Take advantage of summer ingredients and lightened-up techniques to create sweets that will tempt diners without too much effort. These five desserts are impressive to look at but easy to make.
Grilled Polenta Walnut Pound Cake with Strawberries and Cream
This pound cake swaps in cornmeal polenta for some of the flour, a spin on the traditional recipe. Chef Joanne Weir appreciates the contrasting texture the polenta provides, and the mellow cake partners well with crunchy walnuts in the batter and juicy strawberries on top.
Photograph courtesy of Cotton Blues Kitchen + Marketplace
Lemon Icebox Pie
This classic Southern dessert offers a tart lemon counterpoint to the sweet components. An icebox dessert is traditionally made with layers of thin cookie wafers or a cookie crust, and pastry chef Shaun Davis of Cotton Blues Kitchen combines two varieties—gingersnaps and vanilla wafers—to form the crust for this cool summer pie.
This simple dessert pairs best-of-the-season blueberries with chocolate for a winning combination. Chef David Jensen of Hy-Vee Supermarkets uses soymilk instead of dairy to make the dessert vegan-friendly without sacrificing creaminess or indulgence.
Chef Suzanne Raiford entered this summery dessert in a nationwide recipe contest and earned the winning spot in the south-central region. The base is a doctored-up cake mix that is complemented by a creamy filling and juicy fresh strawberries.
This simple dessert is easy to portion into single-serving to-go cups or more decorative parfait glasses, if serving on a patio or at a catered event. Chef Dennis Rivera of The Terrace at Phoebe Allentown menus the chocolate mousse-cheesecake parfaits on multiple occasions and they’re always a hit with the senior living residents.
It’s the time of year when cookie baking accelerates at warp speed. These five recipes will become treasured additions to the holiday cookie assortment.
