French Ice Cream Sundae Desserts

French ice cream sundaes might include any combination of flavors, sorbets, syrups, nuts and even alcohols. There really is no limit. However, there are some popular combinations that you are quite likely to find on the menu if you visit an ice cream parlor (glacier) in France. These classic sundaes are easy enough to reproduce at home. Add on a fancy French name, and you will have an elegant dessert ready in no time.

If you do decide to serve your dessert with a French touch, do not forget to top it with one or two rolled "cigarette" or fan shaped cookies. Their slightly sweet, crispy crunch is the perfect accompaniment to a cold and rich French sundae.

Desserts

Chocolate Liegeois - Chocolate and vanilla ice creams, chocolate sauce, whipped cream, and shaved chocolate.

French Ice Cream Sundae Desserts

Coffee Liegois - This is the same as a chocolate liegeois, except coffee substitutes for the chocolate.

Coupe Antillaise - Here the flavors are supposed to be Caribbean. Many times this means vanilla and rum raisin ice cream, topped with pineapple and whipped cream, but other combinations of rum and fruit are possible.

Coupe Tutti Frutti - A combination of different sorbets (for example, pear, peach, or pineapple) with different fresh fruits (for example, strawberries, grapes, melon, or pineapple), topped with whipped cream and fruit syrup.

Coupe Colonel - Watch out - the colonel has a bite! Lemon sorbet topped with vodka.

Dame Blanche - Just a simple vanilla ice cream topped with chocolate sauce and whipped cream. The elegance is all in the name.

Peche Melba - This was invented by the renowned French culinary authority, Auguste Escoffier, in testament to his admiration for Nelly Melba, who was a popular turn of the 20th century Australian opera singer. Vanilla ice cream, poached peaches, and raspberry sauce. These days you are likely to find your peche Melba topped with whipped cream as well.

Poire Belle Helene - Another cold dessert inspired by the opera - this one commemorates the presentation in 1864 of La Belle Helene, an operetta by Jacques Offenbach. Vanilla ice cream, poached pears, and chocolate sauce.

Profiteroles - This is not a sundae, but you will find it frequently offered on the menu in a French glacier. Cream puffs are typically filled with vanilla ice cream and drizzled with chocolate sauce.

French Ice Cream Sundae Desserts

Kim Steele publishes Easy French Food, a website dedicated to bringing you all the elegance of French food, without a lot of fuss. Stop by EFF, where you'll find lots of French Dessert Recipes, including this cream puff recipe - just what you need to make your own profiteroles.

Fun Holiday Desserts You'll Love

There is nothing more exciting than sitting down at the table with your family during the holiday season and enjoying a great meal - followed by a great dessert. But after years of hosting your family's holiday parties, your relatives can often begin to predict what you'll make each year. "Let me guess ... lemon meringue pie" or "We can always count on your pound cake." Instead of being the predictable party host you've been for years, or even decades, why not add some flair to your menu with these fun and unique holiday desserts?

Honey Cake Pudding

Desserts

Honey Cake Pudding is well loved by many and is one of the unique holiday desserts with origins in South Africa. With more of a bread pudding consistency, it is sweet like cake and tastes great with ice cream or custard. The ingredients include traditional cake items such as flour, butter, milk, sugar, baking soda and eggs, but what makes it stand out from other cakes is its use of liquid honey. Instead of baking it in a cake pan, it is baked in a bowl, and when is retrieved from the oven, the ingredient mixture creates a consistency that is gooey in the middle with a golden crust on top. Yum!

Fun Holiday Desserts You'll Love

Gingerbread House

Making a gingerbread house is a wonderful way to get the children involved in making holiday desserts for the family. Creating one of these unique little houses gives your entire family a chance to exercise their creative muscles, and the final product is one to be treasured forever (or at least a month). To get your children excited about gingerbread houses, show them pictures of the final product - they look so tasty no one can resist. Then make the shopping trip to buy the ingredients a family event. They'll love it!

Making a gingerbread house is traditionally a two-day project (unless you buy a gingerbread house kit, which has recently become widely available) so prepare yourself for lots of baking, a big mess, and a great deal of fun. The first day of the project is spent baking the house and the second day will be spent in the decoration phase, which is the best part. You can cut out all sorts of fun shapes to represent doors, windows, trees and much more, and buying fun candy like M&M's, Tootsie Rolls and Candy Canes for the house's decorations will ensure that your children will have some munchies to snack on as a reward for their hard work. If you'd prefer to preserve the house for guests to see you might be disappointed to find everyone wants to tear into the tasty treat. If this is the case, take some great pictures and have a blast eating the house - it wasn't going to last forever anyway, right?

