Puff Pastry Tarts

No baking experience is required to make these delicious puff pastry apple tarts. These come together quickly and are a perfect last-minute dessert that will wow and amaze your guests.

I filled the tarts with diced apples tossed with sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and a bit of flour but you could really any fruit and even preserves would work.

The main ingredient is store bought puff pastry. Just lay out the pastry, cut rounds and then with the extra dough cut strips, to add a border on top of the rounds that will rise and hold in the filling.

Cut rounds of puff pastry and then cup strips to add a border.

Bake the tarts on a parchment lined sheetpan in a 450 degree oven for 15 minutes or until the puff pastry is crisp and golden brown and that's all there is to it.

These are especially good topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Trust me, your guests will think they went to the fanciest restaurant in town.

Raspberry Baklava

My family was craving something sweet after dinner last night so I came up with this quick raspberry dessert that's assembled just like the wonderful Greek pastry baklava.

All you need to make it is a bag of frozen raspberries, a roll of phyllo dough, cream, cornstarch, butter and sugar. 

You could also add chopped walnuts to the recipe and substitute just about any fruit.

I served it as is but a dollop of whipped cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream wouldn't hurt.

Raspberry Filling

1 12 ounce bag frozen raspberries
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons cornstarch

Heat the frozen raspberries and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat until simmering. Keep a watch over them and periodically give them a stir.

In a small bowl whisk together the cream and cornstarch. When the raspberry mixture is simmering, add the cream mixture and whisk constantly over medium heat for two to three minutes until the mixture thickens. Remove from heat and let the filling cool a bit before assembling the raspberry baklava.

To Assemble:

Raspberry filling

1 roll phyllo dough

1/4 cup butter, melted

Sugar

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

In a 9x13 baking dish lay down a piece of phyllo and add a few spoonfuls of the filling on top of it. Spread the filling all over the phyllo using a knife or spatula. 

Top with another sheet of phyllo and brush it with butter. Add a light sprinkle of sugar.

Top with another layer of phyllo and spread with more raspberry filling.

 Keep repeating until you've used up all the filling and phyllo. End with two sheets of phyllo and brush with butter.

Note: If you want to add chopped walnuts to the recipe, add a sprinkle of them when you add the sugar.

Bake for 12 to 15 minutes until golden brown.

Guinness Chocolate Cake

 I needed a last minute dessert to bring to a dinner party tonight so I turned to my favorite fail-proof Guinness Chocolate Cake. The cake comes together lickety-split — You mix it by hand in one bowl!

Today I substituted plain non-fat yogurt for the sour cream in the original recipe because I didn't feel like running to the store and it worked. The cake still came out moist and delicious.

The original recipe is from Nigella Lawson's cookbook "Feast." Try it and you won't be disappointed.

Guinness Chocolate Cake
1 cup Guinness
1 stick plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
3/4 cup cocoa powder
2 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup sour cream ( or substitute plain yogurt)
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and butter and line a 9-inch springform pan.

Pour the Guinness into a large saucepan, add the butter in slices and heat until the butter is melted. Turn off the heat and whisk in the cocoa and sugar. Beat the sour cream with the eggs and vanilla and pour into the beer mixture and finally whisk in the flour and baking soda.

Pour the cake batter into the greased and lined pan and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Leave to cool completely in the pan on a cooling rack, as it is quite a damp cake.

Once cool, frost with Cream Cheese Topping.

Cream Cheese Topping
1 package (8 oz) cream cheese, room temperature
1 1/4 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream

Whip the cream cheese until smooth. Add powdered sugar and whip again. Add the cream and whip again until it's light and spreadable. Frost just the top of the cake so that it resembles a frothy top of Guinness.