What is your fall-back dessert?

[whatelyj]

My first post after eons (3 years!!) of lurking...

My perennial dessert fallback is a chocolate mousse cake with raspberry coulis. It's the only "from memory" dessert recipe remaining in my brain from my brief stint baking in a restaurant in the early nineties. It was an in-house recipe but an old Martha Stewart version came close, if I remember. I sometimes add (if I am feeling particulary frisky) hazelnut (frangelico) tinged whipped cream.

When I'm really in a rush, though, trifle has proven to be a good (albeit slapdash!) option. People generally circle around it with doubt and trepidation in their eyes (big bowl full of whippedy-fruity-boozey-cakey mush) but after the first bite, it always disappears quickly. Good comfort food, UK style.

[SuzySushi]

I'm also of the fruit crisp fall-backs, because I almost always have the ingredients in the house. Another good one is clafoutis, basically a pancake batter (eggs, milk, flour, sugar) with whatever available fruit thrown in. Cherries are traditional, but canned lychees are particularly good!

[LindaK]

Served last night for dessert at the end of an all-fondue meal:

A large platter of sliced fresh fruit (pineapple, bananas, strawberries) and a bowl of melted chocolate. Give everyone a fork and watch the feeding frenzy begin.

My friend used Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate chips, so managed both good chocolate and the convenience of not having to chop. Melt over a double boiler. That's it. Chunks of pound cake would be a nice addition but an all-fruit selection makes it "light."

[CaliPoutine]

Served last night for dessert at the end of an all-fondue meal:

A large platter of sliced fresh fruit (pineapple, bananas, strawberries) and a bowl of melted chocolate.  Give everyone a fork and watch the feeding frenzy begin.

My friend used Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate chips, so managed both good chocolate and the convenience of not having to chop. Melt over a double boiler. That's it. Chunks of pound cake would be a nice addition but an all-fruit selection makes it "light."

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I love this as a dessert and of course you must have cake.

*thinking its time for another fondue party*

[ruthcooks]

If dessert is to be part of a buffet table, I make my Secret Baklava Tarts. The secret is that they are so easy to make, you can't possibly give the recipe to anyone or they'll never again be impressed by something you make.

Buy a couple packages of filo pre-made tart shells (15 per package). Place on baking sheet. Fill shells to heaping with chopped, toasted pecans. Top each with a half teaspoon of sugar and a thin slice of unsalted butter. Bake at 325 until tart shells start to brown. Make a recipe of baklava syrup and pour over. You'll need about half the amount you'd need for a pan of baklava. Serve in frilly paper cups if you have them.

When kids are present and I need a quantity of dessert, I make a Chocolate Texas Sheet Cake. If you're a surprise dinner guest, I'll make a stove top fruit dumpling with whipped cream. Probably blueberry unless peaches are in season. Or a brownie pie.

[lancastermike]

I have two old standby's that everyone loves no matter how often they see them. First is a Boston Cream Pie, easy to make and very tasty I make my own cake, custard and glaze, but still easy to do and tasty. The other is lemon bars. Most people only eat ones rom a box mix. I make my own short crust and lemon topping and they are so much better than box mix kind people love them. Both easy and popular, if not adventourous

[simdelish]

The other is lemon bars.  Most people only eat ones rom a box mix.  I make my own short crust and lemon topping and they are so much better than box mix kind people love them.

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that's funny, I have NEVER EVER seen a box mix of lemon bars on a grocery shelf!

I think lemon bars were around way before box mixes. Lemon bars were one of the first things I learned to make when I was a child, and that was during the 50's and the dawning of mixes. The cooks I know these days who take shortcuts or use box mixes, even they make lemon bars from scratch, because the recipe IS so simple.

[Jaymes]

Buy a couple packages of filo pre-made tart shells (15 per package).  Place on baking sheet.  Fill shells to heaping with chopped, toasted pecans.  Top each with a half teaspoon of sugar and a thin slice of unsalted butter.  Bake at 325 until tart shells start to brown.  Make a recipe of baklava syrup and pour over.  You'll need about half the amount you'd need for a pan of baklava.  Serve in frilly paper cups if you have them.

