Stuffed Dates with Pistachios

Mascarpone stuffed dates with pistachios is a versatile and easy no-bake dish. It makes a great dessert, appetizer or snack. On top of that, the dessert is so easy to assemble my 6-year-old little sis-in-law can do it!

I used Deglet Noor dates because the texture is firm and thick without tasting overly sweet. This makes them perfect for appetizers. For a sweeter version, you could use Medjool dates.

To make the dish, I pitted the dates and filled them cannoli-style with mascarpone cream. Crushed pistachios add texture, flavor and color. I placed the stuffed dates on a bed of thin butter almond cookies to enhance the presentation and make them easier to handle.

Speculoos Spread Cookie Tartlet Recipe

I recently received a jar of speculoos spread from a company called Tamarin. I first saw these new speculoos "pâte a tartiner" jars during my last trip to Paris. Our family loves Nutella and peanut butter, so I couldn't wait to develop a new dessert around this product. The thick spread is based on speculoos, which are specialty shortcrust cookies that originally were baked traditionally for consumption on St. Nicholas' Eve. They originated from the North of France and Belgium (also known as "speculaas" in Dutch) and often are shaped with an image stamp depicting the story of St. Nicholas. The main spices for the thin, crunchy, slightly brown cookie are cinnamon, cloves, ground ginger, cardamom, nutmeg and white pepper. The cookies are so delicious that they're available year 'round in France.

I made a cookie dough using the same spices as for speculoos cookies but instead of making shortcrust, I used it as a base and created a cookie tartlet. As soon as the shells come out from the oven, I pressed the center of the cookie to create a cavity so I could insert a creamy spread of speculoos inside. The result was fantastic. I’ll play around with the product more and post additional recipes, so stay tuned. Thanks, Tamarin!

Asian-Style Strawberry Napoleon Recipe (Mille-feuille Fraise Noix de Coco Dessert)

Mille-feuille, called "Napoleon" in the U.S., is a very popular French dessert. Traditionally [according to Wikipedia], a mille-feuille is made up of three layers of puff pastry, alternating with two layers of cream pâtissière, but sometimes whipped cream or jam. The top is usually glazed with icing or fondant in alternating white (icing) and brown (chocolate) strips, and combed.

I’ve made traditional mille-feuilles many times before, and I was in the mood for a change. I assembled a gluten-free version using layers of Vietnamese coconut paper called bánh phông sữa. They are paper-thin sheets made of coconut milk, sugar, cassava and condensed milk. I flavored the dessert with fresh strawberries and a coulis de fraise, which is a strawberry sauce. This dessert is bake-free and so easy to create, that I had the girls do the assembly. They had so much fun putting them together and even more making them disappear!

Chocolate Pear Entremet

Un entremet poire chocolat is an ultra-refined dessert made of layers of chocolate cake, pear flavored mascarpone and covered in chocolate cream. The key to this dessert is to use very fragrant and juicy pears. I waited a few days for the pears to reach the peak of ripeness. I baked the mini chocolate cakes in 4-½" diameter pans so we could each have our own serving.

Of course, we ended up sharing one individual cake and feeding each other. Lulu commented that the entremet was almost too pretty to be eaten, but he soon got over his initial reaction. It was the perfect way to end our Valentine's Day dinner, and I'm sure I'll be making more of these in the near future.  There's no reason to wait a whole year to enjoy this decadent treat again!

Raspberry Trifle (Charlotte aux Framboises)

At first blush, charlotte aux framboises closely resembles an Italian tiramisu. The lady fingers and cream are where the similarities end though. This recipe is made with raspberry extract, fresh raspberries and raspberry sauce. For a more grownup treat, you can use framboise, which is a raspberry-flavored liqueur. Charlottes are traditionally made with fromage blanc, which is a thick yogurt that you can find in any market in France. I didn't have any, so I substituted mascarpone in instead. It's delicious either way.