocolate sprinkles for the ghost eyes are the only bit of color on this spooky fun cake.
Crisp Coconut and Chocolate Pie
This delicious chocolate pie recipe only has four ingredients: butter, coconut, cream and chocolate. Very simple in nature but with quality ingredients the taste is divine!
Hefenkranz (Yeast Wreath) - German Christmas Bread
Hefenkranz (or "yeast wreath") is a sweet bread from southern Germany, traditionally served around the holidays.
Spiderweb Cheesecake for Halloween
Spooky Halloween treats don't have to be junk food. This spiderweb cheesecake will look great at the party table and tastes delicious. We start with your favorite cheesecake recipe - I've used a wonderful vanilla bean cheesecake here with a chocolate wafer crust - top with homemade whipped cream, and decorate with chocolate icing. Very simple but tastes fantastic! Add a plastic spider or two for garnish.
Eggnog Mini Cakes
Here's a wonderful eggnog flavored cake perfect for the holidays. Works great in a holiday shaped mini-cake pan but you can also use a regular bundt pan, cupcake pan or tube pan.
Betsy's Panettone
Betsy Oppenneer was given this recipe by a 90-year-old lady in her church in Dallas; it had been passed down through her family. Betsy altered it only to be more specific in the measurements.
Chocolate Brioche Pudding
Bread pudding is a wonderfully delicious comfort dessert. This is a much more sophisticated version with rich brioche bread and cream baked with a luxurious ganache of chocolate and coffee. A good dose of bourbon is thrown in for even more indulgent flavor.
Sticky Toffee Pudding
This delicious dessert features a light and sweet cake loaded with lots of sticky dates. A homemade toffee sauce (flavored with bourbon!) is drizzled over the top, along with a good helping of sautéed bananas. This is dessert that is sure to become a family favorite.
Pumpkin Pie with Cinnamon Crunch and Bourbon-Maple Whipped Cream
This is a wonderful pumpkin pie recipe with a graham cracker crust, a delightful classic filling with lots of cream, spices and real vanilla bean. Heavy cream whipped with maple syrup and bourbon complete this comfort food favorite!
Raspberry Champagne Sorbet
Sorbets are very simple to make. In this recipe, we've replaced the water with champagne which complements the raspberries very nicely.
Maple Pumpkin Pie with Pecan Streusel
The secret ingredient in this beautiful pie is 1 cup of Grade B maple syrup. Grade B is definitely not inferior to its cousin Grade A - B is darker in color, richer in flavor and is wonderful in baked goods. A crunchy pecan streusel puts this pie over the top!
Sea Salt Caramel Gelato
Gelato is the Italian form of ice cream. Typically it is more dense than the American version. Sea salt is a wonderful complement to caramel and does not create an overpowering salty flavor at all.
Blackberry Shortcake
Sweet, juicy blackberries in season taste absolutely magical with shortcake and some freshly made whipped cream! These shortcakes are just enough biscuit to hold up to the juiciness of the berries but are sweet and have delicious crunchy exterior.
Mango White Chocolate Bread Pudding with Bourbon Caramel Sauce
Here is a great mango dessert. I love bread puddings and this one has a wonderful flavor combination with the mango and white chocolate. The bourbon caramel sauce really puts it over the top.
Rustic Nectarine Tart
This beautiful French country dessert takes sweet juicy nectarines and wraps them in a crunchy pastry dough. The ground almonds in the recipe help to absorb some of the fruit's moisture and keep the dough crisp.
Raspberry Cream Popsicles
This wonderful frozen Popsicle tastes as beautiful as it looks. Gorgeous fresh raspberries are blended with cream and simple syrup - simple to make. Make sure your ingredients are the best and the result will be absolutely delicious!
Caramel Banana Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
Created by one of my favorite pastry chefs, Marcel Desaulnier, this delicious ice cream recipe combines caramel, banana, and chocolate into a sinfully rich and silky smooth frozen dessert.
Fudgy Brownies
Delicious and moist, these brownies are definitely for chocolate lovers. Dense and rich, these brownies are more similar to fudge than cake.
Blueberry Financier with Corn Bread Streusel
There is something magical about the combination of blueberries and cornbread. This recipe puts a delicious spin on that classic pairing by incorporating a wonderful corn bread streusel for the cake and an even more incredible corn bread ice cream. This dessert was created by award-winning pastry chef Nicole Kaplan, formerly of Del Posto.
Christmas Pudding
Christmas Pudding is a traditional British dessert that is as much fun to make as it is to eat! Rich, sticky and flavorful, it is truly more like a pudding than any kind of cake. Your guests will applaud with delight when the pudding is set aflame right before serving.
Grilled Pound with Strawberry-Rhubarb Sauce
Much like toasting, grilling pound cake brings out its buttery flavor. So, when grilling outside this summer, pop this pound cake on for a few minutes to create an extra special dessert for your guests.