Orange and Lemon Ice Treat

Not your traditional cake our pie, orange and lemon ice is a mix between a drink and a treat making it one of the more unique holiday desserts out there. It is considered to be a gourmet blend, so when you present this unique delight to the family they'll feel very special. The dessert is made, of course, with real lemons and oranges, but what really makes it stand out is its use of Grand Marnier. The addition of lemon rind and sugar makes it a fabulous option for the family.

Chocolate Turtle Cheesecake

This is one of the tastiest holiday desserts on the list! Filled with gooey caramel and sweet and crunchy pecans, you and your family will fall in love with this cheesecake. The preparation time for this dessert is about 45 minutes and the actual baking time is 30 minutes, so you need to set aside at most an hour and a half to make sure it turns out right. But trust me, it's worth the time. The full list of ingredients include caramel squares, evaporated milk, chopped pecans, cream cheese, sour cream, milk, and chocolate pudding in a chocolate pie crust, which means the children will be all over it - and so will you.

Caterpillar Cake

This is another fun option to add to your list of holiday desserts. Your children will have a ball working with you to create this fun cake. You start by getting 12 snowball cupcakes for the caterpillar parts and red or black string licorice with gumdrops for decoration. Arrange the 12 cupcakes on a baking sheet then attach the licorice as legs and the gumdrops as eyes, then bake until done - very easy and fun!

Carnation Famous Fudge

I know you're thinking, "How dare you bring us another chocolate recipe?" But you have to admit, chocolate is a staple of holiday desserts (and if it isn't, who cares?). The cool thing about this dessert is that it can be made by using items in your kitchen such as Carnation evaporated milk (hence the name of the recipe), Nestle chocolate chips, margarine, and marshmallows - you can also add butterscotch and other fun tidbits to give it that extra flair. But the best part of this dessert is the guarantee that if you didn't shock and amaze your family with the other holiday desserts on the list, you will with this great fudge treat!

There are tons of other holiday desserts that can tickle your fancy, and I suggest you search and search until you find the right ones! But hopefully one of the treats will make your mouth water enough to consider making it for your family. When the time to cook rolls around, you will already have so many aspects of the meal to worry about, that being able to remove holiday desserts off of your list of concerns is a welcome surprise. And it's possible that when you taste one of the very tasty treats above you won't want to go back your lemon meringue pie and pound cake. Give one or more of these great desserts a try - I'm sure you and your family will not regret it.

Fun Holiday Desserts You'll Love

Jeffrey Meier at Jam727 Enterprises at http://www.thearticlehome.com blog offers even more detailed information on a wide variety of topics.

A Short History of Desserts

Sweet desserts have existed since the beginning of mankind. It is now enjoyed by people throughout the world in variety of flavors. In the past, only the affluent society folk could afford it while the ordinary people could only enjoy it on special occasions. Advancement of sugar production allowed its more extensive spread and at much more affordable prices to customers. People enjoyed desserts worldwide because of the increased supply of sugar.

Desserts are thought to have originated from a custom to remove the aftertaste of a meal with a sweet taste as they leave the mouth with a sweet flavor. The name confection is derived from a French word 'desservir' which means to clear the table. Thousands of dessert varieties exist today. Ice cream, cakes and pies are some of the popular desserts that have been present around since ancient times.

Desserts

The origin of ice cream dates back around the 4th century BC, the Roman emperor Nero had ordered his followers to gather ice and add fruit toppings for his dessert. A Chinese king named Tang developed an early form of ice cream by combination of milk and ice. Ice cream was brought back by traders to Europe. Ice cream continued to evolve during history and recipes were soon developed for serving the French and Italian aristocracy.

A Short History of Desserts

Ice cream was introduced in America in 1700s. Many states offered ice cream as a dessert. It was served to guests by distinguished figures like Thomas Jefferson, George Washington and Dolly Madison. A caterer from London advertised in a New York paper in 1774 announcing his intentions to sell ice cream in his stores.

