Panettone bread pudding with spiced orange sauce

A heavenly combination for a sweet treat or a decadent way to start your day!

Directions:

• Place the panettone bread cubes to fit compactly into a buttered 2-quart casserole dish. Do not press too tightly; set aside any leftover bread cubes.
• Whisk together 3 eggs and ½ cup of sugar until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture becomes light yellow in color. Pour in the cream, vanilla, and 1 tablespoon orange liqueur; whisk to combine. Stir in 1 pinch salt, 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg, lemon zest, and orange zest. Pour this mixture over the panettone cubes in the casserole dish. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Remove the bread from the refrigerator, uncover, and dot the top of the bread pudding with 2 ½ tablespoons butter, and sprinkle with 2 tablespoons of white sugar.
• Set casserole dish into a shallow pan that is 2 to 3 inches larger in diameter than the casserole dish. Set these pans onto the center rack of the preheated oven. Pour hot water into the outside pan, until it reaches a depth of 1 inch around the casserole dish, creating a water bath.
• Bake the pudding in the water bath until it is fully set and a knife inserted into the center of the pudding comes out clean, 1 to 1 ¼ hours. The water bath will help the pudding to cook evenly and maintain a light texture. Carefully remove the pudding from the water bath and cool for at least 15 minutes before serving.
• Just before serving, make the sauce by melting ½ cup butter in a saucepan over low heat. Stir in 1cup sugar, ¼ cup orange liqueur, 3 tablespoons water, 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg, and 1/8 teaspoon salt. Stir and heat over medium heat until the sugar is fully dissolved and the liquid is heated through. Remove from heat.
• In a small mixing bowl, whisk 1 egg until well beaten. While whisking the egg, slowly pour 2 tablespoons of the hot mixture into the bowl with the egg. Then, while whisking mixture vigorously, slowly pour the warmed egg mixture back into the sauce.
• Place the saucepan back over low heat, gently stirring the sauce and raising the temperature slowly to medium. Continue to stir until the sauce almost reaches a simmer, reducing the heat as necessary if the mixture threatens to boil. Continue stirring until the sauce thickens, 1 to 2 minutes. Spoon over the bread pudding and serve immediately.

Preparation: 30 min

Cooking time: 1 hour

Ready to serve: 2 hours

Yield: 6 servings

Ladyfinger parfaits

A quick and delightful way to impress a family member or guest!

Directions:

• Line 2 large wineglasses with ladyfingers all along the inside perimeter of the glass.
• In a bowl, mix the melted ice cream and the liqueur. Drop some raspberries in the bottom of each glass. Top with one-quarter of the ice cream mixture per glass. Add another layer of raspberries, then more ice cream mixture, and then make the last layer with raspberries.

Total time: 15 min

Yield: 2 servings

Maria’s cookies ice cream cake

Perfect to remember childhood memories…

Directions:

• Whisk the heavy cream with an electric mixer until the cream holds its shape. Add the condensed milk and whisk just until fully combined.
• In the meantime, prepare the coffee and let it cool down completely. In a round Pyrex (around 9 cups) with cover start shaping the cake layer by layer. In the bottom add some cream mixture.
• Submerging the cookies one by one on the coffee for a couple of seconds (the cookie must keep its shape, just submerge to smooth it a little and get the coffee flavor), display them in a circle (one in center and others around) in the pan.
• Repeat the procedure (1 layer of cream, another of cookies) until you run out of cream. The last layer should be cream.
• Cover and freeze for 4 hours.
• To serve, warm up the covered frozen pan in hot water to easily turn it upside down on a plate.

Total time: 4.0 hours

Yield: 6 servings

Delicious cassava cake

An unexpectedly delicious treat!

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 325° F.
• In large mixing bowl combine cake ingredients and mix them well.
• Pour equally into two large greased rectangular pans.
• Bake until top is no longer liquid (approximately 30 minutes).
• Mix topping ingredients well and spread evenly on the two cakes.
• Bake an additional 20 to 30 minutes.
• Cool cakes completely.
• Slice each cake into 24 equal squares.

Preparation time: 1 hour

Cook time: 1 hour

Yield: 24 squares

Soda cracker lemon dessert

A sweet, “citrusy”, crunchy treat!

Directions:

• Beat all ingredients until hardened.

Add:

• 20 Gilda soda crackers (crushed)
• ½ cup almonds (slivered)
• Spread in 9 x 12 inch greased pan. Bake at 325 degrees° F for 25 minutes. Mix 8-ounce of cream cheese with container of Cool Whip (medium size). Spread half of this mixture over cooled crust.
• Add (spreading over) 1 can lemon pie mix. Cover with rest of cream cheese mixture. Sprinkle on almonds, walnuts or toasted coconut as desired.

Preparation: 10 min

Cook time: 25 min