THE BEST
MAKE AHEAD HOLIDAY PARTY DESSERTS
I love
making desserts that sparkle and dazzle during the holidays, especially when I
can pair citrus with 
sparkling wine, or strawberries with almond liqueur.
That's just what you'll have with the two dessert
recipes that I'm sharing from my book this week. Oranges, in season now, paired
with Proseco, are without a doubt a beautiful and delicious food. After you
taste this sophisticated dessert, you may never want to have another holiday
without having this on your table.
We have Strawberries coming in season on the east
coast. This scrumptious dessert
features strawberries along with amaretto and sliced toasted almonds. For a
crowd, this dessert is really pretty and very elegant when served in a large
crystal punch bowl for guests to help themselves.
Both the Oranges in Proseco and the Strawberries
in Amaretto can be made a day ahead and kept refrigerated. Served in a
beautiful bowl, guests can help themselves, or if you have the room, make
individual servings in champagne bowls and place the fruit filled glasses on a
silver tray on the sideboard.
Proseco
& Oranges
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup orange marmalade
1 3/4 cups Proseco (Italian sparkling wine)
10 large navel oranges peeled and sectioned (see below)
3/4 cup sliced, toasted almonds
Combine the sugar and orange marmalade in a small
saucepan and cook until sugar dissolves.
Remove from heat, and then add Proseco to the
marmalade mixture. Pour over the oranges. Chill.
Serve in champagne bowls topped with toasted
almonds.
Note: To peel oranges, slice a piece off the top
and bottom. Then take a small sharp knife and cut down toward the bottom of the
orange taking off the white pith with the peel. Now cut between the sections to
get an orange slice without the membrane.
Strawberry
Amaretto Romanoff
4 cups fresh strawberries, halved and quartered if
large, halved if small
1/2 cup Amaretto or your favorite almond liqueur
1/2 cup sugar
Stir together the strawberries, liqueur and sugar.
Put in a bowl and refrigerate until ready to use, and then prepare the recipe
below for the topping.
1 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon almond extract
Toasted almond slices
Beat heavy cream, sugar and almond extract until
lightly whipped. When ready to serve the berries, top them with a spoonful of
the cream and then the toasted almonds.
Visit Chef Linda at her website: www.cheflindaweiss.com
and her blog: www.lindaallaboutfood.blogspot.com
LindaŐs first book, Memories From Home: Cooking with Family & Friends
is available at Amazon.com or at her website.
