What is your favorite dessert to make?

[Janet Taylor]

Ever since Todd talked making cupcakes I have been cupcake crazy. Although, I am not a cake maker but more of a pie person.

My first dessert that I love that I make is my Coconut Cream Pie w/heavy whipped cream. I don't use low fat anything and probably angioplasties is necessary after this baby.

My second is Peach Cobbler w/rich vanilla ice cream. I never met a cobbler that I didn't like, but peach is my favorite.

I don't make these often because I wouldn't be able to get through the front door if I did.

How about yours?

.....Janet

[ElsieD]

Who is Todd?

[Kim Shook]

I think this Coconut Layer Cake is probably my favorite dessert I make. 

[lindag]

For me it's Pineapple Upside Down Cake ala my Mom,.

[lindag]

My Mom's signature dessert was banana pudding.  I absolutely loved it but have never made it myself.

[JeanneCake]

This isn't easy to answer!  I love making our flourless chocolate cake - it was what launched my bakery; I also love our brown butter pear tart.  In November I love the cranberry walnut tart from Epicurious  (normally I won't touch walnuts in anything else).  I recently made a cherry pie for the first time in my life (with tart cherries and the filling from the Pie and Pastry Bible) and it was the first time I've  ever enjoyed cherries other than fresh (we also made a cherry crisp with the filling to rave reviews).  Now I get why people love cherry pie!  I also love the Miami Beach Sour Cream cake from Maida Heatter - it is a fantastic cake.

 

I should stop now.....

[Jim D.]

10 minutes ago, JeanneCake said:

I also love our brown butter pear tart. 

 

Jeanne, all of those desserts sound wonderful, but I was intrigued by the pear tart.  I have worked on getting adequate pear flavor into a bonbon with only modest success.  Can you say more about what is in this tart?

[JeanneCake]

I have two different brown butter fillings - here's the one for the pear tart.  I used to be able to get a poire williams concentrate from Fassbind that was absolutely amazing but sadly I cannot find this any more and the tart doesn't taste the same to me just using pear liquor, and the Amoretti compound isn't really bakeproof I'm told.   You can cut this down to make 1 9" tart, just keep dividing it.  It scales fine.  I  usually add a little more flour to this;  and mix it with the sugar to cut down on the lumping.....

 

 

 

 

Pear Tart.doc

[MokaPot]

Probably carrot cake w/cream cheese frosting. Also, creme brûlée, but I've only made it once.

[Jim D.]

9 minutes ago, JeanneCake said:

I have two different brown butter fillings - here's the one for the pear tart.  I used to be able to get a poire williams concentrate from Fassbind that was absolutely amazing but sadly I cannot find this any more and the tart doesn't taste the same to me just using pear liquor, and the Amoretti compound isn't really bakeproof I'm told.   You can cut this down to make 1 9" tart, just keep dividing it.  It scales fine.  I  usually add a little more flour to this;  and mix it with the sugar to cut down on the lumping.....

 

 

Thanks for that.  In browning the butter, do you cook it until there are little brown bits, and do you include the bits?  I find it difficult to know when to stop--brown to black happens quickly.

[teonzo]

Strawberries and cream.

Luckily for me it's just the start of the season, my dinner menu in May is constant and simple: 500 g strawberries and 250 g cream.

 

 

 

Teo

 

[JeanneCake]

11 hours ago, Jim D. said:

 

Thanks for that.  In browning the butter, do you cook it until there are little brown bits, and do you include the bits?  I find it difficult to know when to stop--brown to black happens quickly.

 

Yes, I love the browned bits in the filling!  It does go from brown to black in an instant so I set a timer and keep checking it; I go for the darkest color I can get and move it off the induction immediately, it will go to black if you leave it on the burner.  Ironically enough, I have never been able to "smell" it while others in the kitchen are mentioning how wonderfully nutty it smells!!

[kayb]

Oh, dear God. Favorite dessert? Right now, when strawberries are in their prime, strawberry shortcake. All kinds of base -- shortcake, shortbread, sponge cake, pound cake. All good.

 

A little later -- blackberry cobbler. Pie crust, cut up in strips,  cooked under a crust with the barely-sweetened blackberries. Kill me now. Ice cream on top puts it, well, over the top. 

 

Year-round? Chess pie. Southern America's answer to the butter tart. No wonder I was so intrigued by butter tarts. There are, btw, two kinds of chess pie; there's one thats somewhat custardy, and there's one that's like a pecan pie without the pecans. That's the chess pie I grew up with.

