Dessert Without Baking: Caramel, Chocolate, Biscotti, Fruit and the Six Plates That Need No Oven
Italians end most dinners with fruit, a piece of cheese, a square of chocolate or a biscotto dipped in something, and nobody has ever complained that the tiramisu was missing. The idea that a dinner party requires a baked dessert is an American anxiety, and it is the reason hosts are in the kitchen at ten instead of at the table. Six things from the pantry, a pint of very good ice cream and a bowl of fruit make six desserts that take less time than lighting the candles. Here they are, for six people, with the one rule that governs all of them: something cold, something salty, something to break.
1. Caramel, ice cream, salt
The dessert that has never once failed. Warm a jar of goat's milk caramel in a bowl of hot water for five minutes so it pours. Scoop vanilla ice cream into six small bowls, pour a spoon of caramel over each, and finish with a pinch of flaky salt. The tang of the goat's milk against the cold and the salt is the entire reason the caramel guide exists. One jar serves six with some left for breakfast.
2. A broken bar and a biscotto
Buy one serious bar of dark chocolate from the chocolate shelf, a single origin at 70 percent, and break it into rough shards on a plate. Beside it, a bag of lemon biscotti or butter cookies. Put out a pot of coffee or a pot of tea. That is dessert in most of Italy, and our guide to tasting chocolate turns it into a conversation. One bar and one bag for six; two bars if the table is chocolate people.
3. Strawberries with aged balsamic
The Modena classic. Hull and halve a pound of ripe strawberries, dust them with a teaspoon of sugar, and let them sit ten minutes until they glisten. Just before serving, drizzle a few drops of a real aged balsamic, the Giusti twelve-year or older, and grind black pepper over them. The vinegar's sweetness and acid make the fruit taste more like itself; our Giusti guide explains why only the aged bottles work here. Serve in small glasses, with cream on the side for anyone who wants it. Out of strawberry season, use ripe figs, pears or a scoop of vanilla ice cream in their place.
4. The affogato
A scoop of vanilla ice cream in a small glass or cup, a shot of hot espresso poured over it at the table, eaten fast with a spoon while the ice cream melts into the coffee. Two ingredients and the theater of the pour. A drizzle of caramel syrup or a few drops of a chocolate or orange bitters over the top is the upgrade; a biscotto on the saucer is the dunk. No espresso machine: strong hot coffee from a moka pot or a very strong pour-over works. Six scoops, six shots, thirty seconds.
5. The cheese course
One cheese, sweet things around it. A wedge of blue or an aged sheep's cheese, out of the refrigerator an hour before, on a board with a small pot of runny honey and a dipper, a few dried figs or apricots, a handful of walnuts, and Comté sablés or thin butter waffles for the crunch. A thread of saba over the cheese is the Emilian touch. Our cheese plate math says an ounce per person after dinner, which is one modest wedge for six.
6. Dulce de leche on toast
The Argentine breakfast that works as a midnight dessert. Toast thick slices of good bread, spread them generously with dulce de leche while hot so it softens, and finish with flaky salt and, if there is one open, a few shards of dark chocolate that melt into the surface. Cut into fingers and pile on a plate. For six, a loaf and most of a jar. It is the dessert people are embarrassed to say is their favorite, which is how you know it is.
The rule, and how to choose
Every one of the six has something cold or cool, something salty or sharp, and something with a snap, which is what keeps a dessert from being merely sweet. Choose by the dinner: after a heavy meal, the strawberries or the affogato; after a light one, caramel and ice cream or the cheese; for a table of chocolate people, the broken bar; for people who will stay until one, dulce de leche on toast at midnight. For a crowd, put out two and let them argue. For the winter version with a warmer and twelve bowls, see the hot chocolate bar.
The caramel, chocolate, biscotti, balsamic, honey, saba, sablés, dulce de leche, salt and bitters are at 263 Josephine Street in Cherry Creek, Denver, and ship nationwide from theambrosianpantry.com. The ice cream and the fruit are the last stop on the way home.
