The top five desserts made with champagne to make your holiday celebration extra festive!
Just because Christmas is over doesn’t mean the holiday baking is! Whip up one of these special treats for your New Year’s Eve celebration to make it extra special. Another excuse for some bubbly? Don’t mind if I do!
No-bake white chocolate lemon truffles are a refreshing change of pace for the holidays. Make this sparkly treat for your New Year’s Eve festivities!
Sometimes you just want to make something that tastes good and is extra pretty.
These lemon truffles are such a gorgeous little treat that you can’t help but ooooh and aaaaah over. They sparkle on the outside while the inside showcases an ultra creamy filling. The essence of lemon is present but not lip-puckeringly so and balances perfectly with the sweet white chocolate.
The truffles do require some lead time because you want to make sure there is plenty of time for chilling. Otherwise, you will end up with a bit of a sticky mess. It’s worth it, though. You can display them in a fancy candy dish and most people would assume that they were the result of a high-end candy shop purchase. They are gorgeous and festive which lends them quite well to a New Year’s Eve celebration. And thinking way ahead, keep them in mind for special Valentine’s Day gifts.
These Pink Champagne Cake Pops are going to be your new go-to celebration treat! Make them to ring in the New Year or for your next birthday party. They are as delicious as they are pretty!
This is one of the most fun photo shoots I’ve ever put together and I’m excited to finally post all about these gorgeous cake pops!
The recipe was put together for this year’s holiday issue of Celebrity Cooking Magazine. I was so honored to be featured in the magazine amongst great chefs like Giada De Laurentiis and Fabio Viviani. If you skip to page 72 of the magazine, you will find a Keep It Sweet Desserts feature along with a couple of my holiday dessert recipes. Since they didn’t include the recipe for these Pink Champagne Cake Pops (just a photo), I figured I just had to share them here!
Cake pops are a fun treat and can take a little bit of time to put together, but when you use a good recipe, they will taste just as delicious as they look (you can’t say that for all store-bought cake pops and mixes). Also, since they are dipped in chocolate, the cake balls retain their moisture for a little longer than cupcakes or regular cake so they can be prepared up to one week in advance.
New Years Eve parties, bridal showers and 21st birthdays are just some of the occasions to celebrate with these cake pops.
And imagine your guests delight when they bite into the sweet champagne flavored cake pop and find a pretty pink center!
Sorry for the photo overload, I just couldn’t resist!
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A few months ago I received a few coupons for free Stonyfield’s ice cream or frozen yogurt. I finally used the coupons just in time for their expiration date and was inspired to use my frozen yogurts to make a New Year’s Eve dessert. I’ll leave a full review of the yogurt for a separate post, but I am very happy with the delicious dessert I came up with.
You are looking at layers of crunchy gingersnap crust, pumpkin frozen yogurt, and chocolate frozen yogurt topped with a salted caramel cream sauce. I came up with the dessert because chocolate and pumpkin are some of my favorite flavors, but as soon as I created it I realized that this mimics my favorite cheesecake bar. Ok, so it wasn’t the first time using these flavors, but I promise that it was worth the lack of creativity for an excuse to make the topping. This Frozen Pumpkin and Chocolate Yogurt Pie with Salted Caramel Cream Sauce was a very worthy end to 2010.
I love that the filling to this pie is fat free frozen yogurt, because it makes you think you are being really healthy. Never mind that the crust has half a stick of butter in it and the sauce is based on sugar, butter and heavy whipping cream. Details, details. Moderation is key, or so they say.
The pie is really easy to make. The sauce is a little more challenging. I simplified it after my first attempt where I ended up with rock-hard chunks of sugar and butter. It took a lot of soaking to clean that pot!
First thing to do is run your gingersnap crumbs through a food processor
Grind until the cookies are mostly fine crumbs
Melt the butter
And mix it with the cookie crumbs
Next, add sugar
When the crust is fully mixed, press it down into a 9-inch spring-form pan sprayed with non-stick cooking spray
Bake for about 8 minutes or until firm
Allow the crust to cool and put the vanilla frozen yogurt in a medium bowl
The vanilla is the base for your pumpkin layer
Fold in the pumpkin and pumpkin pie spice until well combined
Spread pumpkin layer over crust and freeze for about 10 minutes
Meanwhile, remove the chocolate frozen yogurt from the freezer so that it is softened
Spread chocolate yogurt over the pumpkin and freeze covered with foil until ready to serve
To make the caramel, begin by heating sugar over low to medium heat in a small sauce pan
Add butter
Stir butter and sugar until butter is melted and fully combined with sugar
Reduce the heat to low and add cream
Stir continuously until mixture bubbles
Then remove pot from heat and stir in corn syrup
Add salt and stir
The sauce will be a thick liquid that hardens as it cools; store it in the refrigerator and microwave on a low setting to re-heat
When it is time to serve the dessert, carefully remove outside of springform pan
Cut slices and drizzle with caramel cream sauce
When no one is looking, steal some extra sauce for cookies, fruit, your finger…
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Frozen Pumpkin and Chocolate Yogurt Pie with Salted Caramel Cream Sauce
Sauce adapted from the Serendipity Sundaes cookbook
Serves 8-12
Pie Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups of gingersnap cookie crumbs (about 25 cookies)
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
2 cups vanilla frozen yogurt (I used Stonyfield fat free vanilla)
1/2 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie seasoning
2 cups chocolate frozen yogurt (I used Stonyfield fat free chocolate)
Pie Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
Spray a 9-inch springform pan with cooking spray, set aside
To make the crust, grind up about 25 gingersnaps in a food processor until fine; set cookie crumbs aside
Melt 4 tablespoons of butter in the microwave and pour over cookie crumbs
Add 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar and mix until well combined
Pour mixture into springform pan
Bake for 8-10 minutes or until firm
Remove from oven and allow to cool
Remove vanilla frozen yogurt from freezer a few minutes before use
Place the yogurt into a bowl and fold in the pumpkin and pumpkin pie spice until well combined
Spread pumpkin layer over crust and freeze for about 10 minutes
Meanwhile, remove the chocolate frozen yogurt from the freezer so that it is softened
Spread chocolate yogurt over the pumpkin and freeze covered with foil until ready to serve
Sauce Ingredients:
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1 teaspoon sea salt
Sauce Directions:
Heat sugar over low to medium heat in a small sauce pan
Add butter; stir until butter is melted and fully combined with sugar
Reduce the heat to low and add cream; stir continuously until mixture bubbles
Remove pot from heat and stir in corn syrup
Add salt and stir
When it is time to serve the dessert, carefully remove outside of springform pan
Cut slices and drizzle with caramel cream sauce
Notes:
The sauce is best served immediately; if not, store it in the refrigerator and microwave on a low setting to re-heat at 15 second intervals stirring in-between
The sauce will firm up over the ice cream, don’t worry, that is supposed to happen!
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I hope that everyone enjoys a happy and healthy New Year!
What dessert did you have for New Year’s Eve?