The word 'cake' is derived from an old word 'kaka'. The first use of word 'cake' was documented by the Oxford English Dictionary in the 13th century. Cakes eaten in ancient times were very different than today. Early cakes resembled with bread and honey and flavored with dried fruit and nuts. Early Egyptians were the first who used advanced methods in baking. Medieval Europe baked gingerbreads and fruitcakes as desserts. Advancements in baking and availability of cooking ingredients helped in the development of cakes. Round cakes with icing resembling with today's cakes were introduced in the mid 17th century. Modern cakes with baking powder and white flour were used for the first time in the 19th century.

Pies originated as dessert in Neolithic Period in 9500 BC. They were known as galettes which contained honey and different grains, it was baked on hot coals. The origin of pastry was an addition of bakers fruit, honey and nuts for serving the pharaoh. Drawings relating to this practice are decorated on the tomb of King Ramses II. Changes often occurred in the making of pie because of different ingredients and conditions.

Pie recipes were brought by Pilgrim women to America which was used by the Native Americans. A tradition of using round pans for pies were started was started by colonial women. Pies became a part of American culture in the 1700s as it was served as desert by pioneer women. Apple pie became a popular evening dessert for the American children.

A Short History of Desserts

You might also be interested in learn the detailed history of Desserts and also history of Pink Floyd.

Using Quince to Make Delicious Desserts

Quince is a relative of pears and apples. The trees have grown around the Mediterranean and in Asia for more than four thousand years, making it one of the earliest known fruits. This fruit was discovered by the ancient Greek armies in Iran and Asia and brought to Greece. Today quinces are grown on the Greek island of Crete. Quince is also available today in the United States, the Middle East and in Latin America. Quinces in Western Asia are juicier and softer than those in the United States.

Quince varies in different regions and in cold climates, the fruit is rich gold in color, has a heady fragrance, and has a firm shape. The rind is rough and the flesh is hard. In a warmer climate, however the fruit can be eaten raw and the woolly rind is not there. Quince is often used to make jellies because of its tart and astringent flavor.

Desserts

How to Choose and Store Quinces

Using Quince to Make Delicious Desserts

Firm, big, yellow quince without any green are the best ones. Handle them carefully because they can bruise. Wrap the fruit in plastic and keep them in the refrigerator for up to a couple of months. Quinces are available from September to January.

Quinces are great for baking, poaching, or stewing, to make dessert recipes. They can also be stewed with meat because the high amount of tannins found in quince helps to tenderize the meat.

Membrillo - A Mexican Specialty

Quince is known as membrillo in Spanish and it is cooked into a firm red paste called dulce de membrillo in Spain, Uruguay, Chile, Argentina, Venezuela, and Mexico. It is served with manchego cheese in sandwiches or on crackers. There is a similar dish in Hungary and also in Portugal.

Dulce de membrillo is especially popular in Mexico and if you enjoy making Mexican recipes, and especially Mexican dessert recipes, you might like to try making this delicacy yourself.

Recipe for Dulce de Membrillo

You will need:

• 4 lbs quince
• 1 vanilla pod
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• 4 cups white sugar
• 1 tablespoon melted butter
• 2 strips lemon peel, 2 inches by 1/2 inch

How to make it:

Wash, peel, core and roughly chop the quince and put the pieces in a big pot. Cover the quince with water, and then add the lemon peel. Split the vanilla pod and add it to the pot. Bring the mixture to a boil, and then reduce it to a simmer.

Cover the pot and cook the mixture for about half an hour or until the quince is tender. Strain the water. Discard the vanilla. Puree the quince in a blender or food processor.

Measure out the quince puree. You will need the same amount of white sugar. It will be about four cups. Put the quince puree back into the pot and add the sugar. Cook over a low to moderate heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Add the lemon juice and simmer for about an hour and a half or until the quince paste is deep orange and thick.

Preheat the oven to 125 degrees F. Line an eight by eight inch baking pan with parchment paper, then grease it with melted butter. Pour the quince paste into the prepared pan, and then smooth the top to make it even. Bake for an hour to dry it, and then let it cool. Cut the membrillo into squares and serve it with manchego cheese and bread. Store uneaten membrillo in the refrigerator.

Using Quince to Make Delicious Desserts

If you enjoy making easy Mexican recipes you will find the sweeter side of Mexican food a joy to explore. Mexican desserts make use of fruit, chocolate, honey, nuts, and many other ingredients and there are literally hundreds of different Mexican desserts you can make at home.