Lemon & Almond Streamliner Cake
This single layer buttermilk cake is light and moist, thanks to the addition of almond paste. The delicious cake is topped with a tart lemon custard. The name streamliner reminds me of the first half of the 20th century with the streamlined passenger trains and vintage-style campers.
Goober Cake
In the South, 'goober' is another term for peanuts. This delicious vintage dessert starts with a moist and flavorful peanut butter cake and then adds a wonderful peanut butter frosting and chocolate ganache. Chocolate and peanut butter taste heavenly together but, for something different, you can substitute the ganache with your favorite jam.
Red Wine & Raspberry Sorbet
This is one of the most delicious sorbets you can make. Use a beautiful fruity red wine that you enjoy for this frozen treat. Luscious raspberries add a wonderful brightness to the sorbet, reminiscence of Sangria!
Hot Cross Buns
Hot Cross Buns is a traditional sweetened bread made with spices and raisins, and marked with a cross on top. Usually served on Good Friday, these tasty buns are great any time of the year. For a different variation, try substituting the raisins with chocolate chips.
Three-Layer Parsnip Cake With Cream Cheese Frosting
This delicious three-layer cake is very similar to carrot cake! Coconut, walnuts, raisins, creamy white parsnips, and spices make this a delectable treat. Cream cheese frosts completes the perfection! The frosting recipe is enough for the top and in between the layers. If you prefer the sides generously swirled with frosting, too, you’ll need...
Chocolate Midnight Pie
This is a wonderfully rich dark chocolate pie. This pie is very, very moist with a crispy coffee flavored crust.
Caramel Chocolate Seduction
These yummy little chocolate cakes are perfect for a party or as part of a dessert buffet. This dessert consists of a crisp cookie crust, creamy filling, and a caramel-nut topping.
Affogato with Smoky Almond Ice Cream
This beautifully warm and creamy dessert combines a lovely homemade almond ice cream with espresso coffee. The ice cream has a nice hint of smokiness that complements the espresso very well from roasting the almonds and the addition of mezcal (or tequila).
Citrus Angel Food Cake
This light and airy angel food cake is drizzled with a wonderfully tart citrus glaze. Colorful strips of orange, green and yellow zest give the glaze a confetti-like appearance!
Best Coffee Cake
A good coffee cake should be moist and flavorful with a nice crunchy topping. This one definitely fits the bill! Simple to make, this coffee cake is a crowd pleaser with cinnamon and toasted nuts.
Peanut Butter Bacon Cookies
Bacon goes perfectly with anything! It's really nice in peanut butter cookies, though. The smokiness of the bacon works very well with the saltiness of the peanuts and the sweetness of the sugar. The bacon also adds a nice chewiness to the cookies.
Cinnamon-sugar Fritters - Buñuelos
These wonderfully crisp and sugary fritters are called buñuelos de rodilla or knee fritters because to stretch them so very thin the baker often uses her knee to aid in stretches out the dough. These fritters are very popular at Christmas time and vendors will have them piled high on their cart.
Cappuccino Tapioca Pudding with Cardamom Brûlée
This delightfully creamy dessert combines comfort food tapioca pudding with a more sophisticated creme brûlée. A touch of espresso and cardamom give this dessert a bit of an exotic flavor.
Chocolate Stout Cake
Chocolate and stout are great combination, so why not put them together in a cake? Chocolate stout, of course, is perfect for this recipe but any stout will do. Eat plain or dust the finished cake with powdered sugar or for a real treat, drizzle with the chocolate drizzle suggested below. This cake will keep for several days and is great for gift giving.
Grand Cookie Crumble
Both a drink and a dessert, "drinkable desserts" combine fancy cocktails with luxurious desserts in one of the hottest food trends.
Classic Creme Brulee
Crème brûlée is a very popular dessert that you will find in almost every fine dining restaurant. The smooth creamy custard contrasts very nicely with the crunch of the hardened sugar topping. A delightful dessert that will impress your guests, crème brûlée is actually quite simple to make. This recipe is the classic version of crème brûlée which has a very nice vanilla custard flavor.
Fresh Fig Ice Cream
Here is a very simple to make recipe for ice cream that takes advantage of the wonderful flavor of fresh figs.
Gâteau de Hannouka - Polish Hanukkah Apple Cake
Here is wonderfully simple apple cake for Hanukkah. This traditional Polish cake uses a combination of sweet and tart apples to make a very delicious dessert. "Known as a ‘Jewish apple cake’ because oil is substituted for butter, it is called ‘Gâteau de Hannouka’ in France."
Caramelized Bosc Pears with Hazelnut Butter
Cranberry Sorbet Recipe
Cranberry sorbet is not too sweet and a little on the tart side. It's delicious on its own but also goes well with tropical fruit. For something different try serving with cinnamon toast on the side.
Pomegranate Banana Cheesecake with a Chocolate Crust
Cheesecake is my favorite dessert. It's easy to make but the results are extraordinary. Rich, creamy, and sweet, cheesecake is just heavenly! In this variation, pomegranates, bananas, and chocolate combine beautifully to produce a wonderful dessert sure to please your guests or family.
