Learn from the Italians. No, we will not make tiramisu today. We simply borrow one of the principles of the Italian Dolce Vita: food is a pleasure. The same should be its preparation. Simple, beautiful and tasteful.
How to add sweets to your life, while keeping up with its frantic rhythm? Make a simple dessert! Moreover, do not forget to cook quickly, but without haste, we do everything in pleasure.
Desserts are far from always a capricious dough, fragile meringues, whipping proteins to steady peaks, dancing with tambourines around a tricky cream or eye-catching glaze. Cooking goodies can be quick and easy. And it's not about fruit salad with yogurt, but about more interesting sweets.
The first secret - proper training saves time
So that the preparation of dessert in the literal sense of the word does not spill over into the mass of spoiled ingredients and piles of dirty dishes, we think over an action plan in advance. Just think in your head what you might need. In this, a good hostess will give odds to any military strategist. If there is not enough time to cook, we choose a simple and understandable recipe. We leave experiments with mirror glaze or multi-layer cake for another case. All you need - a mixer, mixing bowls, measuring spoons, molds - should be at hand. We buy ingredients on the list. That's all. Extremely simple, but such minimal training really saves time. Agree, running around the kitchen in search of a whisk or suddenly discovering the absence of vanilla will add neither mood nor speed up the process.
The second secret is the minimum of ingredients with their perfect compatibility
For a quick dessert, choose a win-win option. Cottage cheese and berries, chocolate and nuts, apples and honey. We take what is friendly with each other without any problems. When there are few ingredients, not more than 4-5, then a little time is spent on cooking, and the chance to mix something up is minimal. We have selected for you examples of such desserts.
Chocolate curd
250 grams of cottage cheese;
bar of dark or milk chocolate;
2 tablespoons of sugar;
fruits or berries (banana, kiwi, strawberries) - to taste.
Melt the chocolate in the microwave. We take small silicone molds, for example for muffins, and cover their walls with a thick layer of melted chocolate with a culinary brush. Put the molds in the freezer.
Beat cottage cheese with sugar using a blender, add finely chopped fruit.
During this time, the chocolate walls of the molds just grab a little. We take it out of the freezer, fill it with a fruit-curd mixture, pour chocolate on top. And back to the cold. After 5-10 minutes, we take it out, remove the dessert from the molds and regale.
Sweet baked apples
4 medium sized apples;
4 teaspoons of honey;
50 grams of peeled walnuts;
pitted prunes and dried apricots - 4 pieces each;
cinnamon to taste.
We wash the prunes and dried apricots and fill them with hot water for a while, so that they become a little softer. We remove the core from apples, making a small depression in them.
Finely chop walnuts, as well as dried fruits. We mix prunes, dried apricots and pieces of nuts with honey and cinnamon.
We start with a sweet mixture of apples. We spread them on a baking sheet covered with baking paper, and send them to the oven. At 200 degrees in about half an hour, the aromatic hot dessert is ready.
Quick Chocolate Pudding
100 grams of natural cocoa powder;
half a packet of butter;
120 grams of sugar;
6 tablespoons of flour without a slide;
0.5 liters of milk.
Take a saucepan, put on medium heat. Melt the butter. Then pour sugar, flour, cocoa powder sequentially. Adding each ingredient, mix thoroughly.
Now gradually, in a few tricks, pour the milk, do not stop interfering. Slightly add fire, wait a couple of minutes until the mixture thickens. After boiling, we interfere for another half a minute.
Remove from heat, pour into cups or bowls, let cool. About 30 minutes we cool in the refrigerator. You can try it!
The third secret - the simplest ingredients can magically transform
So, cookies can become the basis for the cake, even from the usual small crackers and sour cream, a very delicate dessert is obtained. And with chocolate paste with the addition of just two ingredients, you can make brownie cakes.
Whip up Brownie
200 grams of chocolate or chocolate-nut paste;
2 eggs;
240 grams of flour.
Mix the chocolate paste with the eggs into a smooth, homogeneous mass. Constantly mixing, gently, gradually pour the flour.
We shift the finished dough into portioned molds. We put in the oven preheated to 180 degrees for 10-12 minutes. The cakes should crack slightly above, and stay a little damp inside, check with a wooden toothpick. We get ready-made brownies, cool a little before removing from the molds.
Cake "fish"
0.5 kg of small fish cracker;
0.5 kg of sour cream 20% fat;
1 cup of sugar;
fruits and chocolate - for decoration.
It can't be easier! Beat sour cream with sugar using a mixer. Pour small cookies into the resulting sour cream. Mix well. We lay out a slide on a dish and send for a couple of hours in the refrigerator. If there is time, leave for the night. Decorate the finished cake with grated chocolate, slices of any fruit - all that you like!
By the way, you can modify this recipe by laying layers of "fish" soaked in sour cream and sliced fruits, for example, bananas or kiwi, add nuts or chocolate drops (drops) to the mass.
The fourth secret - we simplify and speed up the cooking method itself
Today in the arsenal of the hostess is a whole army of kitchen helpers. Blender, mixer, all kinds of graters - just do not count. We will use the microwave. With it, desserts are cooked in minutes.
Curd Souffle
200 grams of cottage cheese;
1 apple or pear;
2 tablespoons of sugar;
2 eggs.
Separate the whites from the yolks. Using a blender, mix the yolks with cottage cheese and sugar. Beat the whites with a mixer in the foam. Three apples or a pear on a grater or cut into small pieces, add to the curd mass. Introduce whipped proteins, mix gently so as not to settle. We place the curd in small glass or ceramic cups. We put in the microwave for 5 minutes at maximum power. If the top is solid, the souffle is done.
Quick cupcake
5 tablespoons of flour;
2 tablespoons of vegetable oil;
1 egg
2-3 tablespoons of sugar;
1.5 tablespoons of cocoa powder
75 ml of milk;
1 teaspoon of baking powder.
Mix the egg with sugar, add vegetable oil. Then pour the milk. Pour flour, cocoa powder and baking powder, mix everything. We get the dough, in consistency similar to thick sour cream. Bake in a glass form for a microwave for 5 minutes at maximum power.
Fifth secret - we are interested in other people's secrets
Everyone loves secrets. And strangers especially. But seriously, it never hurts to borrow a few life hacks from experienced chefs. They will help simplify the creation of dessert. For example:
• cream will whip faster and better if they are cold; you should also cool the bowl and whisk;
• a pinch of salt will help to beat egg whites well;
• ice cream can be made literally in seconds, if you use frozen berries. This is a secret we spied on the famous British chef Jamie Oliver. Here is the recipe for his ice cream, which will take less than a minute of time!
Jamie's Ice Cream
250 ml of yogurt;
a pound of frozen berries (strawberries);
a tablespoon of honey.
Whip all the ingredients with a blender until smooth. Immediately spread in pre-chilled cups. And enjoy light popsicles.
That's really true - dolce vita without any extra hassle!
