Having friends round for dinner on Sat evening and I'm stuck for dessert ideas.    Does anyone have any nice and easy dessert recipes.  Thanks.

Strawberries soaked overnight in red wine, cointreau and fresh orange juice and some orange slices, served next day either cold with cream or heated with haagen daz vanilla ice cream, preferably in HUGE brandy glass :D

mmmm - that sounds very very nice - I shall try that :D

M&S do lovely pancakes with apple and toffee sauce.  Expensive if you have a lot of people, but as I can't cook I have to rely on them when having friends for dinner!  :D

I will second that, with a generous scoop of Hagaan Daz vanilla ice cream.  Yummy, drooling already.
Sandra

Chocolate Mousse.  Arrange slices of jam swiss roll in the bottom of a large glass dish.  Soak with a quarter of a cup of strong black coffee with a couple of tablespoons of rum in it.  Melt a BIG bar of chocolate, let it cool a bit and stir in 6 egg yolks.  Beat the egg whites until stiff and fold into the chocolate mix.  Pour over the swiss roll base and set in the fridge.  Serve with double cream.

It really depends what your main course is But Banana Splits usually go down well

Jean

Ginger-nut biscuits dipped in sherry (or whatever you fancy), then sandwiched together in a long log shape with whipped double cream and then the whole thing covered in cream. Leave all day (or overnight) in the fridge until it has all gone soft inside. Decorate with crystallised ginger (optional).

Daisy

For those of us working on the CD Goddess Challenge, this thread is just mean. :)   My stomach is growling and my mouth is watering.  Oh well, maybe I'll have to take a night off, and try one (or two) of these ideas.  They sound great.

Drai

M & S toffee pecan pie.  Two of them :D

Or go old fashioned........ sliced bananas in custard............everyone LOVES that :)

Edited to add everyone NORMAL

er no Joe, not everyone :D

We went out for my Mum and Dads Golden Wedding the other night and for pud I had something (can't remember the name) that was a crispy biscuit crumb case with ice cream inside then toffee sauce and chopped nuts on top. I was delicious and probably very easy to make. :)

I only got one of them Joe, and I could easily have eaten two :(   ...or more  :D

Kath.
Edited to say I must be normal then...I love bananas in custard  ;)

Kath,  That must have been ice cream toffee nut pie :)

Joe, the restaurant gave it some weird name ( I think it was Funky Pie!! :D) but I think "ice cream toffee nut pie" is so much better :)

Can I come to yours for tea? ;)

Of course you can. :)  I'll make the custard though, if hubby makes it,  it's "How d'you like it, 1 lump or 2 ;) :D

Thank God I am not normal :D :D

Well it depends on the main course as to what pud to serve, but when we are having a light dinner I do this wonderful Luxury Bread & Butter Pudding. Serves 3-4

ingredients
3 slices of thick sliced white bread (not too fresh)
3/4 pint of single cream & milk mixed (or all cream)
2 large eggs
butter
marmalade
couple of hand fulls of sultanas or mixed fruit
2 good tbs brown sugar

method
spread the bread with butter and then marmalade (as thick as you like) then cut the bread into squares (about 9 per slice) place a layer of bread marmalade side up to line the bottom of a buttered shallowish dish. Choose the ones with the corner crusts to go on the bottom.
next sprinkle on your fruit and arrange the rest of the bread marmalade side up over the top.
Beat your eggs and mix together with your cream & milk and 1 tbs of sugar.
Pour over your bread through a sieve to remove these stringy things in the eggs (apparently they are cortex thingies that keep the yolk in place inside the shell, don't know if it makes that much difference but it's something a cookery teacher told me about so I always do it. Gosh! don't I go on- sorry lol)
Now leave for at least 15 mins for liquid to soak into bread, push down the top layers with a fork to ensure they get a good soaking too.
lastly sprinkle the rest of the sugar over the top and bake on middle shelf of oven for 40 mins at gas mark 6 (sorry don't know the electric temp) Serve with lashings of custard or a drizzle of cream.
Enjoy. :)

Again, depends on what you are having for main course, but for me you cannot beat homemade crumble, I have the easiest recipe, and you can cook it in the morning, reheat in the oven and it tastes wonderfully fresh, just add steaming custard or carte d'or vanilla ice cream (not low fat!) and everyone will love you!
Good luck, don't forget to enjoy yourself!

Keep a really good vanilla ice cream in freezer, make strong expresso coffee and pour a spoonful over ice cream just before serving, garnish with a coffee bean or 2. I believe you can get chocolate coffee beans at delis.

