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Recipe Category: Sweets & Treats

Sweets & Treats

Chocolate Silk Pie

6-8 servings

Slice of chocolate pudding pie, topped with whipped cream and chocolate shavings. On white plate, on white wood-grain table.

This is the perfect filling for a pretzel pie crust (get the recipe here).

Salty, crunchy pretzels and smooth and silky chocolate are a great combination.

Ingredients

1 pretzel pie crust, baked and cooled completely
Filling
3 large eggs
1 cup sugar
8 oz bittersweet chocolate (70% cacao), finely chopped
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup heavy cream
Topping
1 ¼ cups heavy cream
¼ cup powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract (or other flavor, see note)
¼ tsp salt
Extra pretzels, berries, dried rose buds or mint sprigs for garnish/serving

Directions

In a medium heatproof bowl set over a large saucepan of lightly simmering water, whisk together eggs and sugar (bowl shouldn’t touch water). Whisking often, heat until sugar is almost completely dissolved and mixture is pale yellow and slightly aerated, about 5 minutes.

Add chocolate and flavoring, and stir with a rubber spatula until chocolate is melted and mixture is thick and smooth, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat, cool about 30 minutes.

Using an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat the butter in a large bowl until light/fluffy, about 3 minutes. In a medium bowl, beat 1 cup heavy cream on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form, about 2 minutes.

Fold the whipped butter into the cooled chocolate, and then fold in the whipped cream. Scrape filling into the crust and smooth into an even layer. Chill, uncovered, in the refrigerator at least 4 hours.

Just before serving, using an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat 1 ¼ cups heavy cream, powdered sugar, vanilla and salt in a medium bowl until light/fluffy, about 2 minutes. Dollop whipped cream over pie filling and spread out to crust in an even layer using a spoon or offset spatula.

Notes: For a twist, use orange, almond or mint extract in place of vanilla to flavor pie filling. Pie (without toppings) can be assembled 1 day ahead. Cover/keep chilled.

Sweets & Treats

Pretzel Pie Crust

1 10-inch pie crust servings

Pie crust in dark gray metal pie pan, made of pretzel crumbs pressed into the pan. On white table.

Got extra pretzels, potato chips, crackers, breakfast cereal? Then you’ve got what it takes to make a pie crust for a no-bake pie recipe.

Just swap out the pretzel crumbs for whatever you’ve got, adjusting salt/sugar to taste depending on what you’re making the crust out of (the pretzels have enough salt so we didn’t include it in the ingredients).

Ingredients

4 cups (5 oz) mini pretzels
½ cup unsalted butter, melted
3 ½ Tbsp light brown sugar

Directions

Preheat oven to 375°.

In a food processor, pulse pretzels until finely ground (about 1 ¼ cups ground pretzels). Pulse in melted butter and brown sugar until combined.

Press evenly into 10-inch buttered pie dish. Bake 12-15 minutes, until firm. Let cool completely, refrigerating it once the dish is cool to the touch to speed process.

Sweets & Treats

Bananas Foster

4 servings

Four bananas sliced lengthwise, cooking in alcohol lit on fire. Flambe. Flames are tinged blue and orange. On stovetop burner.

Flambe (“flamed” in French) is any dish doused in alcohol and lit on fire. There’s nothing subtle about it, and you’re sure to get ooh’s and aah’s not just for the sheer pyrotechnics but also for the flavor it imparts. Here are a few pointers to make your Bananas Foster experience memorable for all the right reasons.

Look for spirits at least 40% alcohol – enough oomph to give you a flame.

Pick complementary flavors – Rum (spiced or regular), banana liqueur.

Quantity – Not too much liquor per serving, so the booze won’t overpower.

Finish the main cooking – Flambe is just used to burn off alcohol, so get that pan away from the burner before you light up.

Long-Handle Lighter – Give yourself some control, and distance from the fire.

Ingredients

1 stick unsalted butter
½ cup dark brown sugar
4 medium bananas, peeled and sliced lengthwise
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp freshly-ground nutmeg
½ tsp salt
½ cup spiced rum
¼ cup banana liqueur
For serving: 1 pint vanilla ice cream
Optional: 4 slices pound cake

Directions

Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Melt butter and add dark brown sugar, stirring until sugar is dissolved.

Add bananas, cooking for 1 minute on each side. Add cinnamon, nutmeg and salt, stirring gently around the bananas.

Pour in banana liqueur and spiced rum, shaking/swirling pan to distribute evenly. Remove pan from burner’s flame, and gently tilt it so sauce pools a little on one side. With a long-handle lighter, light the pool of sauce. Baste bananas with flaming sauce until flame goes out, gently swirling pan if flames get too high.

Divide pound cake (if using) and ice cream between four plates/bowls and pour hot bananas and sauce over ice cream. Serve immediately.

Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner, Sweets & Treats

Panipopo

24 servings

Shiny rows of rolls in a glass baking pan. Sitting on top of sweet coconut milk. Gray napkin underneath.

Panipopo hails from American Samoa. It’s a treat that’s so much more than the sum of its parts. Fluffy rolls are baked atop and soaked in sweet, velvety coconut cream.

This recipe is adapted from a wonderful family recipe posted on manaui.com: “Why Samoan panipopo is food for the soul.”

Ingredients

4 – 7 ¼ cups flour, divided
1 tsp salt
1 ¾ oz butter
1 cup plus 3 Tbsp sugar, divided
3 tsp active dry yeast
5 – 6 cups warm water, divided
1 can coconut cream (1 ¾ cups)

Directions

In a large bowl, combine salt and 4 cups flour. Rub in the butter until the flour feels “silky” and clumps a little. Make a well in the middle, add sugar.

