DESSERTS

Micro wave 5 minute Chocolate Cake

This frankly isn't the best you've ever eaten but if you need a chocolate fix for emotional reasons - give it a try. You can quickly destroy the evidence that you ever made it which means of course there are no calories!

4 Tablespoons flour
4 Tablespoons sugar
2 Tablespoons cocoa
1 egg
3 Tablespoons milk
3 Tablespoons canola oil
3 Tablespoons chocolate chips (optional)
Small splash vanilla extract
1 large coffee cup (microwavable) - Mine holds 12 oz max

Add the dry ingredients to mug and mix well (important). Add the egg and mix again.
Add the milk and oil and mix. Add the chocolate chips, vanilla extract and mix again. Put your mug in the microwave (I put a glass plate under to catch any drips) and cook for 3 minutes at high. Let it cool for a couple of minutes, run a knife around the mug and turn out onto serving plate - cut in half to serve two or eat the whole thing and feel really sorry for yourself. Ice cream would be nice too. Wash the mug and the spoon and wipe that chocolate off your mouth and nobody knows what you did....






BAKED PEARS

Adapted from Alice Waters' "Chez Panisse Fruit"

4 - 6 Firm pears - one for each serving - Dark Skinned Bosc pears are best but other firm pears also work.
1 1/2 cups of Marsala wine or cream sherry (you can reduce amount to 1 cup with fewer pears)
1/2 cup of sugar
Plain Yogurt or creme fraiche

If the pears don't stand up straight, slice a little off their bottoms. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Place pears in a casserole or baking dish so they fit together closely. Pour the wine over them and sprinkle with sugar and bake for 45 minutes or an hour, basting them with the liquid a couple of times. They are cooked when a toothpick pierces them easily.
Serve warm (you can warm again in the microwave), placing each on a shallow bowl, spoon a little of the cooking juices around and add a spoonful of creme fraiche or unflavored yogurt sweetened with a little honey or fig jam ( I like the Straus Family Cremery Organic European Style Yogurt)


EASY CHOCOLATE CAKE

3/4 stick butter
1 1/2 cup flour
1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup of water
1 teaspoon each of cider vinegar and vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, spray a 8 inch cake pan with Pam (you can also make cupcakes - use cupcake liners)

Melt the butter in a small bowl (about 30 seconds in the microwave will get it soft and then it will continue to melt while you do the rest)
In a medium bowl, mix the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt. Add the melted butter, water, vinegar and vanilla and mix until blended.

Scrape the batter into the pan and bake for 30 - 35 minutes (test with a toothpick which should come out clean) Cupcakes will cook faster. Let the cake cool in the pan then turn out onto a cake platter. To serve, place about 2 tablespoons of confectionery sugar into a little strainer and sprinkle the top of the cake. It's good with vanilla ice cream and raspberries too.


REALLY GOOD BREAD PUDDING

12 dried apricots (about 1 cup roughly chopped
3 prunes roughly chopped
1/4 cup dried cranberries
Dried fruit note - you can make of mix of whatever you like - dried apples are good too but lots of prunes make it too heavy. Buy the fruit in bulk which is cheaper than the stuff in packages.
1 cup of strong tea - I use one tea bag of Mango Ceylon (anything fruity - not mint)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3 cups of bread cubes (cut like salad croutons - good way to use up stale french bread)
2/3 cup milk - I use non fat
1 cup granulated sugar
4 Tablespoons (one half stick) butter melted and set aside
Grated zest of one orange - optional
3 eggs lightly beaten
3 Tablespoons of rum or kirsch -optional
1/4 sliced almonds

Use a shallow baking dish about 9 inches wide.

Spray dish with Pam. Make the tea in a saucepan - discard the bag and add the dried fruit and cinnamon, cover and simmer until fruit has absorbed most of the liquid which takes about 20 minutes. Set aside.

Put the bread cubes in a large mixing bowl, pour the milk over and add sugar, butter and the fruit mixture and mix in the eggs and optional orange zest and rum.

