stand mixer – Simply Delicious: The Cookbook Project

Happy New Years’ Eve! 2021 has not been my favorite year (probably not yours either), and so I’m not sad to see it go–in fact, we’re going to celebrate its departure with a holiday-ish dessert today: 15-34: White Chocolate Strawberry Soufflé. This soufflé is not baked, but does include meringue being folded in. I’m not sure if that makes it “not a soufflé,” but at this point, does it matter?

“Dramatic” is definitely a good way to describe this past year, so perhaps this is the perfect dessert/recipe for today. However your 2021 has been, I hope that 2022 is a safe and prosperous year for you and yours.?

Now–let’s get off the heavy stuff and into something much lighter–discussion of this “soufflé”.

Think of 16-16: Chocolate-Frosted Nut Cake like a Nutella cake–same flavor profile (chocolate and hazelnuts), and maybe even somewhat healthier?

This is a pretty simple cake–it’s just one layer, and all you have to do is frost and garnish it. Or you can do it like me and make little individual cakes instead.

Here’s a simple dessert that’s easy for a dinner, gift, or even just a snack. 16-9: Raspberry Tart is exactly what it sounds like–pie crust in a tart pan filled with raspberry preserves and topped with bits of dough. Simply Delicious uses a simple drop method for the dough topping, but I think we can do better than that. ?

Why did anyone think that amorphous blobs of dough were an acceptable tart topping? ?‍♀️

Soufflés are one of the stereotypical fancy foods–a harried chef attempting to keep one from falling due to its delicate, temperamental nature used to be a common comedy trope.

The two most common variations are the dessert version (like a chocolate one) and the savory version (like this recipe, 5-6: Cheese Soufflé). I’ve covered one savory soufflé dish already from this book: 4-11: Potato Soufflé with Onions.

This would be a good recipe to add some green onions or chives to–I think it would add some nice color to the soufflé without weighing it down. Simply Delicious shows this recipe in individual ramekins, but I’m going to make it all in one big soufflé dish–I have to justify its existence in my cabinet.

It’s feeling a bit unbalanced around here–we need more from the back of the book. Here’s one from a brand new group: Pies & Cakes. Just in time for the cooler weather, we have 16-47: Orange-Almond Pie.

This came out really well: it tasted great, and you can make it in a toaster oven!

Here’s another dessert for you. Book 3, Group 3 (Desserts), Subgroup 17 (Baked Goods) gives us card #9: Brownies. I’ve made these a bazillion times, and they are a GREAT base for adding your own ingredients.

These are good, easy, and fast–the trifecta you’re never supposed to be able to achieve. I highly recommend them, and I keep this recipe on hand for whenever I want to make brownies. One big difference: these use actual chocolate, not cocoa powder. ?

I went on a cooking spree and made 4 recipes last night. 17-28: Pound Cake was the last of what I cooked, when we were scouring the house looking for a dessert. ?

Hey! This one has MY handwriting on it! I said it was good a few years ago, let’s see if it’s still good.

Spoiler alert: it was. 🙂