Seeking some ideas for an anniversary dinner DESSERT. Help?

Question

Here's the deal,,, I have a great menu planned for my anniversary this coming Sunday. It is made of dishes my wife and I enjoy, and YES I am doing all of the planning and cooking. I am not a chef by any means, though I am quite comfortable in the kitchen and not afraid to experiment.

HOWEVER, I am at a loss for a home made dessert. I need some suggestions please. Nothing is off limits except blueberries. We usually have dessrt a few hours after our main Sunday meal and this Sunday we will be dining at 1pm.

Here's what I have considered and discarded for dessert ideas:

Banana Pudding, the fancy stuff, not the Jello open a box stuff

Chocolate cake, just had that two weeks ago,

Gingerbread with spiced peach sauce,

Chocolate dipped strawberries

5 year anniversay menu,,,

Herb crusted stuffed beef roast ( medium ) w/ mushroom gravy

( stuffing is diced carrots, diced celery, diced onions, mushrooms, dried cranberries )

( herb crust is olive oil, fresh ground pepper, garlic powder, dried basil, dried thyme and small amount of sea salt )

Roasted sweet potato souffle' w/ pecans and apples ( a little goes a long way )

Fresh green beans with slivers of carrot

Home made creamed corn with bits of sausage

Hot yeast rolls

I will close this out and award best answer. Again, virtually nothing ( I draw the line at chocolate dipped insects ) is off limits for ideas.

Your recipe, if any, is optional. I can do research on my own, I'm just brain locked for ideas.

Answer 1

Wow!  Sounds wonderful.

This is a terrific menu and since it is the dog days of summer where I am I suggest a cold and somewhat light dessert.

If you are against sweetened sliced strawberries (or peaches) over rich, full fat ice cream, then I would suggest this light but rich chocolate pie.

German Chocolate Pie

2 packages (4 oz each) Baker's Germans Sweet Chocolate

1/2 cup milk

1 pkg (8 oz) cream cheese

2 tablespoons sugar

3 1l2 cups (8 oz) Cool Whip, thawed

1 chocolate crumb crust

Heat all but 3 squares chocolate with 1/4 cup milk in large microwavable bowl at HIGh 1 1./2 to 2 minutes.  Stir until completely melted.

Beat in cream cheese, sugar and remainging milk.  Gently stir in whipped topping until smooth.  Spoon into crust.  Freeze until firm.

Remove from freezer.  Let stand 30 minutes at room temp until pie can be cut easily.

Melt remaining chocolate about 15 seconds and drizzle over pie.

Answer 2

New York Style Cheesecake

Makes one - 9 inch (23 cm) cheesecake.

Ingredients:

Crust:

2 cups (190 grams) of graham wafer crumbs or finely crushed vanilla wafers or gingersnaps (process whole cookies in a food processor until they are crumbs)

1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated white sugar

1/2 cup (114 grams) unsalted butter, melted

Filling:

32 ounces (1 kg) (4 - 8 ounces packages) cream cheese, room temperature (use full fat, not reduced or fat free cream cheese)

1 cup (200 grams) granulated white sugar

3 tablespoons (40 grams) all purpose flour

5 large eggs, room temperature

1/3 cup (80 ml) heavy whipping cream

1 tablespoon lemon zest

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Topping:

1 cup sour cream (not low fat or fat free)

2 tablespoons (30 grams) granulated white sugar

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Procedure:

Grease, or spray with Pam, a 9 inch (23 cm) springform pan.  Place the springform pan on a larger baking pan to catch any leakage while the cheesecake is baking.  Set aside.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) with rack in center of oven.

For Crust:

In a medium sized bowl combine the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and melted butter.  Press the crumbs evenly over the bottom and about 1 inch (2.54 cm) up the sides of the springform pan.  Cover and refrigerate while you make the filling.

For Filling:

In bowl of your electric mixer place the cream cheese, sugar, and flour.  Beat on medium speed until smooth (about 2 minutes), scraping down the bowl as needed.  Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well (about 30 seconds) after each addition.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the whipping cream, lemon zest, vanilla extract and beat until incorporated.  Remove the crust from the refrigerator and pour in the filling.  Place the cheesecake pan on a larger baking pan and place in the oven.

