DH and I are going to a nice dinner get-together this weekend with other couples we're friends with. It's not a formal dinner, but we do it "nice". I've signed up for 2 salads and a desert, and could use some recipe ideas for a "dignified" desert!

Edited to add: I'm thinking hard about making a batch of homemade baklava, but it takes sooooo long to make. Looking for good alternatives. :eek:

My favorite and easiest thing for the summer is Bananas Foster! OMG, vanilla ice cream with the carmelized sauce is to die for! I'll look for the recipe, but I remember it's as simple as cooking up brown sugar till carmelized then adding the bananas (and maybe pecans.) Just dribble over vanilla ice cream - very impressive and to die for!

Oops, how did I end up in a dessert thread?

April 27, 2005

Bananas Foster Recipe

Filed under: recipes

2 bananas

2 tablespoons butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

2 tablespoons banana liqueur

1/8 cup rum

2 scoops vanilla ice cream

Note: This recipes calls for the ignition of alcohol to “flambe” the food. If you are not comfortable with doing this you can slowly burn the alchohol away without igniting it. If using a gas range turn the heat on low and don’t swirl around the liquid. Or just leave the rum out altogether.

Peel and slice the bananas length-wise. Then half those slices; not length-wise.

Melt the butter over medium skillet on medium heat. Next add the sugar, cinnamon and the banana liqueur and mix well. Continue stirring until mixture has reduced a bit; about 3 minutes or so. Add bananas and cook until they are soft and slightly caramelized or browned.

Add rum and after it has heated well enough ignite the liquid. If you are using a gas range just swirl the pan a little and the outer flames should do the trick. If not, then use a long stemmed lighter or match. You only need to put the flame at the very edge of the skillet. The alcohol should burn away quickly.

Carefully lift the bananas out of the pan and onto plates. Spoon the sauce over them and top with ice cream.

Serves Two.

I never got so fancy as to light it up, but you gotta try this! I always toast pecans for about 5 minutes in pan and toss some on top.

I have a couple of recipes:

NO-BAKE MARGARITA CHEESECAKE

1 1/2 (1/4-ounce) envelopes unflavored powdered Gelatin

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup Water

1 1/2 pounds cream cheese, at room temperature

1 cup sour cream

1/4 cup fresh lime juice

1/4 cup premium tequila

1/4 cup Grand Marnier or triple sec

2 teaspoons finely grated lime zest

1/4 teaspoon salt

Pretzel Crust, recipe follows

Thin lime zest strips or curls, garnish

Thin lime slices, bottom halves dipped in sugar

In a small saucepan, combine the gelatin and sugar. Add the water, stir, and cook over medium heat until the gelatin dissolves, about 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool slightly.

In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the sour cream, lime juice, tequila, Grand Marnier, lime zest, and salt, and beat to combine. Add the dissolved gelatin mixture and mix well. Pour into the prepared crust and chill until very firm, 3 to 4 hours.

To serve, remove the outer ring from the springform pan. Decorate the center of the cake with the zest strips and the outer edge with a border of lime slices dipped in sugar.

Cut with a thin, sharp knife dipped in hot water and serve.

Pretzel Crust:

1 1/4 cups crushed pretzels

2 tablespoons sugar

1/4 cup melted butter

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

In a food processor, pulse the pretzels to make 3/4 cup of crumbs. Add the sugar and pulse to combine. Add the butter and mix well.

Transfer to a 9-inch springform pan, pressing onto the bottom and slightly up the sides. Bake until set, about 6 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack.

Best Ever Banana pudding

2 bags Pepperidge Farm Chessmen Cookies

6 to 8 bananas, sliced

2 cups milk

1 (5-ounce) box instant French vanilla pudding

1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened

1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

1 (12-ounce) container frozen whipped topping thawed, or equal amount sweetened whipped cream

Line the bottom of a 13 by 9 by 2-inch dish with 1 bag of cookies and layer bananas on top.

In a bowl, combine the milk and pudding mix and blend well using a handheld electric mixer. Using another bowl, combine the cream cheese and condensed milk together and mix until smooth. Fold the whipped topping into the cream cheese mixture. Add the cream cheese mixture to the pudding mixture and stir until well blended. Pour the mixture over the cookies and bananas and cover with the remaining cookies. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Enjoy!

Angle food cake with fresh stawberries and whipped cream. Chocolate sauce is optional.

Ok, who am I fooling? Chocolate sauce is never optional...

Ok, who am I fooling? chocolate sauce is never optional...

You said it sister haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa !!!

I'm the lazy one here, I would go and buy a chocolate covered cheese cake or some fancy pastry's at the local bakery. Our local grocery store makes the prettiest cakes you ever wanna see and they taste great. $15.00 and no fuss, mess, saves you time, and everyone's happy.

Now, what time is dinner :hungry:

No bake cheese cake is quick, fast and yummy. You can put strawberries on it to decorate and drizzle chocolate over cheesecake. Check out Jello or Kraft sites for thier receipe sections.:cry You are killing me here.....I want some.

Normally I'm a "go buy buy it" kind of girl, especially if I have dessert responsobility, seeing as how there's a Panera and a Cheesecake Factory very close to work. But these dinners are a sort of tradition with our group of friends, and one of our oldest "rules" is no store-bought. Everything is a little hoity-toity in our little "dinner club".

The bananas foster sounds good, I've seen it on menus but never actually had it... but we'll be on a boat for dessert so I'm not sure how the ice cream would fare... but hmm... sounds delicious... may make it for DH anyway.

Hmm... hmm... HMM...

my fav. is trifle

choc cake cut in cubes

layered with choc. pudding

coolwhip

toffee chips or skor bars crunched up

keep layering in a trifle bowl or clear dish i have also made individual ones which look very nice. in sunday glasses or champagne flutes.

you can also do yellow cake

van. puuding

strawberries

blueberries

cool whip it is very light and refreshing.

I do a strawberry shortcake cake that is similar to VQ.

Use a 9 x 13 inch pyrex dish.

Take one angel food cake and pull apart into chucks and put in pyrex dish.

Take two boxes strawberry Jello and fix in large bowl per box instructions. Set in frig until it is thickish (about two hours) then add either two boxes of sliced frozen strawberries or fresh strawberries sliced and one container of strawberry glaze . Mix this together and pour over the angel food cake chunks and set in frig to finish hardening.

Top with cool whip and additional sliced strawberries and chocolate or just be creative.

You can can go lo carbish if you want or you can really jazz it up.

M

Because of all the stuff I had trouble eating, I came to appreciate meringue cookies/tarts/whatever.

They can be made in advance, filled with anything, and there may even be a sugar free or half-sugar/half-something-else recipe out there.

Not that I'd actually MAKE THEM...

I think a beautiful trifle will fit the night and be compact for a boat. You can make it low fat, bandster friendly, and elegant. I saw one above that looked good. Mine is:

1 sponge cake or pound cake

lemon curd (in a jar is great) - could sub. low fat lemon pudding

blueberries

non fat whipped topping

put a layer of cake in bite size pieces. Top with lemon curd, blueberries, and whipped topping. Repeat each layer until you reach the top of your triffle dish. Top with whipped topping and a few blueberries for garnish.

This is very fresh tasting and light as Desserts go. Have fun!

It is the season for rhubarb, how about something with that? I've just made a couple of sinful desserts that I should never have made. Story of my overweight life......