Molten Chocolate Cake with Pomegranate Granita
Pomegranate seeds look like wonderful purple jewels. They have a sweet, sharp flavor that makes wonderful desserts. Pomegranate and chocolate is a traditional combination because the flavors match so well. Pomegranate season runs from September through December. The juice and seeds can be frozen.
Chocolate Lava Cake with Cherry Sauce and Vanilla Ice Cream
Chocolate Lava Cakes are so called because the center of the cake is a thick liquid chocolate and oozes out when cut, like molten lava. These make a great surprise dessert and, although pretty simple to make, will impress your guests. The chocolate flavor is intense (especially if you use bittersweet), so I like to serve it with vanilla ice cream to balance the flavor.
Apple Cider Sorbet
Sorbets are much easier to make than ice creams and generally more flavorful. As an added bonus, they are usually fat-free or, at least, low fat. Apple sorbets are normally tart. I use apple cider instead of juice to give it a richer flavor. Adding rum gives the sorbet a more complicated taste. A very simple recipe.
Ginger Cookies
If you love ginger, you'll love this cookie. This is really a triple ginger cookie, using ginger spice, fresh ginger and crystallized ginger.
Cheddar and Apple Clafouti with Maple Creme Anglaise
Clafouti is a traditional dessert made of fruit covered with a thick batter and baked until puffy. Apples and cheddar cheese are a classic combination that create a mouthwatering dessert suitable for a family dinner or special occasions. This dessert can be served hot or cold.
Cantaloupe and Orange Muscat Sorbet
Here is a light refreshing dessert for grown-ups only. Fresh melon combines with an exotic hint of Muscat. Serve with shortbread cookies.
Cherry Apricot Clafouti
Enjoy the fruits of summer in this delightful dish. Clafouti is a cakelike fruit dessert in the French tradition, here using a delicious combination of cherries and apricots.
Fresh Strawberries with Coconut Crème Anglaise
Sometimes simple is better. Lush, ripe strawberries in season are something to really celebrate. The addition of coconut cream creates a dessert that is the perfect finish to an elegant meal.
Milk Fudge - Jamoncillo De Leche
Mexican desserts are brightly colored and deliciously sweet. This yummy treat is the perfect example. This tasty milk fudge recipe only uses 5 ingredients but tastes divine. Add food coloring to create a rainbow of treats. You can also experiment with additional flavorings such as coffee extract or coconut oil.
Banana Cheesecake
Create an unforgettable dessert experience for your family or guests. Roasted bananas and macadamia nuts combine in this cheesecake recipe to create a magical taste sensation.
Vanillekipferl (Vanilla Crescents)
Vanillekipferl is a traditional Christmas cookie originating in Austria, although it has become a popular holiday sweet in Germany, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary. Children love help making these delicious cookies, shaping the dough into little moons.
Peach Upside-down Cake
Peach upside-down cake looks like a difficult, fancy dessert to make but it's actually quite simple to make. Your guests won't know that, though. More importantly, using fresh peaches creates an unforgettable dessert that is simply delicious. It's pretty good with canned peaches, too. Great for entertaining your friends or just dinner with the family.
Pear and Thyme Crisp with Goat Cheese Mousse and Lavender Honey
This recipe is a very delicious twist on classic pear crisp with fresh thyme, mild goat cheese and lavender honey.
Balsamic-Strawberry Pops
Beautiful balsamic vinegar and a little ground black pepper bring out the sweetness of fresh strawberries in this delicious frozen treat.
Cherry Clafoutis
This is a wonderful custard dessert recipe using sweet cherries, almonds and crème fraîche baked in a cast iron skillet.
Honey Spiced Madeleines
Based on the classic French recipe, these madeleines are much more flavorful with hints of ginger, cinnamon and cloves, orange zest, and honey.
Semolina Cookies with Date (Ma’amoul)
Ma’mouls are a traditional Lebanese cookie served for Easter. These holiday cookies are made with semolina flour and flavored with rose water and orange blossom water and stuffed with dates, pistachios or almonds or walnuts. The cookies are somewhat conical in shape that represents the crown that Christ wore on the cross and the sponge that was given to him when he asked for water.
Pastel de Tres Leches Cake Recipe
Pastel de Tres Leches (Three Milk Cake) is a traditional Cinco de Mayo dessert served at this Mexican celebration. This sweet and moist butter cake is soaked with three varieties of milk: evaporated, condensed and cream. A light meringue topping adds just the right amount of contrast for this wonderful dessert.
Passover Lemon Sponge Cake with Strawberries
This sponge cake is basically an angel food cake with egg yolks added. And what's more perfect for spring than the first strawberries of the season. Leavening comes only from whipped egg whites; flour is replaced by matzo cake meal and ground almonds. There is no dairy.
Lemon & Green Tea Ice Cream Tortes
This Lemon & Green Tea Ice Cream Torte recipe uses store-bought ice cream in unusual specialty flavors for an easy, elegant dessert.