To a small non-plastic bowl, add yeast and, very slowly, 1 cup of very warm water. Stir until yeast is dissolved, using fingers if you’d like to help the process along. Pour yeast-water into the well in the flour mixture – you should see yeast begin to bubble up as it contacts sugar.

Using a wooden spoon, fold flour into the liquid and mix everything together thoroughly. Add more warm water, 2-3 cups, until it becomes a thick batter that still jiggles a bit when you shake the bowl.

Cover bowl lightly with a clean towel or parchment paper. Leave in a warm, dry spot to rise for 2 hours. By then, the dough should have doubled in size with lots of holes in it. Spread 2 cups flour on a clean work surface and put the dough on top of it. Fold flour into dough and knead until it’s much less sticky and absorbed almost all the flour, about 5 minutes.

When dough is easier to hold but still a little sticky, and a lot more solid than batter, put back in bowl and cover again for a second rise—about an hour. By that time, dough should have doubled in size and have more holes, but less than last time.

Add ½ cup flour to your clean work surface and knead dough until it’s less sticky. Cut dough into palm-sized pieces and roll into spheres on the work surface.

Preheat oven to 400°. Place buns in neat rows in a 9” x 13” baking pan, they’ll keep rising while you prepare the coconut cream sauce.

Pour coconut cream into a bowl. To the empty can, add 2 Tbsp flour and some warm water to stir into the flour until you have a thick liquid. Add more warm water until the can is full, pour the water-flour mixture into the coconut cream. Stirring continuously, add in 1 more cup of warm water and then 1 cup sugar.

Set aside 1 cup of coconut cream sauce and pour the rest into the pan with the buns. Put pan into oven, with a sheet pan one rack down to catch any drips, and bake 20 minutes. Check buns at this point, the sauce should have cooked down a bit. Add the reserved cup of coconut cream sauce and bake 20-25 minutes more.

Buns should now be golden on top with coconut cream sauce bubbling around the bottom. Remove pan from oven, covering with foil so buns don’t dry out as they cool. Serve warm.

Lunch & Dinner, Sweets & Treats, Vegan

Oven-Roasted Potato Peels

3-4 servings

Oven-Roasted Potato Peels are so easy, you’re going to wonder where they’ve been all your life. Just peel potatoes – preferably organic – toss them with a little olive oil, salt and pepper, and roast them in the oven until they get crispy and start to curl up around the edges.

You can add a dusting of spices or fresh herbs once they’re out of the oven, but the earthy flavor of the peels with these simple adornments is the perfect foil for your favorite dip. Or, perch them atop a steaming bowl of the Basic New England Clam Chowder you can make with all of those potatoes you’ll have! You’ll find that recipe here.

Ingredients

2 cups potato peels
1 Tbsp olive oil – spray or pour
1 tsp salt
Pinch of black pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 400°. Line an edged sheet pan with parchment paper.

Wash/scrub potatoes well to remove any dirt. Cut out any blemishes or sprouts with a small paring knife. Peel potatoes with a peeler so you get peels that don’t have too much potato flesh.

Soak peels for ½ hour in cold or room temperature water, to get rid of excess starch. Rinse the soaked peels and dry them with a kitchen towel and/or a salad spinner. Get peels as dry as possible, so the chips get really crisp.

Spread potato peels in a single layer on the sheet pan and drizzle/spray with oil, coating peels well but not weighing them down. Sprinkle with salt/pepper.

Bake potato peels for 15-18 minutes, turning half-way through so they cook evenly. Broil for a few minutes at the end to get them even more crispy, watching carefully so they don’t burn.

Notes: You can save up potato peels until you have the amount you want to use. Store in water in the refrigerator for up to 3 days, changing the water daily.

You can also make these in an air fryer, same temperature but they will be done much faster so keep an eye on them.

Sweets & Treats, Vegan

Blood Orange Paloma

1 servings

Perfectly citrus-y with a subtle sweetness, the Blood Orange Paloma is a great addition to your bartending repertoire. This version was created in honor of “Dry January,” a 30-day challenge for folks to “drink to their health” and enjoy mocktails instead of the real deal.

BriarPatch carries non-alcoholic Ritual Zero Proof Tequila Alternative, which Food & Wine magazine recently named as “the best” (The 12 Best Nonalcoholic Spirits, According to Bartenders – 12/19/2023). Its smoky flavor profile is more akin to mezcal and lends itself well to libations such as this delightful drink. Cheers!

Ingredients

2 oz Ritual Zero Proof Tequila Alternative 
3 ½ oz blood orange-flavored kombucha or sparkling soda 
1 ½ oz fresh grapefruit juice 
½ oz freshly squeezed lime juice 
½ – 1 oz agave nectar (start with less and adjust to taste) 
Salt for rimming glass, optional 
Grapefruit, blood orange and/or lime slices, for garnish 
Rosemary sprigs, for garnish

Directions

Moisten the edge of the glass with lime and rim with salt. Fill glass with crushed ice.  
Add a few ice cubes to a cocktail shaker and add tequila alternative, grapefruit juice, lime juice and agave nectar. Shake for 15-20 seconds and pour in the glass. 
Top with blood orange-flavored kombucha/sparkling soda and stir to combine. Garnish with citrus slices and rosemary sprig.