Thursday, December 7, 2017

Anyone for Dessert?

Christmas is right around the corner!  As such, I thought I'd dedicate this month's blog to desserts fit for a Christmas dinner but super quick and easy.

If you're pressed for time, try making a Trifle.  Easy, fast and oh so delicious.  Trifle in English cuisine is a dessert made with fruit, a thin layer of sponge fingers soaked in sherry or another fortified wine, and custard. It can be topped with whipped cream

The beauty of this dessert is the fact that you can customize it to suit the taste of you and your family.  Love strawberries, banana's - use those!  Want a more wintery dessert?  Then try a cookie trifle using gingerbread and pumpkin pudding.  The variations are endless.




Another fast and easy dessert is the ever popular chocolate cake.  How about dressing it up a bit for Christmas by drizzling caramel sauce over it?  You can, of course, make your own sauce from scratch....or you can buy caramel sauce in a jar and drizzle it to make a beautiful cake that folks will think you spent hours creating.


How about making a Christmas Tree for dessert?  Buy some shortbread cookies, royal icing in a tube and some edible beads.   Put a layer of cookies, a few drops of icing, more cookies (the icing acts as an edible glue of sorts) and continue until you have a tree.  Then a few drops of icing on the "limbs" of the tree and place your beads there to act as ornaments.  Done!


How about a tree made from Hershey's Kisses and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups?  Too cute!


The next cake is a real show stopper.  You can google "Malteser Cake" and do it the hard way....or...you can make your favorite chocolate cake and buy your favorite frosting and then stick malted milk balls on the outside.  Once you have your malted balls all in place, heat frosting on your stove until it's nice and loose.  It should have the consistency of a thin gravy so if you need it to be thinner, add a couple of pats of butter (not margarine) and a teaspoon of water at a time until you get it just right.  Never more than a teaspoon of water at a time.  It's always easier to thin it than it is to thicken it.  Allow it to cool down a bit so it won't melt your malted milk balls and then drizzle it over them.


Now you have quick and easy desserts that will please the entire family!  Christmas is about so much more than standing over the stove!  Enjoy your family! after all, that's what Christmas get-togethers are really all about.


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