desserts recipes
What better way to celebrate Labour Day in Canada today ? How about enjoying some icy chocolate whisky coffee popsicles … made with some good old Canadian whisky, fresh brewed espresso coffee and melted dark chocolate. A dessert for adults, not too sweet, with an extra touch of bitterness from the very dark chocolate, extra cocoa...
The story begins here... mahlepi or mahlab or mahalab is an aromatic spice made from the seeds of a species of black cherry, with a flavour similar to a combination of bitter almond and cherry. As I was cleaning out and checking out what was in my pantry and discovered some leftover mahlepi kernels and ground powder too. By the way, this spice is...
What better way to celebrate than with a sip of champagne as well as a bite of champagne cake with champagne frosting ! The idea came about for France’s national holiday called Bastille Day on July 14th, which is also the reason I used red and blue berries to decorate it like France’s blue, white and red flag, but ideally I would keep...
My next door neigbour in Paris who is originally from Beirut showed up one day at my door with these wonderful, moist, sweet coconut balls, topped with golden raisins. Usually I’m the one who is supposed to cooks stuff but her sweets were divine and as she mentioned, they were also quite easy to make so I wanted to share this recipe with...
Melopita means honey pie in Greek. Melopita recipe is a simple cake that people in Greece were making using only 3 main ingredients such a soft neutral cheese like myzhithra in Greece, ricotta in Italy or brousse in France, eggs, honey and a few little extras for flavourings such as cinnamon and citrus zest, what could be simpler ?...
When I say “sour”, I mean “tangy” like sweet jelly beans and sour jelly beans ! Ha, ha ! Anyways, looking inside my refrigerator, I decided to use up all my already opened dairy leftovers. I had plain greek-style yogurt, I had evaporated (or unsweetened condensed) milk, I had sweetened condensed milk too (I love that) and...
Just a small summer dessert with halved apricots and whole almonds and an extra special touch with some rosemary sugar that gives it an extra zing ! And why should these apricot and almond and rosemary cakes be upside-down ? Because they look great when right-side up, just like a “tarte tatin” or an upside-down caramelized apple tart !...
Fresh summer berries, flowers petals, cool and creamy filling, and kadaif shredded filo dough (like angel-hair used in several Mediterranean countries for sweet and/or savoury preparations and that I’ve already used in my Easter hazelnut & chocolate cheesecakes) … What could be better as a summer dessert ? It’s easy to...
I have a very dear friend who travels a lot and often brings me back fruit from far-and-away countries (legally of course !). This is a quick, simple, refreshing and very creamy frozen dessert that everyone should make ! Only 3 main ingredients, 1 mould for frozen desserts (or an ice-cube tray) and skewers or sticks ! In this recipe, I also tried...
I absolutely had to find out how to make that chocolate syrup that turned into a magic hard shell chocolate coating that we loved when we were kids growing up in North America, and of course covered our ice cream with it ! The "magic" was that this chocolate syrupy liquid (at room temperature) turned into a hard chocolate coating on...
So here we are with recipe number 2 of the 3-part cherry-almond-mahlepi love story and now celebrating these 3 ingredients in the form of ice cream. I have several recipes and methods for making ice cream and frozen desserts. The traditional version uses a custard with egg yolks, another uses sweetened condensed milk (this is the easiest and...
This easy dessert is a reinterpretation of something my mother makes for us which she calls a log but others call it a mosaiko or even a chocolate salami ! I call mine blocks because this is what they resemble, not only in appearance but also in weight and density (a bit like cobblestones too). My mother’s version uses a combination of...
It’s rhubarb season ! This unusually tangy vegetable is used for sweet as well as savoury dishes. My friend and neigbour was kind enough to bring me about two and a half kilograms of rhubarb stalks from his parents’ farm north of Paris last week so it was time for me to prepare 3 dishes with it ! We’ll start with the simplest and...
This recipe is for what is called a "pound cake" in English or a "quatre-quarts" in French. Usually cmposed of 4 equal parts of eggs, sugar, dairy such as milk and butter and flour. Probably the simplest and yet most delicious and moist and honest cake you'll ever make. I always flavor mine with vanilla and sometimes also...
A sorbet is always a nice way to end a heavy meal or even as a refreshing pause before a main dessert (if you'll be having that too). It is quite easy, especially if you have an ice cream maker to churn and aerate the mixture, instead of doing it by hand, but either way is fine and will give good results. The difficult yet beautiful way of...