Great Thanksgiving Dessert Recipe Websites

Is your mouth beginning to water for a great Thanksgiving dinner? Are you anxious for a succulent turkey, seasoned dressing, cranberry sauce, and all of the extras? Well you're not alone, that's for sure! But when I think of Thanksgiving, I also think of all of the great desserts that my grandmother, mother and aunts made holiday after holiday, from the lemon meringue and pumpkin pies, to the great cakes and cookies. If this is your year to prepare dinner for your family and you don't know what to make for dessert then you're in luck because I have provided you with some great Thanksgiving dessert recipe websites to make sure your family will BE quiet enough to hear a pin drop after falling asleep from full stomachs.

Familyfun.go.com

This website is dedicated to families who love to have fun while they cook! You can make great pies and cakes with the kids and enjoy eating them too! Though I don't have children I got excited about this site because I love any project that resembles arts and crafts. And some of their recipes were right up my alley. For example, their handprint pumpkin pie looks fun and easy to make. According to their recipe, you take one of your pie crusts and cut a hand out of the dough, then bake it and place it on top of your pumpkin pie. It looks fun and the kids will probably enjoy seeing their little hand on their dessert. Of course, they still have what you would call the "ordinary" Thanksgiving dessert, including classic apple pie, chocolate cream pie, pecan pie, and classic banana cream pie, but it seems the fun you get to have by preparing these treats with your family will make them extraordinary.

DianasDesserts.com

DianasDesserts.com brings you recipes hailing directly from the recipe book of Diana Woodall. Though the name may not sound familiar to you, her recipes should go down in the history books for originality and quality. For the category of Thanksgiving dessert alone she offers over 50 unique recipes to take home to your family! Some of her mouth-watering recipes include chocolate-pumpkin marble cake, old fashioned festive jelly rolls, autumn pumpkin cheesecake pie, cranberry cheese bars, persimmon latte cotta, and maple crème flan with maple-glazed pears - they all sound delicious. And one fun aspect of her website is that she includes a cute online conversion calculator with each of her recipes to ensure your measurements are precise, as well as a rating scale (1-5) with little cakes as the symbols. Fun stuff!

FoodNetwork.com

This should obviously be one of the first places you look for great recipes - but ironically this was not the first place I thought of. I certainly regretted not looking earlier once I reached this information-rich site filled with incredible recipes and even more incredible pictures. My mouth is still watering at the thought of the great Thanksgiving dessert recipes they offered. Some of these tasty recipes include the ultimate caramel apple pie (yum!), bourbon pecan pie, caramelized pear gingerbread with molasses ice cream, apple crisp, and pumpkin gooey butter cake. They also offer some great healthy alternatives including chocolate, cherry and almond bread pudding, deep-dish apple pie, and glazed chocolate-pumpkin Bundt cake.

Epicurious.com

Epicurious.com offers a great selection of desserts with a French twist. These tasty delicacies come straight from Bon Appétit Magazine, which specializes in great cuisines. The desserts sounded and looked incredible! Want to know what they are? I bet you do! First they offer a tasty bourbon-orange pecan pie with bourbon cream - and did I mention it's made with bourbon? Then they move on to cranberry ribbon apple pie, lattice pie with pears and vanilla brown butter, lemon chiffon pie with glazed cranberries, and ... I can't tell you everything - you have to visit the site to see for yourself!

As the holidays are rapidly approaching, the last thing you should have to think about is the Thanksgiving dessert or side dish you should serve with your big meal. So I hope that I was able to help you with creative ideas to get the ball rolling. That way, once the holiday comes and goes, you'll get to claim the bragging rights for having the best Thanksgiving dessert ever!

Jeffrey Meier at Jam727 Enterprises at blog offers even more detailed information on a wide variety of topics.

Gluten-Free Dessert Recipes

One of the biggest challenges about going gluten-free is giving up those scrumptious wheat filled desserts. Let's face it, rice flour, tapioca starch, potato starch, sorghum, millet, almond, etc., just cannot compete with the binding of wheat flour. I thought all was lost when I had to give up those mouth-watering desserts. Fortunately, a lot of my misconceptions have been dissolved, as I have learned how to tweak, experiment, and enjoy gluten-free dessert recipes.