Mexican Dessert Recipes:The Sweet Side of Mexican Food

Delicious Types of South African Desserts

Here in the United States, we do not often hear about African cooking. This is a shame, because the recipes of Africa offer a lot of flavor and nutrition. Each African nation has their own great food traditions to share. South Africa is a country at the tip of Africa. It has a rich traditional food culture that you may want to check out. South African cuisine covers wild game, soups, stews, seafood, and desserts. The indigenous people built a wonderful cuisine around native foods. During the colonial era, many different culinary influences blended with the traditional foods. French, Dutch, German, British, and Indian cuisines lent their favorite tricks to create today's South African food.

Desserts like koeksisters (similar to fried donuts), mealie-bread and malva pudding are common in South Africa. Melktert, or milk tart, is a traditional custard-like dessert. There is more milk than eggs in this compared to European custards, giving the dessert a light texture and more of a milky flavor. Like many recipes from South Africa, this dessert may trace its history to the Dutch. The Cape of Good Hope was the site of a permanent Dutch settlement during the days of the Dutch East India Company. The name melktert is a combination of Dutch and Afrikaner. Melk is the Dutch term for milk and tert is the Afrikaner version of tart.

Desserts

The recipe for melktert also has a history reaching back to Persia, where similar pastries were known as grasshopper wings due to the delicacy of the texture. Originally known as skilferkors, the recipe was first published in 1653. You can find many versions of this recipe online. Buttermilk pie, a recipe from the Southern United States, is very similar.

Delicious Types of South African Desserts

Recipe for Melktert

This is an old fashioned milk tart that is a favorite in South Africa.

What You Need

• 3 Tablespoons butter, melted
• 1 cup white sugar
• 3 egg yolks
• 1 cup cake flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 4 cups milk
• 3 egg whites
• 1 tablespoons cinnamon sugar

How to Make It

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Spray the inside of a 9 inch deep dish pie plate with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, cream the sugar and butter together until smooth. Add the egg yolks one at a time, blending them in until the batter is light and fluffy. Sift the salt, baking powder and cake flour and mix well. Add vanilla and milk and mix until well blended. Using a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until they form stiff peaks. Fold the egg whites into the batter. Pour the mixture into the pie plate and sprinkle the top with cinnamon sugar.

Bake for 25 minutes and then reduce the temperature to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Let the tart continue to bake for another 25 to 30 minutes or until the center is set when the pie is gently jiggled.

Serve the milk tart hot or cold.

Delicious Types of South African Desserts

If you like trying new foods, pick up some Mexican recipes the next time you are recipe hunting. You can find some excellent Mexican desserts, main dishes and side dishes to explore. Try them whenever you want something a little spicy.

MexicanDessertRecipes.net The Sweet Side of Mexican Food

Chinese Desserts

Chinese Desserts are not the same as the American or European desserts which are served separately after a meal. They consist of sweet dishes which are eaten with tea as a snack or are served along with a meal. Owing to the long history of China and presence of numerous cultures, a wide variety of Chinese Desserts can be found in China.

A wide variety of ingredients that are used in the East Asian cuisine such as glutinous rice and sweet bean pastes are used in preparing these desserts. Candies or sweets which are called "tang" in Chinese are popular desserts which are usually prepared with honey, malt sugar and cane sugar. A famous Dessert from the Chinese cuisine is rice cake which is referred to as "guo" or "gao" in Chinese. Rice cakes are generally chewy and soft rice balls which are sweet in flavor. Rice cakes are sweet rice balls which are chewy and soft. Jellies collectively known as "ices" in Chinese are also eaten as desserts. Chinese jellies are generally fruit flavored gelatin products. Another popular Chinese Dessert is "tongsui" or "tiantang", as called in Cantonese, which are basically hot soups with a sweet flavor.

Desserts

Wheat flour baked confections which are prepared by baking and are called "bing" in Chinese are also served as desserts in the Chinese cuisine. Though desserts forms an integral part of the Chinese cuisine, still Chinese cuisine is known for its spicy main course dishes rather than its desserts all over the world.

Chinese Desserts

Chinese Desserts

For added information on Chinese recipes and other global cuisines please look at the ifood community at Chinese Recipes. Those interested in Chinese Dessert food can take a look at Chinese Dessert Food

Christmas Desserts - Make Them With Splenda!

Before we begin "dishing" out some Christmas dessert recipes, let us talk about Splenda.

What is Splenda?
Splenda is a sugar substitute. It gained popularity in 1998 when the United States Food and Drug Administration approved it for use in commercially prepared baking products. Sixty other countries have followed the initiative of the American FDA.

