Delicious Desserts

A "Dessert" is a meal course that usually comes after dinner. Most often Dessert foods are of sweet food but can also be of a strongly flavored food, such as cheese, like cheese cake. The world dessert comes from the Old French word "desservir", which means 'to clear the table'. Often times in the English language dessert is confused with the word desert(note only one "s"), which is a baren piece of land normally with sand as soil.

It wasn't until after the 19th-century where the rise of the middle class, and the mechanization of the sugar industry, brought the privilege of sweets into the general public and unreserved it exclusively for the aristocracy, or as rare holiday treat. This was because sugar became cheaper and more readily available to the general public. As sugar was widely spread, so was the development and popularity of desserts.

Desserts

In today's culture dessert recipes [http://www.dessert-1.com] have become a popular item for discussion, as they are a winning way to win people over at the end of any meal. This is partly because if you serve a mediocre meal, with an excellent dessert, people will remember you for the dessert and forget about the meal.

Delicious Desserts

Most cultures, have a separate final distinction between the main course, and the sweet course. This is not true however in some cultures such as Chinese, who will mix in sweet and savoury dishes throughout the entire meal. Dessert is, often times seen as a separate meal or snack, rather than a course, and can be eaten some time after the meal by many individuals. Because of it's wide spread popularity there are even some restaurants that specialize in desserts.

Some of the most common desserts are:

- Biscuits or cookies

- Ice creams

- Meringues

- Fruit

- Cakes

- Crumbles

- Custards

- Gelatin desserts

- Puddings

- Pastries

- Pies or tarts

Delicious Desserts

Feel free to reprint this article as long as you keep the article, this caption and author biography in tact with all hyperlinks.

Ryan Fyfe is the owner and operator of Dessert One [http://www.dessert-1.com] - [http://www.dessert-1.com], which is the best site on the internet for all dessert related information.

Ham Soup Recipes - 5 Delicious Ways To Use That Hambone

Do you have a ham bone in your freezer but you're not sure what to do with it? Here's a fun assortment of five recipes with crock pot and stovetop instructions. These range from the traditional split pea to the creative wild rice and ham chowder.

Lentil Soup

Recipes

Prep time: 15 minutes Cook time: see below

Ham Soup Recipes - 5 Delicious Ways To Use That Hambone

Pams-hams bone

½ pound dried lentils

6 cups water

1 small onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 small can V8 juice

¼ cup oil

1 t. basil (optional)

salt and pepper to taste

Rinse lentils thoroughly. Combine all ingredients.

In crock pot, cook on low 8-10 hours, Remove bone from soup. Cut up ham, return chopped ham to soup

On stove top: Combine ingredients and bring to a boil. Then cover and simmer for 2 hours or until beans are tender. Remove bone from soup. Cut up ham, return chopped ham to soup

Split Pea Soup or Navy Bean Soup

Prep time: 15 minutes Cook time: see below

Pams-hams bone

2 cups dried split peas or dried navy beans

6 cups water

2 chopped carrots

1 large onion, chopped

1 t. thyme (optional)

1 t. basil (optional)

salt and pepper to taste

Rinse peas thoroughly. Combine all ingredients

Recommended: In crock pot, cook on low 8-10 hours. Remove bone from soup. Cut up ham, return chopped ham to soup.

On stove top:

Soak beans overnight with ¼ t. baking soda if possible.

Combine ingredients and bring to a boil.

Then cover and simmer for 2 hours or until beans are tender.

Remove bone from soup.

Cut up ham, return chopped ham to soup

Mixed Bean Soup

Prep time: 15 minutes Cook time: see below

Pams-hams bone

1 pound dried mixed beans

1 can crushed tomatoes

1 large onion, chopped

4 cups of water

2 stalks celery - chopped

2 carrots – chopped

3 cloves garlic

1 t. basil (optional)

salt and pepper to taste

Rinse beans thoroughly. Combine all ingredients

Recommended: In crock pot, cook on low 8-10 hours. Remove bone from soup. Cut up ham, return chopped ham to soup.

On stove top: Soak beans overnight with ¼ t. baking soda if possible. Combine ingredients and bring to a boil. Then cover and simmer for 2 hours or until beans are tender. Remove bone from soup. Cut up ham, return chopped ham to soup

Broccoli cheese soup

Prep time: 20 minutes, Cook time: 30 minutes

Pams-hams bone

1 bunch broccoli, chopped (I use tops mainly)

1 – ½ cup milk

1 (14 oz.) can chicken broth

1 cup water

1 lb. Shredded cheddar cheese or Velveeta

5 T. butter

4 T. flour

salt and pepper to taste

Steam the broccoli in the microwave.
(1/2 inch of water in casserole dish, cook about 3 minutes or until you just start to smell it)
In large soup pot, melt butter and stir in flour. Slowly add remaining ingredients, stirring constantly. Add ham bone last. Cook on low 30 minutes or more. If it is thicker than your desired consistency, add more milk. Remove bone from soup. Cut up ham, return chopped ham to soup

Wild Rice and Ham Chowder

Pre Time: 30 minutes, Cook time: 45 minutes

A. 1 ½ cups water, ¾ cup wild rice

B. ¼ cup butter or margarine, ½ cup chopped onion, 3 cloves garlic, minced, ½ cup flour, 4 cups of water and 4 chicken bouillon cubes

C. 1 ½ cup peeled, cubed potatoes, ½ cup chopped carrots, ½ t. thyme, ½ t. nutmeg, salt and pepper to taste

D. 1 (17 oz.) can whole kernel corn, undrained, 2 cups half n half (or milk), pams-hams bone
Cook A. Set aside. B. Combine butter, onion and garlic. Cook until onion is crisp-tender. Stir in the flour. Cook 1 minute stirring constantly. Add water and bouillon.
Add C. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer 15-30 minutes. Add D and simmer 20 more minutes. Remove bone from soup. Cut up ham, return chopped ham to soup

For more of my recipes and cooking tips, go to [http://www.pams-hams.com]. An inviting place for sugar and honey glazed baked ham, dinners, gifts and clever conversation.

Ham Soup Recipes - 5 Delicious Ways To Use That Hambone

Pam is the owner of pams-hams.com and retired marketing director for Honeybaked in Michigan. As anyone with kids can understand, the move was made in order to have more flexibility with the family. Hobbies include cooking and entertaining and finding clever new ways to make a meal easier or better. Also fond of water sports, Samoyeds, cats and small red head children.

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