Baked Alaska:

Pre-heat oven to 425

Cook Brownies in desired shaped pan using any great brownie recipe ☺
Cool brownies and remove from pan

Use same shaped pan for ice cream by allowing the ice cream to soften, lining the pan with saran wrap and molding ice cream to the same shape and then freezing hard (can be done over the top of the brownies if sufficient room is available)

Place ice cream & brownies on an open pan (no sides)
Cover ice cream and brownies with meringue so that absolutely nothing is exposed

Meringue:
Wisk 6 egg whites until soft peaks form with ½ tsp cream of tartar
Gradually add 1 ½ cup super fine sugar
Beat until glossy and thick

Bake in oven for 5 minutes or until meringue is golden

Vegan Chocolate Milk Shakes

Honestly, there is very little science or measuring involved in this recipe... But it requires...
1 cup almonds
Approx 3 frozen bananas
1 heaping tablespoon (approx) Cacao powder
agave nectar, honey, or real maple syrup (to taste)

Boil the almonds for a few minutes so they will be easy to peel. Peel them. Blend the pealed almonds with enough water to make about 1 quart of almond milk. Then just throw everything else together and blend to the consistency you like. Anywhere from ice cream to thinned down milk shake. The bananas give this dessert a great creamy texture and its still vegan!

Rich Chocolate Brownie Cake

from Williams-Sonoma
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp salt
3/4 cup all purpose flour
4 oz. good quality semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate, at least 60% cacao
Confectioners sugar for dusting

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8-inch round cake pan with tin foil, allowing the edges to overlap the pan. Using a pastry brush, lightly butter the foil.

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the butter until light and fluffy, about 1 minute. Add sugar and beat until well blended. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat again until well blended. Add the salt and 1/4 cup of flour and beat well. Add the remaining flour in two batches, beating well after each addition.

Melt the chocolate in the top of a double broiler set over (but not touching) gently simmering water. Remove from heat and let cool slightly, 2-3 minutes. Add it to the cake batter and beat until well blended and creamy. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing the surface with a spatula.

Bake until the cake is puffed and a toothpick inserted into its center comes out clean, 20-25 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely.

Using the edges of the foil, lift the cooled cake out of the pan. Invert the cake onto a cake plate adn peel off the foil. Turn the cake right side up. Place a stencil of your choice on top, and then sift the confectioners' sugar over the stencil to create a pattern. Carefully lift off the stencil.

Strawberry Blossoms

12 large fresh strawberries, rinsed
1 (3 oz.) pkg. cream cheese, softened
2 Tbsp. powdered sugar
1 Tbsp. sour cream

Remove stems from strawberries to form a flat base. Place each strawberries on cutting surface, pointed end up. With sharp knife, carefully slice each strawberry in half vertically to within 1/4 in. of base. Cut each half into 3 wedges to form 6 petals (do not slice through base). Pull petals apart slightly.

In a small bowl, combine cream cheese, powered sugar and sour cream; beat until light and fluffy. With pastry bag and star tip, fill strawberries with cream cheese mixture. Makes 12 strawberries.

Baklava

Ingredients
• 1 (16 ounce) package phyllo dough
• 1 pound chopped nuts
• 1 cup butter
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup honey

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F(175 degrees C). Butter the bottoms and sides of a 9x13 inch pan.
2. Chop nuts and toss with cinnamon. Set aside. Unroll phyllo dough. Cut whole stack in half to fit pan. Cover phyllo with a dampened cloth to keep from drying out as you work. Place two sheets of dough in pan, butter thoroughly. Repeat until you have 8 sheets layered. Sprinkle 2 - 3 tablespoons of nut mixture on top. Top with two sheets of dough, butter, nuts, layering as you go. The top layer should be about 6 - 8 sheets deep.
3. Using a sharp knife cut into diamond or square shapes all the way to the bottom of the pan. You may cut into 4 long rows the make diagonal cuts. Bake for about 50 minutes until baklava is golden and crisp.
4. Make sauce while baklava is baking. Boil sugar and water until sugar is melted. Add vanilla and honey. Simmer for about 20 minutes.
Remove baklava from oven and immediately spoon sauce over it. Let cool. Serve in cupcake papers. This freezes well. Leave it uncovered as it gets soggy if it is wrapped up.

