Tales from the Test Kitchen: Drunken Desserts...Cheers!

Yesterday was Dessert Day in the Test Kitchen. Tiff and I ran through and photographed all the desserts for the cookbook. Spanish cooking is all about keeping it simple, minimizing your time in the kitchen and maximizing your time with family and friends. All of these desserts will leave your guests satisfied and keep you where you should be when entertaining...sipping coktails and chowing down with them! As usual, all recipes will be featured in our cookbook, A Drinking Girl's Guide to Spanish Food-Quick & Easy Recipes to Make you the Toast of the Town" coming out this Spring!

First on the list was the selection you see above, the Spanish version of Arroz con Leche or rice pudding...very traditional! Arroz con Leche takes a little time, but it's super easy. It's sweet, but not too sweet, and tastes great with a little sprinkle of cinnamon and nutmeg. Serve it warm, right out of the pan, as dessert or even a breakfast cereal, or cold, straight from the refrigerator. If you are serving it for guests, you'll probably want to make it ahead of time, perhaps even the day before. If you put it in dessert bowls ahead of time and refrigerate, just pull it out when you're guests are eating their meal, and it will warm up a bit and serve as a refreshing finish to your meal. Serve cinnamon schnapps as an appertif, if your guest have been good...

My favorite dessert was this colorful selection above...Tempernillo Poached Apples & Peaches...It was my favorite! The fruit really soaked up the favor of this spiced wine. You can totally make it ahead of time because the longer the fruit soaks in the wine, the better the flavor. Served warm with vanilla ice cream...aaaaah...I wanted to eat the whole pot! Besides the fact that it is simply beautiful, it is so easy, and this recipe is dual purpose...for a great mulled wine...pour the heated wine into mugs warm and forget the fruit...;-)
This recipe was inspired by my elderly neighbor who invited us over for cafe con leche one morning. What she made for us was an quick version of cafe con leche with instant coffee and sweetened milk. We serve our version in shot glasses. It's super rich and a little goes a long way, and tastes great served with assorted chocolates, fresh strawberries and clementines. For a fun twist, use this sweet liquid as a topping served over ice cream, with whipped topping, chocolate shavings and your favorite nuts for a Cafe con Leche Sundae! So fun!

Spaniards love their sweets and Chocolates and Clementines are a refreshing way to finish off any meal. Pre-peeled or not, the sweet and juicy clementines are super easy, and also very traditional, and we serve them with an assortment of dark chocolate with almonds, milk chocolate with rice crispies, and puffy milk chocolate squares filled with chocolate mousse. We served these with little lattes. Home espresso and specialty coffee machines are all the rage, and often an affordable way to "Be Your Own Barista." Have some assorted coffee flavors on hand and let your guests customize their own cup!

Below is another super easy finisher! This cake is from Puente, a town famous for its pottery...and its super light pound cake with just a hint of lemony flavor. The townspeople always know when the Americans have blown through town because we buy out the bakery! They freeze well, too, so you can buy several to have on hand for the following recipe...If you don't have any puente cake, your favorite store bought pound cake or sponge cake will do just fine! Cut a nice thick piece, add some strawberries and drizzle it...or soak it...with a nice sweet sherry. We use the 10 year aged Pedro Ximenez variety here in Spain...It is delicious and so simple. Depending on the amount of wine you've had that evening...the simpler, the better, eh...serve it with your favorite coffee...in Spain, it's Cafe con Leche, which mostly resembles a small latte and we love it. We hope you will too! We start taking pre-orders for the cookbook soon...Hasta luego...