Dessert
3848 recipes found
Clementine Clafoutis
Clafoutis is a classic French dessert most often made with cherries. But since clafoutis is little more than a rich, sweet pancake batter poured over fruit and baked, substitutions are easy. If you're using tiny North African clementines for this version, you'll need a dozen or so for this recipe; if they're the large ones from California, five or six will probably do. In any case, it's worth spending a little time removing any thick white strands from the sections, and any of the fine webbing that comes off easily.
Walnut Cake
I have to thank a couple of people for this recipe: first, the chef Stevie Parle, of Dock Kitchen in London, who published the recipe to inspire this one, and second, the aunt of one of my recipe testers, who made such a standout interpretation that we all marveled over the leftovers the next day in the test kitchen. I just had to try my own version, and here it is, made a touch more celebratory with caramelized walnuts and lashings of whipped cream, both of which can be omitted if you prefer keeping it plain and dairy-free (thereby making it suitable for Passover). The cake is moist and delicious enough as it is. If baking for Passover, you should also be sure to use muscovado sugar (or dark brown sugar) and amaretto that are certified kosher for Passover.
Banana Chocolate Chip Cake
This tender cake is different from all the banana breads out there — possibly because Jim Lahey brings his celebrated skills as a bread baker to the recipe, which we adapted from “The Sullivan Street Bakery Cookbook.” The spices, molasses and dark brown sugar combine for an intense, fragrant and almost caramel-like richness, while the mix of butter and olive oil make the crumb melt in the mouth. Be sure to use very ripe bananas for the best flavor; they should be spotted with brown and soft.
Salted Pistachio Shortbread
This is one of those rare doughs that’s better when made in a food processor. Dense, buttery, salty and nutty, the cookies call for pistachios, but swap in walnuts, pecans or hazelnuts, if you prefer. One thing to note: These cookies are best sliced after baking, not before. Fresh out of the oven, the cookie is very tender and easy to cut. Do it almost immediately, as the baked cookie hardens quickly. The result is an extremely pleasing arrangement of crisp-edged triangles that may look just a little like a Danish modernist interpretation of a Christmas tree.
Chocolate Caramel Macarons
There are American macaroons, usually generously sized, coconut-based confections. And then there are French macarons, diminutive and almond imbued. This recipe skews French, but with a twist. Instead of the typical buttercream or ganache filling, there’s a crunchy caramel candy layer in between the cocoa layers. These are fudgy little confections more like candy than cookies. They also happen to be both gluten-free and can be kosher for Passover, if you use kosher-for-Passover confectioners' sugar. You can make the macarons five days ahead, but don’t fill them more than a day ahead. Or serve them without the caramel for something slightly less sweet, but just as intense.
Spiced Pumpkin Cheesecake
Fluffier than both cheesecake and pumpkin pie, this dessert combines a silky cream cheese-pumpkin filling and a tangy sour cream topping with a graham cracker crust. The warmth of ginger, ground and candied, ties together the other warming spices: cinnamon, cardamom and turmeric for flavors reminiscent of — and as soothing as — turmeric tea and chai.
Honey Cake
This Hungarian honey cake is deeply flavored with ginger, cardamom, cloves and cinnamon. The dough is more like a gingerbread biscuit than a tender sponge cake; it softens as it sits. It’s best made at least a day in advance, resting until the icebox-like crust absorbs its sweet surrounding layers of filling. The buttery, vanilla-scented filling is so pleasant to the tongue — but so rich you may want to cut small cake slices. Hungarian honey cake was popular before the Holocaust, but sadly this version was largely lost with the cooks in concentration camps. It’s been adapted in the United States by survivors and other family members using Cream of Wheat filling, which resembles the European gruel made with semolina or hard wheat flour, and enriched with lots of butter. This special cake brings back the memory of their former lives.