 

Those are likely my favorite desserts, along with coconut cake. Cake made with coconut milk; frosting/filing of sour cream and fresh coconut and sugar, final topping/frostign of whipped cream and coconut. Has to sit in the fridge three days to "ripen." Damn, it's good. Way too good.

 

Then there's hot fudge pie (a seriously fudgy brownie) topped with ice cream, chocolate syrup and whipped cream.  Oh,yeah.

 

[jimb0]

so many options.

 

are doughnuts dessert? i do a pretty good doughnut.

 

but i think maybe pie. i do baller pies. i love pie. i could easily eat a whole pie if i let myself.  with ice cream. i do good ice cream.

Edited May 8, 2021 by jimb0 (log)

[weinoo]

On 5/4/2021 at 7:36 AM, teonzo said:

Strawberries and cream.

Luckily for me it's just the start of the season, my dinner menu in May is constant and simple: 500 g strawberries and 250 g cream.

Teo

 

 

If I was able to get the strawberries you get, that probably would become mine.

[Jim D.]

If I had to choose a favorite, I think it would be a raspberry-chocolate tart.  The basic recipe for it came from an ancient issue of Bon Appétit, but a friend and husband had something similar at a pioneering "gourmet" Boston restaurant to celebrate their anniversary, so I tweaked the original to incorporate her description of what they had (alas, their marriage ended soon afterward, so perhaps I should recommend the tart with caution).

 

It consists of a pâte sucrée crust (for which I sometimes substitute a pâte brisée), then a layer of pastry cream incorporating ground toasted almonds and almond flavoring.  When that has set, a thin layer of dark chocolate ganache thinned with framboise is added.  When that has almost set, it is topped with concentric circles of fresh raspberries.

[oli]

Raspberry ruffle cake ala Medrich.

Also Bon Appetit Viennese Linzertorte cake. Was on the cover.

[Kim Shook]

Another favorite is @Norm Matthews Pineapple Upside Down Bundt cake.  It's one of those desserts that sits on the counter under a dome and just seems to evaporate.  

[Darienne]

My long time go to dessert is a lemon or lime cheese pie with a chocolate ganache topping.  It's this amazing cheese pie which calls for only one egg and it actually predates my interest in cooking.  From an old Culinary Arts Institute cheese cookbook, 1982.

 

Made it for Easter dinner today after a hiatus of 11 months with no dairy, no gluten, no alcohol, no caffeine , (no fun).  Hope my system weathers it well....

[cteavin]

For me, I have two. Perhaps my favorite go is a plain genoise with a simple syrup/liquor soak but if I have time nothing quite beats a popover with a simple sprinkle of powdered sugar. 

[kayb]

Coconut cake.

[paulraphael]

I don't have one favorite, but this is high on the list. I love that it's so simple and imprecise (unlike some of the concoctions I get into). It's a James Peterson idea.

 

Roasted Pears

 

-Peal, halve, and core some pears

-Put them on a skillet or roasting pan. Sprinkle with sugar and throw some pats of butter on top. 

-Cook in a 400° oven til they're soft and the sugar starts browning

-Plate the pears. Put the pan on the stove and deglaze with some cream. Throw in some cognac or Poire William if you're feeling sassy. Reduce a bit. Strain if you're feeling fancy. Sauce the pears and serve.

 

Not as simple as Mitch's strawberries and cream, but I promise you can pull this off even if you're nearly too drunk to walk. It's always good. 

[heidih]

6 minutes ago, paulraphael said:

I don't have one favorite, but this is high on the list. I love that it's so simple and imprecise (unlike some of the concoctions I get into). It's a James Peterson idea.

 

Roasted Pears

 

-Peal, halve, and core some pears

-Put them on a skillet or roasting pan. Sprinkle with sugar and throw some pats of butter on top. 

-Cook in a 400° oven til they're soft and the sugar starts browning

-Plate the pears. Put the pan on the stove and deglaze with some cream. Throw in some cognac or Poire William if you're feeling sassy. Reduce a bit. Strain if you're feeling fancy. Sauce the pears and serve.

 

A whisper of cardamom as they bake - transformative.

[paulraphael]

1 minute ago, heidih said:

A whisper of cardamom as they bake - transformative.

 

That would be brilliant.

 

And I should have added the obvious ... no need to stick with pears. Peaches, apples. Any fruit that won't fall apart.

[heidih]

47 minutes ago, paulraphael said:

 

That would be brilliant.

 

And I should have added the obvious ... no need to stick with pears. Peaches, apples. Any fruit that won't fall apart.

I had 2 ancient pear trees - not good out of hand  eating, and a neighbor introduced me to this. The best use of all that fruit before the critters decimated the crop.  Of course he had unlimited picking rights.