Dessert
3850 recipes found
Beet-Rum Mousse
Bittersweet Chocolate Soufflé
Dark and intense in flavor, yet with a light and custardy texture, a chocolate soufflé is an eternal showstopper of a dessert. To get that intense chocolate flavor, this version uses a base of melted butter and chocolate without any starch. Be sure to use excellent bittersweet chocolate, but if you prefer a slightly sweeter soufflé, feel free to substitute milk chocolate for all or part of the bittersweet. Or to move the soufflé in the other direction, substitute a chocolate with a higher cocoa solids ratio, 70 to 75 percent, which will decrease the overall sugar. For maximum "wow" factor, always serve a soufflé straight from the oven. Crème anglaise or chocolate sauce would be fine accompaniments, as would scoops of your favorite ice cream. This recipe is part of The New Essentials of French Cooking, a guide to definitive dishes every modern cook should master.
Extra-Bittersweet Chocolate Pots de Crème
This is restaurant-grade pudding you can make at home. It's dense yet buoyant with a profound chocolate flavor thanks to the use of bittersweet and unsweetened chocolate. A healthy dose of salt balances it all out.
Chocolate Babka Rugelach
These festive, fudgy confections are a mash-up of two traditional Jewish favorites: rugelach and chocolate babka. They have a tender, flaky pastry wrapped around a bittersweet truffle-like filling that’s sprinkled with chopped nuts or cocoa nibs for a contrasting crunch. A topping of Demerara sugar adds texture, and a little flaky sea salt cuts the sweetness perfectly. These are best served within five days of baking (store them in an airtight container at room temperature). They also freeze well for up to one month, with parchment or waxed paper between layers.
Shaker Lemon Tart
This uncomplicated lemon pie is a variation of one attributed to the Shakers, a religious community best known for their simple living philosophy and exquisitely designed furniture. It is said that Shaker cooks waste nothing, and if that is true, this tart is a perfect example of that ethos. The entire lemon (minus the seeds) is used – sliced thinly and macerated with plenty of sugar overnight – then baked with eggs and melted butter in a soft, flaky pastry. The end result is delicately-flavored and bright without the lip-puckering quality of most lemon desserts. (This recipe calls for Meyer lemons, which are milder than standard lemons, but the traditional variety will do – the thinner-skinned the better.)
Potato Chip-Chocolate Chip Cookies
A mix of salty potato chips and chocolate chips gives these shortbread cookies a playful, sweet and savory appeal. Adapted from Shauna Sever’s cookbook, “Midwest Made,” these cookies taste best one day after baking, when the flavors have had a chance to meld. They will last for 3 to 4 days stored airtight at room temperature. Bring them to your next bake sale and watch them sell out in a flash. If you don’t have European-style cultured butter on hand, regular unsalted butter will also work.
Spanish Olive Oil Cake With Kumquats And Toasted Almonds
Fudgy Bourbon Balls
This twist on a classic rum ball recipe substitutes chocolate cookies for the usual vanilla wafers, and features bourbon rather than rum. The flavors will mellow and integrate after sitting for a few days, so the cookies will be all the better if you can plan ahead and let them ripen for three or four days. They’ll keep for up to two weeks stored at room temperature.
Molten Chocolate Cake
Here is a can’t-fail version of the chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s warm, soft chocolate cake. He says more than a thousand of these cakes are made in his restaurants every day. The ingredient list is short — butter, chocolate, eggs, sugar and flour — and the video that accompanies this recipe shows exactly how the magic of the chocolate-oozing molten cake comes to be.
Chocolate-Peanut Butter Swirl Cookies
These are like those three-ingredient peanut butter cookies everyone loves, but with a little cocoa powder and bittersweet chocolate thrown in to make them fancy. You only need five ingredients and a bit of elbow grease to put them together. While semisweet chocolate (in bar or chip form) would certainly work here, bittersweet chocolate is a better choice. The darker chocolate, along with the cocoa powder, adds a fruity bitterness that contrasts nicely with the sweet peanut butter.
Millionaire’s Shortbread
Plain shortbread, a combination of the most basic ingredients in the baker’s pantry, is an understated sweet, but millionaire’s shortbread is a spectacle. It’s a flashy cookie, topped with swoops of chocolate and chewy caramel made from condensed milk, butter and Lyle’s Golden Syrup. A British confection made from cane sugar, Lyle’s is found near the honey and maple syrup in any well-stocked supermarket, but if you can't find it, corn syrup makes a fine, if slightly less flavorful, substitute.
Ginger Chocolate Cake
Crème fraîche enriches this flourless cake, and dark cocoa powder bolsters its chocolate flavor. Both fresh and dry ginger add a nuance of heat and spice that show why ginger pairs so well with chocolate. Even though this cake is wonderful on its own, unsweetened crème fraîche dolloped on top and chewy, citrusy clementine confit takes this into a very sophisticated neighborhood.
