Tag Archives: Dessert

Cranberry Orange Sweetbread

Home Cooking, , , , , ,

Name: Corinne Morgan
Class Year: 2013
Country of Residence: United Kingdom

Why is this recipe great? What’s its backstory? 

This is a recipe that was created by my great great grandmother and has been passed down through my mother’s side of the family, which has not had a son in 5 generations, so this recipe has always passed from mother to daughter. I made this recipe for a recent board gathering for the Mount Holyoke Club of Britain, where it was very popular. Upon telling my mother and grandmother about the great reaction to the recipe, they laughed and admitted to it also being their go to recipe whenever they needed to bring a food item to a gathering. Hopefully, this recipe can one day become your family’s old reliable as well.

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Maple Syrup Sweetness Overload Pie

Regional/Traditional, , , , ,

Name: Anita Pion Selec
Class Year: 1988
Country of Residence: Bosnia Herzegovina

Why is this recipe great? What’s its backstory? 

This pie is known as “sugar pie” to French-Canadians and it gives baklava a run for its money with sweetness!  This recipe has been in my family for over a hundred years.  There are many versions of this made in French-Canadian homes.  This is the simplest and the sweetest.

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Cheesecake with Fresh Berries

Home Cooking, , , , , , ,

Name: Silvia Maulini*
Class Year: 1980
Country of Residence: The Netherlands

* Silvia is one of this competition’s judges, so this recipe will not be considered – it’s simply delicious, and needs to be shared!

Why is this recipe great? What’s its backstory? 

I have always found most (American) cheesecake recipes rather daunting and alarmingly rich in fats and cream. A few years ago, my daughters and granddaughters gave me a wonderful new cookbook by Cees Holtkamp, whose patisserie in the center of Amsterdam is a true monument to high quality pastries and cakes. His simple, not exceedingly fat and apparently foolproof recipe for cheesecake immediately caught my attention. It seemed too easy to be true, but Cees’ cheesecake turned out to be amazing and it has now become a classic at our family birthday celebrations. This is the cake that has been requested by all family members for our first physical gathering after the lockdown period: I can’t wait to bake a few of them!

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Wilma Flinestone’s Chocolate Cake (and/or the Paleo Cake)

Home Cooking, , , , , , , ,

Name: Rossella Di Palma
Class Year: FF 1999
Country of Residence: Italy

Why is this recipe great? What’s its backstory? 

I wanted to make a cute cake for a friend’s birthday: it had to be good looking, easy to make, unusual and easy to personalize. Its flat shape was ideal to place, on the top, a printed image of his dog.  At the party, people were originally suspicious about the cake ingredients, but everybody ended up enjoying it. This cake is grain free and gluten free.

I adapted a recipe I found in “Il Libro d’Oro del Cioccolato” which suggested 300 g of carrots and 150 of sugar.

Note: adding a bit of fresh ginger might be interesting.

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White Chocolate (Raspberry) Custard

Home Cooking, , , , ,

Name: Debra Marmor
Class Year: 1980
Country of Residence: United Kingdom

Why is this recipe great? What’s its backstory? 

We have a friend who was widowed a few years ago. Since then, my husband and I have more or less adopted him, making sure to have him for dinner on a regular basis (and currently Skyping with him twice a week, as he hates being alone). The challenge is that he ‘doesn’t eat dessert’ (my husband has a sweet tooth and I love making them) – unless it is white chocolate or raspberry. He also loves crab.

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Tante Dvorah’s Chocolate and Coconut Cake

Home Cooking, , , , ,

Name: Debra Marmor
Class Year: 1980
Country of Residence: United Kingdom

Why is this recipe great? What’s its backstory? 

We used to visit our relatives in Israel every couple of years when I was little. In honor of our visit, my aunt would make this marvellous chocolate cake – my sister and I would fight my uncle for the last crumb.

We were so enamored of this cake that my mother eventually wrote my uncle (?!) for the recipe. Apparently, my mother and sister had difficulty deciphering what came back, so my sister kept experimenting and eventually came up with a version that seemed to fit her memory.

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Raspberry and Lavender Tiramisù

Home Cooking, , ,

Name: Laura Aimone
Class Year: 2004
Country of Residence: Italy

Why is this recipe great? What’s its backstory? 

In every Italian family there could be only one person with the title of “Tiramisù Master”. In mine, that’s mum. When I was at MHC I was a language fellow and I prepared Tiramisù following mum’s recipe for my students. It was a real success, although I had to drive to Boston to find all the necessary ingredients.

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Cherry Crumble

Home Cooking, , ,

Name: Patricia Simon
Class Year: 1968
Country of Residence: Germany

Why is this recipe great? What’s its backstory? 

When I was just out of college and in Germany, I met this young student who was eventually to become my husband. His father was a master baker, and I wanted to impress him with my (very scanty) baking skills. I made chocolate cookies, the kind you roll a ball of dough in powdered sugar before baking. Father-in-law’s judgment: “They taste very nice. Don’t be upset how they look”!!! So I decided to find a German recipe that would be easy enough for me to manage but still meet his aesthetic standards. Voila!

 I always have the necessary ingredients at home and can whip this cake up in a wink if we have unexpected guests.

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Engadiner Nut Pie

Regional/Traditional, , , ,

Name: Patricia Simon
Class Year: 1968
Country of Residence: Germany

Why is this recipe great? What’s its backstory? 

I first had this in the Engadin (Switzerland) about 40-50 years ago, and I thought I was in heaven. But it didn’t occur to me for decades to try to make it myself. A few years ago I found a recipe in a magazine and, being a MHC alum, thought “why not?”. The rest is history (and hips).

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