Desserts

Rose Reisman, who wrote Secrets for Permanent Weight Loss (Whitecap Books, 2005) describes Splenda as a better choice sweetener. It contains sucralose which is the only sweetener made from sugar and the only sweetener that is not associated with health problems. It is not digested as a carbohydrate, so diabetics need not worry about experiencing a surge of insulin levels.
People who have used Splenda say that one advantage it has over other sweeteners is that it retains its sweet taste even when heated.

Christmas Desserts - Make Them With Splenda!

Christmas Desserts Using Splenda

You may come across recipes that don't say Splenda; instead they will say "sucralose." They're one and the same. Splenda is available in most stores and come in tiny, yellow packets.

Recipe # 1: On a cold Christmas Eve morning, what better way to wake up sleepy heads with the aromatic smell of Pear Muffins coming straight from the oven?

Pear Muffins

Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 20-25 minutes
Servings: yields 12 muffins
Ingredients:
Canola oil
2 cups self-rising flour
2 tsp baking powder
¾ cup sucralose
2/3 cup skim or low fat milk
2 eggs
2 ripe pears
Procedure:
Peel and mash the pears and set aside.

Prepare your muffin pan by greasing them with canola oil. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Combine self-rising flour and baking powder in a large mixing bowl. Gradually add the sucralose. In a separate bowl, blend together milk, oil and eggs. Combine this mixture with the flour mixture. Add the mashed pears. Blend all ingredients well. Spoon the batter into 12 individual muffin holes.

Bake for 15-20 minutes.

These muffins can be stored at room temperature and eaten the next day, but they are best eaten the same day!

Recipe # 2: Who doesn't love New York-style Cheesecake? It is such a popular dessert that food stores and supermarkets now sell it frozen, but why spoil the spirit of Christmas by serving frozen food? Make this recipe and turn it into a labor of love. The children, grandchildren, cousins and uncles will love you for this New York-style cheesecake made from scratch!

New York-Style Cheesecake

Preparation time: 15-20 minutes
Cooking time: 20-25 minutes
Servings: 12 individual servings (recipe is not for a whole cheese cake)
Ingredients:
1-3/4 cups Ricotta cheese
3 oz light or low-fat cream cheese
½ cup sour cream
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp lemon zest
2/3 cup Splenda
3 tsbp lemon juice (preferably fresh)
3 tbsp all purpose flour

For garnish: your favorite berries (blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, gooseberries) and icing sugar.

Procedure:
Line your muffin pan with muffin paper cups. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F.
Soften the cream cheese and combine with the ricotta cheese in a food processor. Add the sour cream, egg, vanilla, lemon juice (and zest), flour and Splenda. Make sure mixture is smooth and creamy. Pour into individual muffin holes.

Put the muffin tin in a larger pan containing hot water. The hot water must come up to 1/3 or halfway up the sides of the muffin tray. Put in oven and bake for 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes, take out the muffin tray from the larger tray. Set aside and let cool. Refrigerate for an hour or two. Top with garnish before serving. You can use the berries as they are, or you can mash them so they cover the top and glide on the side.

Recipe # 3: Spent the whole day in the mall for Boxing Day specials and forgot about dessert tonight? Here is a recipe for a chocolate cake. Most of the ingredients are probably already in your cupboard so no need to dash out again.

Simple & Quick Chocolate Cake

Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Serves: 6
Ingredients:
1-1/2 cups flour
2/3 cup sucralose
Pinch of salt
1 tsp baking soda
3 tbsp hot chocolate powder mix (any hot chocolate mix will do)
1 tbsp vinegar
8 tbsp canola oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup water (or 1 cup skim milk, if you prefer)

Procedure:

Sift the flour, baking soda, sucralose, salt and hot chocolate powder together. Add the rest of the wet ingredients. Blend well. Pour into an 8 inch round baking pan. Bake at 350 degree F for 30 minutes. Let cool and serve with your favorite topping.

Note: Instead of icing, you can use English devonshire cream. Spoon a few tablespoons into the dessert platter, enough for a slice of cake to sit on. Also, if you have left over slivered almonds or crushed walnuts, you can throw them into the batter.

Christmas Desserts - Make Them With Splenda!

Mike Cole is a freelance writer who writes about fitness, health and dieting. Mr. Cole also writes about specific ingredients and products such as sugar-free cooking and Splenda.