Crepes

4 Eggs
2 Cups Flour
2 tsp Salt
2 Tablespoons Sugar
2 Tablespoons melted butter or oil
2.5 Cups Milk

Just throw all of that in a blender and blend until bubbly and then just pour about 1/4 cup onto a hot skillet and roll it around on the pan to make it thin, flip it, and cook for a couple more seconds, you're done!
Top with Peanut Butter (crunchy of course;) Nutella, fresh fruit, jam, yogurt, powdered sugar, or whatever. You could also do sandwich meat, lettuce, ranch, sour cream, etc. The skies the limit.

Variations: Add pumpkin pie filling for pumpkin crepes, or cocoa powder and a little extra sugar for chocolate ones. And for the health conscious, you can use whole wheat flour and switch out the butter for applesauce, you get a slightly thicker, chewier crepe, and I actually almost like them better that way.

Note: The above recipe is doubled, but one batch is never enough!

Mike's Unbeatable Creme Brulee

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1 pinch salt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 5 egg yolks
• 4 tablespoons white sugar

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C).
2. Place about 2 tablespoons of the chocolate chips into each of four 6 ounce ramekins. Place them in the microwave, and heat on full power for 30 second intervals. Stir, and continue heating until chocolate has melted. Spread to cover the sides and bottom of each ramekin.
3. Bring a large pot of water to a boil.
4. Meanwhile, in a saucepan, whisk together the cream, 1/4 cup sugar, and salt. Set over medium heat, and warm until steam rises from the surface. Then in a separate bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and vanilla. When the cream is hot, ladle a little bit into the egg yolks while whisking quickly. Ladle in a bit more to bring the yolks up to a high temperature without scrambling them. Whisk the yolk mixture into the rest of the cream. Ladle into the chocolate lined ramekins.
5. Place a towel in the bottom of a baking dish, and place the filled ramekins on top of the towel. Place in the oven, and pour boiling water carefully into the baking dish until it comes half way up the sides of the ramekins. Cover the dish loosely with aluminum foil.
6. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes in the preheated oven, just until the custard is set. Remove ramekins from the dish, and refrigerate for 4 to 6 hours.
7. Before serving, sprinkle 1 tablespoon of sugar over the top of each creme brulee. Use a kitchen torch or your oven's broiler to caramelize the sugar. It may take 2 to 3 minutes in the broiler. Serve immediately.

Pudding on the Rice, YUM!

Pudding on the Rice (Chocolate and Raspberry):

8 C Milk (½ Gallon) (Use Whole milk it's better!)
4 C Cooked rice
4 C sugar
2 tsp salt

2 eggs
4 C Heavy Whipping Cream
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 C Semi-sweet chocolate chips

In a medium size bowl crack the 2 eggs and let sit to warm up to room temperature.
In a large pan add the first 4 ingredients. Cook on medium heat and slowly stir for 45-60 minute until thickened then remove from heat.

Now take the bowl of eggs and whisk. Add 1 Tablespoon of the pudding from the large bowl to the eggs and mix. Continue to add tablespoons of the pudding to the eggs, one at a time, until you have equal parts pudding and egg mixed together. Then return the egg/pudding mixture to the large pudding bowl. Return the pudding to medium heat stirring until boiling. Take off the heat and cover with saran wrap. Refrigerate 6-24 hours.

After refridgeratin time:
Mix the 4 C whipping cream with 2 tsp vanilla. Fold the whipped cream into the pudding.
Now divide the pudding into 2 bowls. (One will be chocolate and one will be raspberry)
Raspberry Pudding: In one bowl mix in a bag of frozen raspberries with the pudding.
Chocolate Pudding: Take a separate bowl and melt 1 C chocolate chips then mix into the pudding.