This is a GREAT idea! Thanks for sharing the 'secret.'

[KatieLoeb]

Since I never have time to shop or bake, I'll go for the best in season fruit I can find and some good cheeses to compliment.

Or a bottle of dessert wine if I have one lying about. It doesn't have to go with dessert. It can be dessert.

[Jaymes]

The other is lemon bars.  Most people only eat ones rom a box mix.  I make my own short crust and lemon topping and they are so much better than box mix kind people love them.

that's funny, I have NEVER EVER seen a box mix of lemon bars on a grocery shelf!

I think lemon bars were around way before box mixes. Lemon bars were one of the first things I learned to make when I was a child, and that was during the 50's and the dawning of mixes. The cooks I know these days who take shortcuts or use box mixes, even they make lemon bars from scratch, because the recipe IS so simple.

You are correct that "lemon bars were around way before box mixes." Like most things, the real deal comes first, and then the 'box mix' companies cash in.

I think the box mix is bought by folks that have eaten, but never prepared, lemon bars. They don't know how simple they are. They just like them, and when they see the box for sale in the grocery store they figure that however one would make them from scratch, the box has got to be easier.

[KatieM]

When I'm really in a rush, though, trifle has proven to be a good (albeit slapdash!) option. People generally circle around it with doubt and trepidation in their eyes (big bowl full of whippedy-fruity-boozey-cakey mush) but after the first bite, it always disappears quickly. Good comfort food, UK style.

Glad you finally posted, whatelyj. I love your description of how people approach trifle! You should try bringing trifle to a party in the U.S.! Since it's not very common, I'm often asked, "What IS that exactly?". Once the first person digs in, though, the rest disappears rather quickly. Trifle is an easy fallback for me, because I almost always have cake in the freezer. I'm thinking of making one today, actually! I have some of Wendy's Secrect Banana Cake in the freezer, I have bananas, I have eggs, milk, cream, etc . . . could easlily throw together a banana cream trifle. Oooh. I think I WILL make one today!

Other fallbacks:

Casual get together, ie setting up for a fundraiser or something, Texas Sheet Cake. Takes 30 minutes, feeds a crowd, you can eat it out of hand while setting up chairs.

Pies are never unwelcome. I live in downstate Illinois, so this is especially true in my neck of the woods. My grandmother's pear pie is a perennial favorite.

Best Ever Brownies from Baking With Julia is my new favorite thing to take to people's houses for dinner. I've had several offers of marriage (from both sexes!) after people have taken a bite of these brownies. They are sublime.

Other than that, time allowing, I really like to experiment. I get bored making the same thing all the time, and if I make something more than twice for the same people, they'll never let me try anything else, so I have to change it up. I love having to bring something, because it gives me an excuse to make something new. Recent experiments have been:

The Love for Three Oranges tart from The Pie and Pastry Bible

A salted-caramel chocolate tart with a pretzel crust. I'm still perfecting this one. It's of my own invention. I love the salty-sweet-chocolate combination, though.

[CaliPoutine]

Other fallbacks:

Casual get together, ie setting up for a fundraiser or something, Texas Sheet Cake. Takes 30 minutes, feeds a crowd, you can eat it out of hand while setting up chairs.

A salted-caramel chocolate tart with a pretzel crust. I'm still perfecting this one. It's of my own invention. I love the salty-sweet-chocolate combination, though.

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I just love that salty/sweet combination too. When we were kids, my mom used to make us chocolate malts and give us fat bavarian pretzels to dip in. Yummy, I can still taste it.

When you perfect the recipe, Id love to try it.

[enidjane]

Ice cream (usually vanilla) topped with one of two sauces

1) Canned fruit (peaches or pineapple), warmed in a saucepan with a bit of cornstarch slurry to thicken, seasoned with cinnamon

2) Brown sugar, cinnamon, and butter, all melted in a pan, then spooned over. Add bananas to it and you have Bananas Foster. This covers me for when there are no bananas...

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Hey! This is pretty much my fall-back dessert as well. I take apples, pears, bananas, whatver I have on hand, slice 'em up, saute them in butter, add cinnamon, nutmeg, brown sugar and serve over ice cream.