Olive Oil Lemon Curd
This dairy-free version of lemon curd is lighter than more traditional, butter-enriched versions, but is just as tart and creamy. The olive oil gives it a complex flavor that can range from herbal and grassy to earthy and mellow, depending on the brand. Mound this lemon curd into a tart, use it as a cake filling, pile it onto a Pavlova, or serve it as is, topped with berries or other fruit. It keeps for at least a week in the fridge and freezes well for up to 1 month. And you can even make it in the microwave (see Tip).
Almond Cake With Cardamom and Pistachio
This moist and springy Persian almond cake is generously spiced with ground cardamom (two full teaspoons). We like it with fresh berries. If you want to serve it for Passover, be sure to use kosher for Passover confectioners' sugar; you could also use a tablespoon of matzo meal in place of the tablespoon of almond flour, but the cake is delicious without it.
Pistachio Baklava
This Turkish-style baklava tastes deeply and richly of pistachio nuts and butter, without the spices, honey or aromatics found in other versions. It has a purity of flavor that, while still quite sweet, is never cloying. This very traditional recipe is from one of the most celebrated baklava shops in Istanbul. Feel free to substitute other nuts for the pistachios, particularly walnuts and hazelnuts. Or use a combination of nuts. Once baked, this baklava will last for several days, but it is at its absolute best within 24 hours of baking.
Salted Peanut and Caramel Matzo Brittle
This is a more advanced version of the popular chocolate matzo toffee, but it’s still easy to make: A layer of caramel bakes on top of then soaks into the unleavened bread, which next gets slathered with peanut butter and topped with crunchy peanuts. For those with peanut allergies — or those who do not eat peanuts at Passover — you can substitute any creamy nut butter and nuts. You can also use tahini and halvah; add snipped, dried apricots or dried cranberries for color; or keep it simple and stick with chocolate — preferably dark, to counter the caramel’s sweetness — as in the original recipe by baker Marcy Goldman in her book “A Treasury of Jewish Holiday Baking” (Doubleday 1998). Be aware: This dish is addictive.
Coconut Macaroon and Mango Bombe
This is a cheater's version of those fancy iced bombes from the ’80s, with two or three layers of bright-hued whipped frozen mousse packed into a decorative mold. Here, a layer of mango ice cream swirled with fresh mango sits beneath a layer of macaroon-studded coconut ice cream. It's a stunning dessert, perfect for a dinner party, and quicker to put together than the time you'll spend locating the macaroons at the supermarket.
Pomegranate and Rose Granita
The rose petals look lovely here, but don’t worry if you can’t get hold of any. With the pomegranate seeds there, the granita looks wonderful without them. Be sure to leave enough time for the liquid to properly freeze into crystals, about 8 to 10 hours.
Qatayef Asafiri (Stuffed Semolina Pancakes)
Qatayef are synonymous with Ramadan. It is during this month that bakeries start making the pastry for these stuffed pancakes, and the lines spill into the street as people wait their turn to buy them. Golden underneath and speckled with bubbles on top, qatayef are cooked only on one side. They can be large or small. The large ones are normally stuffed with nuts or cheese and folded over, then fried or baked, and drenched in sugar syrup. The small ones, called qatayef asafiri (or little bird qatayef), are stuffed with a creamy filling, only half closed, then dipped in pistachio and drizzled with thick, faintly floral sugar syrup. The batter is very simple; the key is to make sure it is the right consistency, like that of heavy cream.
Matzo Toffee With Candied Ginger
Traditional matzo toffee — a Passover-friendly spin on saltine toffee — is an addictive three-layer confection of crackers, brown sugar toffee and melted chocolate. In this version, the chocolate gets a spicy boost from the addition of both fresh ginger juice and chewy candied ginger. Or substitute a topping of cacao nibs, sea salt and/or toasted, chopped nuts. Matzo toffee will keep for at least eight days, stored airtight at room temperature, which will take you through the holidays in the sweetest way possible.