Turn the mixture into the baking dish and bake for 15 minutes, then sprinkle the almonds on the top and bake another 15 minutes. It's done with it has firmed up and the almonds are browned so it could take a little extra time depending on how deep the dish is. Serve warm (you can re-heat at serving time) and whipped cream or vanilla ice cream is great on the side. AND it's good for breakfast too!

This is adapted from "New Menus from Simca's Cuisine" by Simone Beck - old but good book!


PERSIMMON PUDDING

This is a wonderful winter/holiday dessert because it's dense and filling and the spices smell good. It serves 8 - and tastes good with whipped cream.

Use a 9-10" fairly shallow baking dish or individual dishes like a restaurant. Spray the pan with Pam and preheat oven to 350 degrees

3 eggs
1 Cup sugar
1 stick of sweet butter, melted
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon allspice
a pinch of ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 Cups half and half
2 cups Persimmons mashed up and strained. You need about 3 big persimmons that are soggy and over ripe to the touch. See the note at the end. Straining them keeps out the outer skin.

Combine the flour,soda,baking powder, sugar, spices and salt and stir them together in a small bowl.

Mix the eggs and sugar in a medium size bowl with an electric mixer and add the melted butter. Next add the flour mixture and slowly pour in the half and half.

Last, mix in the persimmon puree, pour into the pan or pans and bake about 40 minutes. Individual small dishes will cook faster so check after 20 minutes. The pudding will puff up as it bakes and it's done when a toothpick stuck into the middle comes out clean. The pudding will sink when it cools. Serve warm - you can re-heat in a microwave or 325 degree oven.

Note this is from Emily Luchetti's cookbook, ,"Stars Desserts" - she says that you can ripen persimmons by freezing them overnight and letting them thaw.


SUSAN'S REALLY GOOD COOKIES

1 cup oatmel - quick or regular
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsweetened apple sauce (make your own from 3 apples)
1 stick butter
3/4 cup white sugar
3.4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
12 oz. package of semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used a 10 oz bag of bigger choc chips from the San Francisco chocolate company named Guittard)
1 cup slice almonds
1 1/2 cup of craisins

Before you start - peel and chop roughly 3 apples, add about 1/2 cup of water and bring to a simmer in a saucepan - cook stirring occasionally until the apples are soft. Remove from heat and mash with a potato masher. If the applesauce looks watery use a slotted spoon to put the applesauce in a bowl.

Preheat oven to 375 and line cookie sheets with parchment paper to make the clean up easy.

Beat the eggs, then add all the remaining ingredients, adding the chocolate chips, almonds and craisins last. Put heaping tablespoons (use a small ice cream scoop) of the mixture placing them 2 inches apart because they spread.

Bake about 10 - 12 minutes until brown. Cool on a wire rack.

These are wonderfully moist and chewy and they keep well if you can keep from eating them all at once!

LIMONCELLO- Lemon liqueur to drink IN SMALL QUANTITY! OR sprinkle over fresh fruit for dessert....

5 ripe lemons (I like Meyer lemons - organic are best)
2 1/8 cups vodka - I used my bar vodka that I bought once for punch!
2 1/2cups sugar
2 cups water

Wash lemons and meticulously cut the yellow zest away from the inner white pith. Put these strips of lemon zest (they don't have to have a uniform size) in a quart glass jar, pour the vodka over the top, cover and let stand in the sun for 8 days. Next...

Make a sugar syrup by combining the sugar and water in a heavy saucepan, stirring to dissolve the sugar and bring to a little boil. Simmer 10 minutes and set aside to cool. Pour the lemon/vodka liquid through a layer of cheesecloth or a clean paper coffee filter. Pour this filtered liquid back into the jar and stir in the cooled sugar syrup. Mix well, cover and let it sit two weeks before drinking. Keeps indefinitely and makes nice gifts if you can find attractive narrow containers (like for olive oil) with a cork stopper (I found some at Cost Plus) This is from "In Nonna's Kitchen" by Carol Field