Heres an easy baking one - weigh 2 eggs, crack and combine with equal amounts flour and sugar then pur into greased sponge tin. Cut 2 dessert apples into slices then lay on top of thecake, sprinkle over brown sugar and cinnamon if you like it then bake at gas 4 180 C until well risen and a skewer comes out clean.Serve warm with anything you like and say its Dutch Apple Cake.

Or just do what the French do and buy a nice pastry/tarte/cake from the professionals. :)

You forgot the vanilla pod!  Essential! And if you soak the dried fruit in whisky it makes it even yummier!

The above remarks refer to the B & B pudding :D

Had to laugh when I read this, both of your recipes have fruit soaked in alcohol :D  I got a birthday card this year that said "I love to cook with wine, sometimes I even put it in the food!" ;)

I am shorry, but I shinsherely hope that you are not accushing me of (hic) having an alcolol, I mean alocol, alholoc, drink problem! :D

It doesn't look like you have a problem, tohme - you're managing to drink it perfectly well! ;) :D

It's opening the bloody bottles that is a problem when your hands are shaking like mine :D :D

Pancakes with morello cherries and ice cream, sprinkled with a smidgeon of caster sugar. Yummy :-D

Mmmmmmmm....my mouth is watering. How about making a biscuit base (with hob nobs maybe) and covering it with that Dulce D'Or toffee topping. Put bananas on top and finish off with whipping cream? Sort of a banoffe pie?

Lindsay
X

Thanks everyone, loads of yummy desserts to choose from, wonder if I could have a dessert party one evening and make one of each :D
So far, the menu looks like this: rabbit pate with onion jam and toasted brioche, then roast leg of lamb with something (???) and one of these lovely desserts.  By the way, the leg of lamb I am going to roast in a roasting bag in the oven at 100C for 7/8 hours - I've done this once before and the meat just fell off the bone, lovely and tender. :)

Just thought I'd tell you about my Tipsymasu :D

Usual recipe for tiramisu but using one wineglass of very strong Espresso and a large mug of Tia Maria (instead of wineglass of Tia Maria and mug of coffee)  :D :D  and make sure to call a taxi to get home ;)

The lamb sounds yummy :D

You've got a lovely rich starter and main course, I would stick to fresh fruit salad and a nice selection of cheeses.
Lorna

Exactly what I thought Dudley, on seeing the menu. You can't beat a fresh fruit salad especially if you put some exotic fruits in too.

Sliced orange covered in countreau (spelling sorry) kept in fridge overnight......

or Banana flavoured angel delight with slices of Banana dropped in.......

mmmmmmmmmmmm

Geoff :)

Well thanks for nothing you lot!!!!! Bang goes my diet  :) AGAIN  :) :) :)
Lorna

Gotta add this....

Chocolate mousse.

5 large egg yolks.
3 egg whites
200g chocolate.... im a food snob, so make that 1/3 70% cocoa solids dark choc, and 2/3 quality milk choc.
250ml (or whatever size it is, i think its half pint but not sure) double/whipping cream
tbsp black coffee, cold
brandy (not too much!)

beat egg yolks,
melt choc
mix egg yolks and choc together, dont worry it should look glossy but a lil grainy. if its too grainy then the choc was too hot and it cooked the eggs when u mixed them together, thats called choccy scrambled eggs and is a bit y uck. add brandy n coffee

whip whites till stiff n shiny etc etc, do same to cream, dont whip it too much. leave both at room temp.
Mix eggs/choc with cream
Fold in, do NOT overstir, creamychocegg stuff with egg whites
put in bowl, pretty one, in fridge. Faff about for ages grating bits of choc (you should have some if you ate all your choc you are a pig, start again)...over the top. resist urge to stick fingerse in it

warn friends it has raw eggs in, and eat their share as well.

BTW, this recipe out of very posh french blokes book, and is v yum. dont drink the rest of the brandy!

Em

Lazy apple charlotte:

Peel and cook 2lb bramley apples, with sugar (about 5 tabs), 2 tabs calvados until collapsed.

Make breadcrumbs (about 80z) from a day old loaf.    Melt 2oz butter in frying pan, add half breadcrumbs, and stir until the breadcrumbs become crisp & buttery.   Repeat with another 2 oz butter & remaining breadcrumbs.    Stir 4 oz demarara sugar into the now buttery crisp breadcrumbs.    Put 1 layer breadcrumbs (about 1 inch) in dish, add half apple mixture, repeat breadcrumbs, then apple then breadcrumbs again.    Sprinkle the top with 1 sp demarara sugar, put in fridge to cool.    Whip 8oz double cream until thick, add 2 tabs calvados, and serve : mmmmmm!!!

I think that possibly, the chlorestral level of this dish might be a tad high :D :D :D :D

Margot