Lemon-Lime Satin Creams
Here is an easy, citrusy dessert that can be made ahead of time for the most part. Mix lemon and lime zest with eggs, sugar and cream, and then refrigerate for up to two days -- the longer the better. Then, bake it in ramekins for about half an hour, and serve. Superfine sugar can be found in the baking aisle or made with regular sugar using a mortar and pestle.
Yellow Layer Cake With Chocolate Frosting
Craving a good old-fashioned cake, a tall, frosted showgirl, preening on a high crystal stand? This yellow cake with chocolate frosting and a macaroon crunch is just the ticket. This recipe is adapted from one made at Junior’s in Brooklyn. The cake is moist, and the frosting sweet. Quite sweet, actually. Just right.
Grilled S’mores Sandwiches
This always-makes-you-happy dessert combines two classics: s’mores and pan con chocolate, a Spanish snack of toast with melted chocolate on top. Oozy chocolate and wobbly marshmallows are sandwiched between two slices of crisp, slightly smoky pieces of bread. While you could use any white or whole wheat sandwich bread, cinnamon bread is the ideal way to go. Not only will the toasty cinnamon flavor remind you of graham crackers, but also the sugar will help the bread caramelize on the grill (and a surprising slick of mayonnaise, instead of butter, helps brown the bread without burning). To keep the sandwich from being cloyingly sweet, add a sprinkle of salt on top. (P.S. Make it a Fluffernutter by using peanut butter instead of chocolate.)
Cinnamon Basil Chocolate Mousse
Strawberries in Red Wine
This is a very simple, but quite wonderful dessert, best made with sweet, ripe, fragrant berries, which complements the tannins of red wine. Let the strawberries macerate in wine for up to 1 hour, but no more or they’ll be unpleasantly soggy. (It’s fine to prepare and sugar them in advance.)
Chocolate Gingerbread Cake
This cozy spiced loaf cake gets a triple dose of ginger – ground, fresh and crystallized – and the totally delicious addition of chocolate. A pour of molasses and an assortment of other warm spices help round out the flavors, and buttermilk makes it extra moist. Serve slightly warm slices of this gingerbread with a bit of vanilla ice cream for a simple and satisfying dessert. Bonus: Baking this cake will make your house smell amazing.
Chocolate-Cardamom Pots de Crème
Rich and creamy with a hit of floral cardamom, these puddings are a perfect make-ahead dessert. For the most flavor, make sure to break open the cardamom pods and crush the seeds using a mortar or pestle or the handle of a wooden spoon. Semisweet chocolate is recommended, as bittersweet will mask the cardamom, but they are interchangeable if you prefer chocolate with a higher cacao percentage. (Accordingly, you may want to use the higher amount of cardamom if cooking with bittersweet chocolate, but do go easy: A little cardamom goes a long way.) You’ll need to use chopped chocolate bars or chocolate fèves for these pots de crème. Chocolate chips are made with stabilizers that inhibit melting, so would result in a pudding that is less smooth and spoonable.
Chocolate Streusel Poundcake
In this stunning dessert, a moist and soft chocolate poundcake is topped on two sides — bottom and top — with crunchy, slightly salty streusel flecked with chocolate chips. The combination of cocoa powder and melted dark chocolate gives this cake a particularly rich flavor. You can make it up to 3 days ahead. Store it at room temperature, well wrapped in foil. Then serve it topped with ice cream or whipped cream and fresh berries, or toasted and buttered, or plain as it is. It also freezes well for up to 3 months. More romantic recipes, from dinner for two to chocolate for all, can be found here.
Italian Lemon-Ricotta Cake
Migliaccio, often served at Carnival, is a lemon-ricotta cheesecake with a difference: a base of semolina flour, which makes it lighter than your typical cheesecake.
Hibiscus-Spiraled Ginger Cookies
Floral hibiscus and citrus zest, along with coarse sugar, make up a delightful swirl in a buttery shortbread dough with contrasting textures from chewy candied ginger and caramelized raw sugar. Every bite of this cookie is suffused with delicately sweet flavors, which are complemented by a slight fruity tang. For the prettiest spiral, make sure to roll your log tightly. The log can be wrapped and frozen for up to one month, or refrigerated for up to three days, then sliced and baked without thawing.
Indoor S’mores
You may not have a grill or the weather may not be cooperating, but you can still revel in this childhood favorite, and it's a brilliant way to make s'mores for a crowd. Also brilliant: melted chocolate is spread on both of the graham crackers for each s'more, so the chocolate envelops the marshmallow with each bite.
