ISO: ISO dessert for foodie crowd.

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amanda_pennsylvania

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We're going to a friend's house for dinner on Friday night. Unfortunately, the social situation is going to be a little tricky. DH and I both like the wife, but we don't really care for her husband. There will be another couple present; again, we both like the wife but we don't really care for the husband. And my friend's mother will also be there, and my friend has lots of issues with her mother (the mom is pleasant enough, but she's a very needy person and tends to make everything about her). Also, my friend's husband just lost his job, so the MIL is apparently making lots of comments about his responsibility to provide for his family. It's shaping up to be a fun evening. Sigh.

Anyhoo, I'm providing dessert. All these people are very into food (the husband of the other couple attending is a gourmet-level cook), so I'd like to bring something that's really good, but not too hard to prepare (I will basically have Thursday evening after choir to do this). I know potato pancakes are on the menu, but I don't know about anything else.

My default is always chocolate cake...

Any thoughts? (Besides getting quietly drunk to get through the evening.) Many thanks...

 
Here's the menu: roasted pork loin/homemade applesauce/potato pancakes/vegetable

So, my default is usually chocolate, but I don't think that chocolate fits with this menu...maybe a spice cake? Or something with pears?

 
Something that will survive a food fight? I think an apple dessert is best with pork.

Tarte Tatin, as Richard suggested, but only if you've made it before since you only have a short window of time. Other apple tarts might be simpler.

 
p.s. and I say focus on the positive elements of the evening, setting an intention to have fun, and

let whatever's not fun and positive fall by the wayside. smileys/wink.gif

 
oh, I have an apple "pie/crumble" that looks really easy. The crust is half-pressed into the pan and

the rest is crumbled on top. Apples are layered in between.

Rustic-looking, but it sounds tasty.

Recipe is at home.

 
You've got to love the Internet. Authors put the recipe out on the web: "Simplest Apple Pie"

from Home Baking: The Artful Mix of Flour and Traditions from Around the World
by Naomi Duguid and Jeffrey Alford


2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar, plus optional extra for apples
12 tablespoons (1½ sticks) unsalted butter, cut into small cubes, softened
2 large egg yolks, at room temperature
3 tablespoons sour cream
Scant 1 teaspoon minced lemon zest (optional)
Up to 2 tablespoons cold water, if needed
About 3 tablespoons fine fresh bread crumbs (see Notes)
8 medium-to-large McIntosh apples (nearly 4 pounds) (see headnote)
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Directions

Mix the flour and ½ cup sugar in a medium bowl. In another medium bowl, break the butter up into bits with a fork or your fingertips. Add the egg yolks and sour cream and beat with a wooden spoon. Add to the flour mixture and stir. Add the lemon zest, if using. Use your fingers to break up lumps so the mixture has a coarse cornmeal texture. Add water a little at a time if needed to make the dough come together, blending it in, then pull the dough together into a mass. Place in a heavy plastic bag and refrigerate while you prepare the apples.

Position a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease an 8-inch square baking pan and sprinkle the bottom generously with the bread crumbs.

Peel the apples. Using a coarse grater, grate the apples; you should have about 8 cups. Place the apples in a bowl, add the lemon juice and a little sugar if you wish, and toss well.

Remove the dough from the refrigerator, cut it in half, and set one half aside. Place the other half in the cake pan and press it evenly to cover the bottom; it will be less than ¼ inch thick. Pile on the grated apples, mounding them up in the middle; the pile will look high, but it will shrink during baking. Crumble the reserved dough over the apples to cover.

Bake for 1 hour, or until the top of the pie is touched with golden brown. Serve hot or at room temperature.

http://www.cookstr.com/recipes/simplest-apple-pie

 
This is a foodie's dream- REC Raspberry Swirl Cheesecake

Looks complicated but actually is quite easy to make. It will make them swoon.

RASPBERRY SWIRL CHEESECAKE
Raspberry Sauce: 1 package (12 oz.) frozen Raspberries (not sugared), thawed and drained but reserve the juice.
1/3 cup sugar
3 tbsp cornstarch
Add enough water to the raspberry juice to make 1-1/2 cup. Mix sugar and cornstarch in a sauce- pan. Stir in the juice and raspberries. Heat to boiling over medium heat, stirring frequently. Boil
and stir 1 minute; strain. Cool completely.
Crust: 2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
2/3 cup softened butter
2 egg yolks
Heat oven to 400 degrees. Mix together the above and press 1/2 of the mixture onto the bottom of a greased springform pan (without the ring on it) and bake just the bottom for 8-10 minutes. Cool. Assemble springform pan around baked bottom crust and press the rest of the crust mixture on the sides, going up about 2-1/2". Make sure it blends onto the bottom over the "break".
Cheesecake: 1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
3 Tbsp whipping cream
40 oz cream cheese
1-3/4 cup sugar
3 Tbsp flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup whipping cream
5 eggs
2 egg yolks
1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips- chopped
Increase the oven heat to 475 degrees.
Cut a circle of foil larger than the cheesecake bottom to wrap the bottom of the springform in for baking so nothing leaks out. Heat the 1 cup semi-s. chips and 3 Tbsp cream. "Paint" on the bottom and sides of crust. Beat the cream cheese, sugar, flour, salt, cream and 2 eggs until smooth. Add the rest of the eggs and extra egg yolks one at a time. Stir in the chopped chips. Pour 1/2 of the batter in the crust. Spread 1/3 of the raspberry mixture by spoonfuls onto the batter. Swirl through the batter with a spatula- be careful! Repeat with another half of the cheesecake batter and then bake the cheesecake for 20 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 300 degrees and bake one hour. Turn off the oven and leave the cake in 15 minutes more. Spread reserved raspberry
mixture over top and cool. Refrigerate at LEAST 12 hours before running a knife around the inside of the ring before loosening the springform pan.

 
I like apple desserts with pork but the menu says applesauce and I don't "double" ingredients

So that is why I suggest a different type of dessert. "Homemade Applesauce" in the menu suggests that the cook is proud of this effort so to serve something with apples for dessert, to me, seems inappropriate. Just my take- don't like to steal the thunder from whomever is cooking.

 
That does look good. Think I could use a store-boughten crust?

You'd lose the almond taste in the crust, but I simply can't do pastry. I've never been successful with pastry so I've stopped trying.

 
This reminds me that I have a recipe for a Lime Cheesecake with Gingersnap Crust.

It's too die for--I think that might be the one to make. It's supposed to be done the day before, so that works out nicely.

 
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