Clementine Chocolate Lava Cake Recipe

My garden is filled with ripe citrus fruits right now, so I gathered two full baskets of clementines. Even though the rain hasn't been all that great this season, the fruit is incredibly sweet. We're lucky! I usually peel fruit right after dinner, leave them at the dining table and let everyone help themselves right away. But this time, before peeling the clementines, I gathered the zest to make my husband Lulu's favorite: chocolate lava cake. It might look complicated, but fear not, it's just a matter of timing. Like love!

If you're planning to surprise your sweetheart for Valentine's Day this year, a decadent chocolate dessert should be at the top of your list. First, it's delicious, and second, I love the idea of Googling aphrodisiacs in preparation for Valentine's Day!

Baileys and Hot Chocolate Tiramisu

Please welcome Jacklyn, of A BitterSweet Wife, a delicious food blog I discovered a few months ago. Jacklyn is a NYC fashion designer turned food writer with an incredible sense of design and very creative recipes. I'm especially fond of Jacklyn's desserts. Tiramisu is our family’s favorite dessert, so it’s a special treat to be sharing Jacklyn’s Baileys hot cocoa tiramisu recipe. Please visit Jacklyn's A Bitter Sweet Wife for more delicious dessert recipes!

This year is turning out just as wonderfully as I had predicted. I know it's a little soon to judge the entire year, but three weeks in, I'm very satisfied with the outlook. One of the very exciting opportunities that has presented itself to me this year is that I was asked by Jackie of PhamFatale.com to create a guest post for her blog! Seeing as though my blog is still a baby at six months old this month, it was an unexpected but great surprise that she reached out to me a few weeks ago asking me if I would be interested in creating a dessert post for her blog. Of course I said yes and began brainstorming for something that would be unique, but easy and delicious for my recipe. I am beyond pleased with my decision and the outcome of the dessert. It is a for sure crowd pleaser in anyone's kitchen.

It's a twist on a timeless classic that will have you dreaming of nights in front of the fireplace as you watch the snow fall outside your window.

Who doesn’t like to cuddle up with a nice mug of hot cocoa on a cold winters night? Add a little splash of Baileys and your sitting pretty. Well I decided that for my first attempt at tiramisu I was going to mix things up a little bit and do my own take on this Italian classic. (Hence were my opening statement about the Baileys spiked hot chocolate comes in to play.) I decided to swap out the coffee and brandy liquor for hot chocolate and Baileys, hoping that the taste would be reminiscent of the popular winters night beverage. And I have to say I think I was extremely successful. The taste of Baileys soaked cake hits you first, and then you get the sweetness from the chocolate powder mixed with the creamy tartness of the mascarpone mixture. It’s quite a divine combination.

Pistachio Dessert: Pistachio Creme Brulee Recipe (+Giveaway)

If you've been following my culinary adventures, you've probably noticed how much I love pistachios! Daddy (my father-in-law) went to visit one of his friends in Sacramento who grows orchards of pistachios. Daddy brought bags filled with fresh pistachios back for me to have fun with. I had never seen or tasted the raw product and it was amazing. The color is richer and greener. Daddy said raw pistachios are very common in India and picking the pistachios brought him back in time. There were so many pistachios that I had to come up with creative ways to make use of them. I immediately thought of making pistachio paste by grinding and blending them raw with a little Bourbon Barrel Vanilla Sugar. I also added pistachio oil to make the paste smooth and creamy because pistachios contain very little natural oil compared to other nuts. I also added a touch of almond extract to give the pistachio paste a nice aroma.

I didn't stop there. I used the paste to flavor a typical French dessert: crème brûlée. I've made crèmes brûlées so many times (lavender, banana, cherry, masala chai, matcha green tea, lemon, chocolate, vanilla, butterscotch, even a savory garlic flavored-one!) that after checking back on PhamFatale.com, I was surprised to see that I never posted this particular version! The pistachios were so fresh that it was almost guaranteed that the crèmes brûlées would be divine. To accentuate the dessert, I used vanilla sugar from Bourbon Barrel in the pistachio paste, the custard mixture and the brûlé part itself. It’s just more evidence that a few exquisite ingredients can transform the simplest foods (eggs, milk, cream and sugar) into something extraordinary.

In addition to tasting incredible, this naturally green-colored dessert can be part of your Halloween table. The kids can have their Snickers and Twix; I’d rather have one (or three) of these pistachio crèmes brûlées!

Mexican Chocolate Flan Recipe

Cinco de Mayo commemorates the Mexican army's unlikely victory over French forces in 1862. The celebrations here in the Bay Area are always fun and I wanted to get in on the festivities. I love chocolate desserts, so I made a spiced chocolate flan.

I flavored the custard with Mexican chocolate, cinnamon and a small amount of cayenne pepper for a pleasant warmth at the end. Enjoy!

Lemon Tiramisu Recipe

Lemon tiramisu is a great dessert to end a very romantic dinner. Yesterday, I served my Valentine a dinner that is reminiscent of our recent trip to Rome. Instead of the traditional ladyfingers in between the layers of mascarpone cream, I used chocolate chip biscotti instead. I flavored the mascarpone cream with Meyer lemons, which paired wonderfully with theItalian chocolate cookies.

We looked at the photos of our trip to Italy, while feeding each other from the dessert cups. My favorite place was, of course, the Vatican (thanks for the link, Bill!) with its magnificent frescoed ceiling in the Sistine Chapel. Oh so romantic!