I think that one of the simplest things you can do to elevate a dessert from good to great is to serve it at different tempertures. So, hot and cold desserts it is!
It could be as simple as some cold caramel ice cream on a warm piece of chocolate chess pie or super fancy like a Baked Alaska. Either way, serving multiple temperatures in one bite makes dessert just a little bit more special.
My Readers Come Through!
I asked my readers to give me their ideas of great hot and cold desserts, and they delivered in a big way. Many of these are just ideas and don’t have links to recipes. Where there is a recipe, though, I will link to it.
I hope these dessert ideas inspire you to create your own. And if you do, please tell me about them. I’d love to hear them, and to add to this list of desserts both hot and cold!
A Round Up of Awesome Ideas for Hot & Cold Desserts
Here are ideas sent in by readers, either via email or over on my Pastry Chef Online Fan Page on Facebook.
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Milk Shake and Fries: My friend Gwyn submitted her idea for chocolate milk shakes and french fries. I like it–I used to get a small Frosty at Wendy’s just to dip my fries in. The sweet-cold-creamy of the ice cream is a great contrast to the hot-salty-crunchy of the fries. (DS, are you listening)? 🙂
Ice Cream Pie with Espresso: Reader Linda says that she makes an amazing graham cracker crust ice cream pie filled with coffee and any other flavored ice cream she wants and topped with whipped cream and chocolate curls. She serves it with espresso. Cold coffee versus hot coffee; sweet versus deeply, darkly, mysterious, and slightly bitter. Who says dessert all has to be on one plate?
Brownies and Ice Cream: Friend Roberta offered up the hot-cold-hot sammich of fresh brownies-ice cream-hot fudge. Can’t really go wrong there!
Apple Crisp, Spicy Hot Chocolate: Also, hot boozy apple crisp with ice cream and spicy hot chocolate with whipped cream. She says that all of these are the “easy choices,” but why are they easy? Because hot and cold are Awesome Together. That’s why!
Hot Chocolate with Creme de Menthe: Dianne shared an alcoholic beverage–now we’re talking–made with hot chocolate and a shot of creme de menthe. This gets more into the figurative hot&cold. Cool minty alcohol juxtaposed with hot creamy goodness? Yes, please.
Chocolate Mousse with Mint Syrup: She also suggested making it in more of a dessert form by topping chocolate mousse with mint syrup. Nice! Her version of Roberta’s hot-cold-hot sammich has peppermint ice cream sandwiched between a warm brownie and hot fudge. To round out her response, she suggested hot apple pie or blackberry crumble with vanilla ice cream. Nice!
Hasty Pudding with Vanilla Ice Cream: Friend Groovy from the very groovy Groovy’s Ruminations says that Hot Hasty pudding with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream or just sweetened heavy cream is, besides being rather George Washington-y, Heavenly.
Baked Alaska: Aoife from The Daily Spud, the fabulous blog about All Things Potato, said that Baked Alaska came immediately to mind. Duh. I didn’t even consider Baked Alaska! I mean, why would I think of flaming ice cream when considering hot&cold desserts? Oh, the horror. Well, she is absolutely right–thank you, DS, for filling in a huge gap. Ice cream on a cake base (or not) insulated by a thick layer of Italian meringue that is then either just browned or actually Set on Fire. Love it. It doesn’t get much hotter–or colder–than that!
Spiced Creme Caramel: Camille, who writes the packed-full-of-good-stuff blog Croque Camille, posted her entry over at her place. She even goes through her thought process, which is always interesting to me. What she came up with was inspired by a warm-tasting cold thing and a cold-tasting warm thing, but she decided to call it Spiced Crème Caramel with Hot Caramel Pears. Probably a good decision!
And my entry? Well, it’s in my head, but I shall tell you about it in the hopes that I will become inspired to Actually Make It. Or maybe you will be inspired to make it, or any one of these entries. Or come up with your own hot and cold dessert.
Mulled Cider Granita–I thought, what better way to combine hot and cold but to take a Usually Hot Thing and freeze it? Take your favorite recipe for mulled cider, do the egg test and see if it will behave itself when you freeze it, and then put it in the freezer, scraping it with a fork every hour or so to keep things nice and crytallized. Adjust as necessary, adding either a bit of water (if there’s too much sugar in it) or a bit more sugar or a glug of corn syrup (if there’s not enough sugar). I think I’d even throw in some pepper flake, let it steep and then strain it out before freezing.
So, there you have it. A big huge Thank You to everyone who sent in their ideas or wrote a post. I appreciate the participation, and I’ll see you soon!
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this is interesting these are really wonderful
It was a fun challenge–lots of cool ideas, Kimberly! Glad you liked. 🙂
Yay! Thanks for all the hot and cold ideas! The baked Alaska has me thinking about deep-fried ice cream. Yes, it’s silly, but I admit I’m a fan. and the variations could pretty much be endless.
We used to make one with passion fruit sorbet on the inside. It was Quite Good. You’re right, Baked Alaska is more about the technique than the actual “recipe.”