Chocolate-Caramel Matzo Toffee
Matzo toffee is the Passover-friendly take on saltine toffee. A layered confection of matzo crackers, brown sugar caramel and melted chocolate, you can top it with practically anything you like, from the most elegantly minimal sprinkle of sea salt to a surfeit of nuts, dried fruit, potato chips, or a combination. This recipe, adapted from Marcy Goldman’s cookbook “A Treasury of Jewish Holiday Baking,” keeps well when stored airtight at room temperature — up to one week, if you haven’t finished it by then.
Walnut, Cinnamon and Halloumi Baklava
The texture of the crispy phyllo and the crunchy filling are perfect here with the warm halloumi. Most phyllo is sold frozen; defrost it slowly in the fridge, and handle with care. Serve the baklava warm if you can — so that the cheese remains soft — straight out of the oven with some ice cream and a drizzle of the syrup. It also works at room temperature, with a coffee, but once it has cooled don’t be tempted to reheat it in the oven.
Almond-Walnut Thumbprint Macaroons
These cookies are less sweet and chewier than many traditional nut macaroons. The recipe is from Eileen Dangoor Khalastchy, an 86-year-old cook and baker who remembers her mother making something similar when the family lived in Iraq. Ms. Khalastchy moved from Baghdad to London in the 1970s, but she remembers her mother making cookies like these and then sending them to be baked in the public oven because there was no oven at home then. Ms. Khalastchy has tinkered with the recipe, substituting walnuts for some of the almonds and adding an egg yolk to the traditional whites.
Coconut-Nut Macaroons
The reward of these classic one-bowl cookies far outweighs the effort of making them. They are so easy – just dump and stir – and you don't need any special equipment. Here, Mark Bittman adds a generous handful of pistachios for crunch and color. They are also gluten-free, and the perfect treat for Passover.
Chocolate Chip Hamantaschen
This tricorner pastry is as closely linked to Purim, a Jewish holiday which celebrates the Jews’ deliverance from a plot to kill them by Haman, as matzos are to Passover. Fillings of poppy seeds, nuts and dried fruits used to be as exciting as these Eastern European sweets got. But these days, unconventional fillings like marzipan, sour apple, dates with sweet red wine and cinnamon, and halvah are not uncommon. Here, a version for chocolate lovers.
Vegan Ice Cream
The combination of high-fat hemp and coconut milks gives this nondairy ice cream base an ultra-creamy texture, with a taste mild enough not to obscure any flavorings. The liquid sugar (corn syrup or agave syrup) along with a little vodka help to keep ice crystals from forming, giving the smoothest texture. If you can't find hemp milk, substitute cashew milk. It has a similar fat content, though the flavor is slightly less neutral. Nondairy ice cream is best eaten within a week of freezing.
Lemon Meltaways
These tender cookies are an elegant teatime snack, packed with bright lemon flavor. Bake them all at once or save half of the dough, well wrapped, in the freezer for later. If you’ve frozen the dough, let it warm slightly before slicing to prevent cracked cookies.
Orange-Almond Mandelbrot
Mandelbrot (or mandel bread) is an Eastern European Jewish cookie, a variation on biscotti. The dough is baked twice: first in a log, and then again after it's been sliced into cookies. This recipe includes the smart trick of freezing the dough after baking it the first time, then cutting it into slices when still frozen before baking again. This makes for a thinner slice, fewer crumbs when cutting and a crispier texture. You can make it with matzo cake meal during Passover — a delicious variation.
Faloodeh (Persian Lime and Rose Water Granita With Rice Noodles)
Faloodeh is an ancient Persian dessert, a sort of granita threaded with rice noodles and spiked with rose water and lime. Though you may typically cook noodles until al dente, you’ll need to really cook them through here before adding them to the syrup so that they soak up enough liquid to become as crunchy as possible as they freeze. In Iran, most ice cream shops sell just two items: traditional saffron ice cream and faloodeh, which is typically topped with bottled lime juice that tastes mostly of citric acid. Faloodeh has been my favorite since childhood, but now I prefer it with the juice of freshly squeezed limes. It’s incredibly refreshing and the ideal end to a rich meal filled with complex flavors.