Deseine - 100 desserts to die for: quick, easy, delicious recipes for the ultimate classics

Sweet and creamy desserts

are one of lifes little pleasures and here are 100 glamorous, decadent, utterly delicious recipes to tempt you. The recipes are packed with tips, shortcuts and good advice, and are guaranteed to impress guests. There is a sweet treat for every occasion in this stunning collection of inventive, uncomplicated desserts that are perfect for sharing with family and friends.

Trish Deseine is originally from Ireland and has been living in France for 25 years. A former BBC TV cooking show host, an author of 15 cookbooks and a recipe writer for French Elle , Trish Deseine insists that she isnt a professional chef but a home cook. In 2013 her book The Paris Gourmet won her the fourth World Gourmand Award of her career. Trishdeseine.com

Introduction

FIRST OF ALL, A DISCLAIMER: the title of this book is meant to be as tongue-in-cheek as Nigella Lawsons cult but initially misunderstoodcookbook, How to Be a Domestic Goddess. Just as Nigella had no intention of wiping out decades of feminist progress by chaining women once again to their stoves, 100 Desserts to Die For is certainly not an instruction manual for a trip to Dignitas. Its aim is rather to balance out the trend, so widespread these days, of going without dessert.

MARK TWAIN WROTE: There are people who strictly deprive themselves of each and every eatable, drinkable, and smokable which has in any way acquired a shady reputation. They pay this price for health. And health is all they get for it. How strange it is. It is like paying out your whole fortune for a cow that has gone dry.

HAVING SAID THAT, MAYBE THESE DAYS it is cookbooks more than food products that should come with health warnings or traffic light ratings If this were the case, this book would be slapped with a sticker saying Use with caution, or Only handle this book in the presence of a responsible adult.

WHILE IT IS TRUE that a diet made up entirely of these impossibly sweet and rich desserts would in effect lead you towards an early grave, you shouldnt feel obliged to gorge yourself on them, all caution thrown to the wind, until your heart, arteries, liver and tastebuds throw in the towel and shut up shop, encrusted with sugar.

I ENTRUST THESE RECIPES TO YOU in the certainty that, as responsible adults, you will make them enthusiastically at sensible intervalssay, once a week? Keeping this in mind, I have tried to be as exhaustive as possible in my selection of recipes, which I have organised according to my most frequently recurring cravings when I think dessert. Sometimeslets say most of the time!its chocolate I want, although often I feel like something sweet and creamy. In summer and autumn I lean towards fruit and ice creams, and for Sunday meals and family gatherings, I often turn to French classics and soft cakes. There are several recipes that usecelebrate, I should say!some slightly trashy mass-produced ingredients, but most of the time my desserts are made from the most traditional and accessible ingredients you can find.

FAR FROM BEING WEEPY, morbid or excessive, 100 Desserts to Die For is a great celebration of the joy of (still, and for as long as possible) being alive. After all, dying is the most universal of activities, isnt it? It is something we will all doin the short, medium or long term, of coursebut why not do it well? We can try to convince ourselves we have some sort of control over how we will go, but the truth is it is more or less like playing a giant lottery.

SO IF, LIKE ME, sweet things are at the top of your list of little pleasures you allow yourself from time to time while approaching your inevitable demise, I hope this book will give you a wide range of options to choose from between now and judgement day.

I WILL LEAVE YOU TO YOUR KITCHEN and your life (for now!) with this wise quote from the French humorist Pierre Desproges: Let us live happily while were waiting for death!

Trish Deseine

Table of Contents

I CLASSICS / Classiques

II CHOCOLATE / Chocolat

III CREAMY / Crmeux

iv Soft / Moelleux

V FRUITY / Fruit

VI ICY / Glac

BANOFFEE PIE

SERVES 6 / 20 MINS PREPARATION TIME

Theres no need to go to the trouble of making your own caramel for this recipe, as your local supermarket is no doubt loaded with jars of salted butter caramel or dulce de leche. You cant cut corners with the digestive biscuits, however.

300 g (101/2 oz) digestive biscuits (sweet wholemeal biscuits)

100 g (31/2 oz) lightly salted butter, melted

200 g (7 oz) salted butter caramel or

3 bananas, fairly ripe

300 ml (101/2 fl oz) thin (pouring/whipping) cream, well chilled

2 tablespoons mascarpone cheese

50 g (13/4 oz) icing (confectioners) sugar (optional)

Grated dark chocolate, to decorate

CRUSH THE BISCUITS INTO CRUMBS. Combine them with the melted butter and spread the mixture over the base of a round 2022 cm (881/2 inch) tart tin. Press down well, then place the base in the fridge for a few minutes to firm it up.

NEXT, SPREAD THE CARAMEL OR DULCE DE LECHE OVER THE PIE BASE. You can heat it up a little beforehand to make it easier to spread.

SLICE THE BANANAS AND ARRANGE THE SLICES ON TOP OF THE CARAMEL.

WHIP THE CREAM AND MASCARPONE TOGETHER WITH AN ELECTRIC BEATER UNTIL LIGHT, ADDING THE ICING SUGAR IF NEEDED. Spread this mixture over the banana slices.

DECORATE WITH GRATED CHOCOLATE AND SERVE IMMEDIATELY, OR KEEP THE BANOFFEE PIE IN THE FRIDGE UNTIL SERVING TIME.

PAVLOVA

SERVES 68 / 10 MINS PREPARATION TIME / 1 HR COOKING TIME / 2 HRS RESTING TIME

A cushion of cream on a cloud of sugar with crunchy edges. This is a dream dessert my favourite!

4 egg whites, at room temperature

220 g (73/4 oz/1 cup) caster (superfine) sugar

1 teaspoon vinegar or lemon juice

1 tablespoon cornflour (cornstarch)