easy to bring delicious dessert

[hungrymom]

I'm in charge of bringing dessert to a retreat next weekend. Beef Burgundy is being served and it's quite a drive. So I would love to make something amazing that can travel 3 hours. I could pack a cooler if necessary. Any ideas? Please?

[superfinespot]

after beef burgundy, my vote would be for tarts: chocolate, apple caramel tart (seasonal)

found this for pear goat cheese w/honey (since cheese, port, baklava and pears already mentioned above): http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/pear-tart-with-goat-cheese-and-port-recipe/index.html or http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/20...

figs would also pair well.

[buttertart]

A Reine de Saba (chocolate nut) cake travels (and lasts) very well. There are a lot of recipes out there (I like Alice Medrich's from Bittersweet, but they're all fairly similar). You could glaze it or not, it's nice with just a dusting of confectioner's sugar or cocoa because it's so rich.

[goodhealthgourmet]

+1 for tarte tatin or the roasted (or poached) pears with vanilla ice cream...actually, if you poach them in red wine they'll really pair beautifully with the beef.

[mamachef]

excellent second.......either red wine, or a splash of unsalty port.

[chowser]

Along the pear idea, I'd also suggest an oldie but goodie here--galleygirl's pear tart.

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/283632

Far better than you'd think it would be, easy to make, easy to transport. It's great as it is but you can plan with it, too.

[GretchenS]

The galleygirl pear tart is what I thought of immediately when I read the thread title...

[darklyglimmer]

I was thinking poached pears, too - they sound like boring diet food, but can actually be really luxurious. And IME they keep well in the refrigerator, so you wouldn't have a problem doing them the day before.

[goodhealthgourmet]