Bake for 15 minutes and then lower the oven temperature to 250 degrees F (120 degrees C) and continue to bake for about another 1 1/2 hours or until firm and only the center of the cheesecake looks a little wet and wobbly.  Remove from oven and place on a wire rack.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl combine the sour cream, sugar, and vanilla extract.  Spread the topping over the warm cheesecake and return to oven to bake for 15 more minutes.  Remove from oven and carefully run a knife or spatula around the inside edge of pan to loosen the cheesecake (helps prevent the surface from cracking as it cools).

Let cool before covering with plastic wrap and refrigerating.  

This cheesecake tastes best after being refrigerated for at least a day.

Serve with fresh fruit or fruit sauces.

-----GLAZE-----

1 cup Mashed strawberries

1 cup Sugar

3 tablespoon Cornstarch

1/3 cup Water

GLAZE: Blend sugar and cornstarch together in a small saucepan. Stir in water and strawberries. Cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens and boils. Boil and stir for 1 minute. Cool thoroughly before spreading over cheesecake.

Tips:  Sometimes the surface of the cheesecake cracks.  To help prevent this from happening do not over beat the batter, especially when creaming  the cheese and sugar.

Another reason for cracking is over baking the cheesecake.  Your cheesecake is done when it is firm but the middle may still look a little wet.

Also, make sure the springform pan is well greased as cracking can occur if the cheesecake sticks to the sides as it cools.

hope this helps.                  good luck and enjoy.

Answer 3

I love Better than s*x cake. It is super easy to make and on the healthier side.

Ingredients:

1 box Devil's Food Cake mix

10-oz Diet Coke or Diet Pepsi

1 egg white

6-oz fat-free caramel ice cream topping *

7-oz fat-free sweetened condensed milk

1 cup Skor Bar or Heath Bar bits (found by the choc. chips)

1 (8-oz) container fat-free cool whip

*Note that it might not say "fat-free" on the front of the label, but check the nutritional info on the back. I bet it's fat-free. :-)

Directions:

Mix cake mix, egg white and diet soda. Bake at 375 degrees for 35 minutes or until toothpick comes out smooth in a greased 9x13 pan. During the last few minutes of baking, put caramel and condensed milk in a sauce pan and stir on medium low heat until smooth. Take cake out of oven, and poke holes all over the top. Pour caramel mixture over warm cake, filling in the holes. Sprinkle Heath bits over the top, reserving some for the top. Cool completely. Cover with container of fat-free cool whip and sprinkle with remaining heath bits. Put in fridge until ready to serve.

Yields: 24 servings

Nutritional Info: (per serving) 193 Calories, 5.25 g. fat, 1 g. fiber (4 pts per serving) (If you want to make the cake 3.5 pts per serving, only use 1/2 of the Skor bits)

Answer 4

Congratulation to you, and wish you very happy life :)  (F)  

Apricot and Lavender Custard (This is very easy and testy recipes)

Ingredients

For 4 people:

1 ½ cups heavy cream

¾ cup sugar

¼ cup water

6 large egg yolks

2 tablespoons orange juice

4 dried apricots

4 almonds skinless white

2 tablespoons lavender

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons fresh mint

1 tablespoon orange zest

Procedure

Preheat the oven to 325

Preheat to 325

In a medium sauce pan add the cream, vanilla, mint, lavender, and orange zest. Bring the mixture to a boil then remove from heat and let it stand for at least ten minutes. Strain the cream into a bowl.

Heat the sugar and water to a boil to make syrup. Keep the heat on high for another 5 minutes until the syrup starts to turn a rich dark color. Slowly add the cream mixture while whisking vigorously. Continue to heat and whisk until all the sugar is dissolved.

Combine egg yolks, orange juice and salt in a large bowl. Add a half cup of the hot cream mixture, whisking constantly to prevent the eggs from curdling. Continue adding the cream a little at a time until it is all incorporated. Strain the mixture into a separate bowl skim any foam that floats to the top.

Place an almond in the center of each apricot.

Divide the cream mixture evenly into ramekins. Add one apricot to each ramekin. Place the ramekins into a deep sided casserole dish. Pour in boiling water until it reaches half way up the side of the ramekins. Place the casserole pan in the oven and bake for 30 minutes.

After the 30 minutes has passed remove the casserole dish from the oven and carefully remove the ramekins and allow them to cool for at least an hour. Place them in the fridge and allow them to cool for another 3 hours.