Three of the Simplest Desserts Ever

I do love to get into complicated recipes, and I do it often. I love unraveling the slew of ingredients in some recipes. I love the complexity of flavors these ingredients produce. I love to experiment.

But sometimes?

I just love something really simple. Delicious, yes. But simple. And guess what? I have three such recipes; ones I return to again and again, for their simplicity and their simple, amazing goodness. 

Ginger Bars

Guess what else?

I love dessert. I have a sweet tooth the size of Texas. Honestly. Even when I am trying to lose weight, I just neeeeed something to top off dinner. Something sweet. I can manage most of the day just fine. But then I just want something to do homage to that sweet tooth. Not necessarily to fill it (that takes some doing), but at least to assuage it. Sometimes I can manage with an apple, but not usually.

So, taking into consideration my neeeed for something sweet, plus my sometimes love of making something simple, I have three dessert recipes that I want to share. Two are in the form of a "bar." One is a sort of coffee cake, and very unusual. 

Quesadilla

This last mentioned is a cheese coffeecake that comes from Guatemala, and the name of the recipe is "quesadilla." Pronounced: keh-sah-DEE-ya. You may be wondering what I am talking about, when in the U.S we know "quesadillas" generally as a couple of large tortillas with melty cheese sandwiched inside, and sometimes other ingredients too. There are similar things like that in Guatemala, but they usually call them "dobladas," which means "folded(s)." The tortilla is folded in half with cheese inside, then grilled to melt the cheese. 

This recipe is a coffee cake and it's terrific with a good cup of coffee for sure. It is great no matter when. And it has just 6 ingredients. And, it is inherently gluten free!

The ingredients in this recipe lean heavily to cheese, and the fact that it is made with rice flour means it is gluten free. These days, it is really easy to find rice flour in the stores, what with so many gluten intolerant people, or people who think eating desserts made with gluten free flours is somehow better for you, when as a matter of fact, gluten free flours are far higher in carbs and calories. Oh well. 

But, this recipe calls for rice flour, so when I first wanted to make it in the U.S., it was very hard finding rice flour at all. And then to make it worse, the kind of cheese used in Guatemala for this cake just doesn't exist - not in any store I have found - in the U.S. One that does come close, and is now mostly available all over, is Cotija cheese. It has the right consistency to shred easily. Surprisingly, Parmesan cheese - not the kind from the green containers - but freshly shredded, also works well. It is a bit more salty, but freshly grated Parmesan cheese is available in most stores these days, also. You may note that there is no salt in the recipe. Do not add salt! The cheese has plenty all by itself.

Quesadilla or Guatemalan Cheese Coffeecake

The remainder of the ingredients are mundane, found anywhere. And without further ado, here is a recipe for this lovely, simple, moist and delicious coffee cake that needs no adornment whatsoever..

Quesadilla or Guatemalan Cheese Coffeecake

Quesadilla or Guatemalan Cheese Coffeecake

Makes one 8 x 8-inch coffeecake

1 cup rice flour
2 cups shredded crumbly cheese (Queso Fresco, Cotija, Parmesan)
¾ cup sugar
¼ teaspoon baking soda
4 eggs
¾ cup heavy cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a mixing bowl, combine the rice flour, cheese and sugar with the baking soda and whisk to combine well. This also coats and separates the cheese shreds. 

In a separate bowl, whisk together the 4 eggs with the heavy cream. Pour this into the dry ingredients and mix just until the dry ingredients are moistened well.
Spray an 8 x 8-inch baking pan with cooking spray, or grease with butter or shortening. Pour batter into the prepared pan and bake for 40 to 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool before slicing.

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Jim

The next simple recipe is one that came about in collaboration with my brother Jim, now long since gone from us. Back in the early '80s, I'd recently returned to the U.S. after living in Guatemala for 12 years. I was getting acquainted with my brother (just a child when I left the U.S.), and he would often come to my house of an evening and we played games like Cribbage or Monopoly and others. We would chat and laugh and play old music, discuss books we'd read and just have fun. And sometimes, as it started to get late, we would suddenly get the "hongries." Sometimes I would whip up a batch of chili. Sometimes I whipped up a dessert. Sometimes we kibitzed back and forth on what should or should not go into a recipe or discuss the method of making something.

Ginger Bars

So it was that this recipe, originally clipped out of the Orlando Sentinel, became what it is that I make today. We looked at the recipe together. We both had ideas of what else would be good in the recipe. And we realized that essentially, the recipe is one big batch of streusel, flavored to please and patted into the pan to bake. And oh boy, did we ever love streusel! Realize that in order to make this fit your own taste, all that is needed is to change, omit or add to the amounts of the spices (ginger, cinnamon, allspice, cloves) or the nuts and coconut. What could be simpler? The fact that the list of ingredients is longer is just because we do love our spices! The streusel itself is nothing more than flour, sugar and butter!

Ginger Bars

Ginger Bars

Makes one 8 x 8-inch pan

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1 tablespoon ground ginger
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon allspice
¼ teaspoon cloves
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup ground nuts
½ cup coconut
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

Mix dry ingredients in a bowl. Using hands or a pastry cutter, combine with the butter, mixing well, as for streusel, till well blended and crumbly. Press dough evenly but gently into a 9-inch square pan. Bake in a preheated 325 degree oven for 30 to 45 minutes or till lightly golden. Cut cake in narrow rectangles while still warm.

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Last, but certainly not least of these simple recipes is nothing more than a shortbread, made thicker into a bar shape. It is completely simple in ingredients, but oh - my - goodness! There is nothing so delicious!

Simple Shortbread

Shortbread or Shortcake?

While this recipe is called "shortbread," according to Wikipedia, true shortbread is made with oats, in the Scottish way. It is mentioned that other kinds of recipe are short "cake," but in looking up shortcake, all I see is strawberry shortcake. Ah well. It will remain "shortbread."

The ingredients are just five, all easily on hand at any given time. Flour, cornstarch, confectioner's sugar, salt, butter. Period. It is nearly incredible to believe the amount of flavor in these dreamy tasting bars, and all from such basic ingredients. Not even vanilla is added and yet these are so smooth and inviting. They take no time to mix up and just 40 minutes to bake - and you don't even have to grease the pan! What could be more simple?

Simple Shortbread

Simple Shortbread

Makes one 9 x 9-inch or 7 x 11-inch pan

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup cornstarch
pinch salt
1 cup unsalted butter
1 cup confectioner's sugar

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Sift flour, cornstarch and salt into a medium sized bowl and set aside (or whisk the dry ingredients to blend). In a large bowl, cream butter and confectioner's sugar with an electric mixer or a wooden spoon until light and fluffy. With a wooden spoon, gradually work the dry ingredients into the butter mixture until thoroughly combined (a pastry cutter works great, here, also); it will be all crumbly textured. Press dough gently into an ungreased, shallow 11 x 7-inch or 9-inch square pan. Bake about 40 minutes or until golden. Cut into about 12 squares or bars while still warm. Enjoy warm, cold or any which way!




My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.