"they sound like boring diet food, but can actually be really luxurious"
~~~~~~~~
damn straight! :) i think some hear "poached" or "baked" fruit and immediately associate it with things like the diet-cola soaked baked apples people make when following Weight Watchers & the like.

[darklyglimmer]

"diet-cola soaked baked apples people make when following Weight Watchers"

If you'd added "in the microwave" to that phrase, you might have made me cry.

ETA: In the "location is everything" department, I would like to make it clear that I am not talking about people following Weight Watchers from the comfort and irradiated safety of their microwave ovens.

[blinknoodle]

It seems difficult, but I swear it is easy: baklava.
You just need some patience with layering the phyllo dough, but otherwise this is an easy recipe, feeds a lot and travels really well. It also looks like you spent a lot of time on it!

I like this recipe - not as sweet as what you typically encounter:
http://tastespace.wordpress.com/2010/...

[BernalKC]

Tarte tatin. Goes well with the boef bourgiignon. You can transport it still upside down in the baking pan. Just bring a platter to invert the tart onto when you get there. Serve with whipped cream, or ice cream.

[amyzan]

I thought of tarte tatin, too, but the trouble I've experienced is that if you let it cool in the pan without turning it out, the caramel makes for a sort of well, glue. Good tasting glue, but maybe this could be allayed by using parchment? I'd think some planning would be in order not to end up with a sticky, if delicious disaster at the retreat...

[weewah]

Try lining the pan w/ tin-foil. You can let it cool in the pan and it will still turn out easily later.
The fruit will still stick to the foil, but you can peel that foil back sharply on itself - and very slowly- using a fork to pick any reluctant fruit off of it.
OR, reheat it so that it will release easier, before serving it warm. Mmmm

[wekick]

Try release foil-it is great.

[Caroline1]

To get a cold tarte tatin to release from the pan easily, do not reheat the whole tart, but simply put the pan on a warm/hot surface to re-liquefy the caramel and you should be home free! Good luck.

[chowser]

I turn it out onto a piece of parchment that I've cut to springform pan base size. Let it cool on a rack and then slide onto the springform pan to transport, apples up. Serve on springform pan base.

[amyzan]

Consider this upside down pear gingerbread cake: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/foo... It's a little on the heavy side to follow beef burgundy, but it's much easier to transport than other fruit desserts. My other suggestion would be apple or plum dumplings or turnovers, but you will know if that'd be too much trouble. You could always serve a fruit pie, but you'd have to bake it early that morning for it to cool adequately before driving three hours. Again, you'll know better than I if that's realistic. A tart would cool more quickly, but you might need two, as in my experience, people at an informal gathering will take seconds of a tart unless you accompany it with ice cream, a rich sauce, etc.

[Hank Hanover]

Key lime pie is easy and delicious. You will probably have to make more than one which is still easy.

KEY LIME PIE

1 EA 9” graham cracker pie shell
1 EA 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
3 EA egg yokes (whites not used)
½ cup key lime juice (I use Nellie & Joes brand)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
Combine milk, eggs and lime juice.
Blend until smooth
Pour filling into pie shell and bake for 15 minutes.
Let cool on a baking rack for at least 10 minutes before refrigerating.
Just before serving, top with whipped cream.

Variations:

Put lime or orange zest in whipped cream.
Serve with raspberry sauce (recipe below) (I highly recommend this option.)
Triple the recipe and put in spring form pan
Garnish with lime slices or maybe sugared lime slices

Raspberry Sauce:

1 pint raspberries
¼ cup sugar
3 ounces water
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
2 tbls lemon juice

In a medium saucepan on medium heat, combine the raspberries, water, sugar, cream of tartar, and lemon juice. Stir the sauce to prevent it from sticking to the bottom of the pan. Cook the sauce until it comes to a slight boil. Then remove the saucepan from the heat and add the contents to a blender. (I ust use an immersion stick blender.) Blend the sauce until smooth. Pass the sauce through a strainer or cheesecloth to remove any seeds.
Pour into a squeeze bottle and refrigerate.

Variations:

Add 1-2 tbls of orange or raspberry liqueur.
For thicker sauce, add ½ cup seedless raspberry jam.
(I do both, usually with orange liqueur.)

[mamachef]

If you can roast some pears with a little cinnamon, clove, cardamom and toast pecans meanwhile, you've got an easy-traveling totally delicious ice cream topping, especially if you bring a jar of caramel or dulce de leche. Pick up the ice cream when you get there; butter pecan would be great, or just vanilla bean.

[Caroline1]

Do you make pretty good crepes? If so, make a whole bunch, pick up a couple of jars of Nutella, spread the crepes with a thin layer of Nutella and stack until they're at least 2 inches deep. Oh, stack them on a plate with a lacy paper doily under them. Last, take a piece of typing paper and fold it up the way you did as a kid and cut designs in it. You know, the kind you fold in half, then quarter, then eights and cut shapes out of each edge so that when you unfold it it looks sort of like a snow flake. Make one of those, set it on top of the finished "cake," then sprinkle with powdered sugar from a strainer. Make sure you get a good thick coating. Carefully remove the snowflake paper, and voila! You've got a really easy dessert that will blow most people's minds. Promise not to tell how easy it is! Up to you whether you want to take along some whipped or ice cream...

[Emme]

how many do you need to feed? (this would impact what i chose to make, personally...)

as ipsedixit said, fruit pie. namely cherry might be my first go to with beef burgundy. dunno why. or plum tarts.

[ipsedixit]

Fruit pie

Cheesecake

Brownies

Cookies and ice cream (in the cooler)

[Cherylptw]

Easy is a relative word..what some may consider "easy" may not be to others. With that, I fell in love with Bon Appetit's Lime Curd Tart with Blackberries & Blueberries from the June issue (key it in on their website to pull up the recipe) It is a bit involved in that you have to make the lime curd & pastry for the tart BUT it can be made a day ahead and berries added at the last & it travels well....I think it's easy to make. I also like that you can make the recipe with different curds (orange, ruby grapefruit, etc.).

Another of my go to desserts is a trifle. You really can't get much easier than that and so many variations

[onecaketwocake]

I often bring cheesecake to things like this - people love it and it travels pretty well if you leave it in the pan during transportation. If you want it to be extra amazing you could also make a sauce to pour on it once it's time to serve.