When I was younger, I could eat anything. Now that the glory days are over, the waistline isn't as trim, and my body has changed a lot from having children. I realized that my cooking needed to be all natural in order to be healthier. So, not only have I given up all of the preservative laden desserts, but also the gluten ones as well.

My thinking about desserts had to do a 180 degree flip. The first realization I had was that I did not always need to have flour in my desserts for them to taste good. I started to experiment and came up with a great chocolate covered almond recipe. Now, I had to be careful with this one, since there could be a lot of hidden preservatives. I converted to dark chocolate to solve this problem and all natural vanilla. The ingredients for this recipe are almonds, dark chocolate chips, all natural peanut butter, all natural butter spread (to keep it dairy-free, butter can be used if you are not dairy sensitive), and all natural vanilla (vanilla can be tricky, since it can have hidden gluten in it).

Turn the pan onto medium low and combine all of the ingredients, except the almonds. Once they are melted and combined, turn off the heat and add the almonds. After the almonds are smothered in chocolate, pour onto a cookie sheet covered in wax paper. Place the cookie sheet in the fridge and harden the chocolate. These are a mouth-watering delight that I have added to my gluten-free dessert recipe collection.

Now that I have a dessert that does not contain flour, I cannot give up on my attempt to have flour desserts. For years, my sons could never have a banana cream pie, since they were allergic to dairy. The banana cream pie that I grew up on was basically whole milk with a few other ingredients. I did not want to kill my sons off, but I wanted to allow them the opportunity to taste this type of pie. So I set to work to try and make it dairy free. That was an awful challenge. I remember attempting on with rice milk. Oh, it was awful! Then I went gluten-free along with two of my daughters.

This last Christmas, I was determined to make a gluten-free dessert recipe that was worth indulging in. I went out on a limb and experimented with a banana cream pie. It actually worked! I used coconut milk, eggs, evaporated cane juice crystals, a gluten-free flour blend, all natural vanilla, and a natural buttery spread. I was nervous as I tasted it. It did not have the flavor of the recipe I grew up with, but it had a different flavor that was scrumptious and worth coming back too. I did not have to throw this pie out, nor did I stop myself at one piece.

Going gluten-free is not the end of enjoying desserts. It does require an open-mind and an ability to experiment. A quality gluten-free dessert recipe does not need to contain exotic ingredients, or very expensive ones. These recipes just require some knowledge along with trial and error. Yes, cinnamon rolls may be a thing of the past, but not all indulgences have to be put on the shelf. Just do some research and find some great and trusted gluten-free dessert recipes.

Jennifer Rigby invites you to visit Natural Cooking Recipes to find out more about the Chocolate Covered Almonds. While there, also check out the Banana Cream Pie Filling recipe.

Tips for Making Healthier Dessert Recipes

By using some of these healthy dessert recipes and ideas, you can turn dessert from an occasional splurge to an everyday treat, without harming your health or your waistline. If you are anything like me...denying a sweet tooth can be difficult if you are trying to eat a healthy diet. The problem is that denying that sweet tooth for too long can lead to a binge later. A better option is to find healthier ways that you can enjoy sweets by making desserts with healthy recipes. Even if you have some favorite recipes on hand, it's easy to make a few changes to make the dessert a bit better for you. By eliminating ingredients that are high calorie and high fat, you can enjoy healthy desserts that won't sabotage your healthy diet.

Here are some tips for making your recipes a little healthier.

Tip #1 - Cut Back on Sugar

One of the best ways to make dessert recipes healthier is to cut back on the sugar within the recipes. You can quickly reduce carbs and calories when you reduce the sugar in your recipe. You can usually reduce the sugar by ¼ to 1/2 without hurting the taste of the recipe. You can even replace the remaining sugar with honey or maple syrup. You might even like the new taste it creates more than the original recipe.

Tip #2 - Replace Unhealthy Fats

Many desserts contain lots of unhealthy fats. If you replace about half of the oil, butter, or shortening with a better option, you can really make the recipe healthier. Applesauce or mashed banana make great substitutions. Your finished result will still be nice and moist, but you'll significantly lower the fat and calories in the dessert. Try this in everything from cakes to cookies.

Tip #3 - Eliminate Extra Ingredients

Sometimes there are ingredients that are extraneous, which means you can eliminate them without a problem. For example, if you're making a cake, do you really need all that icing on the cake? You can eliminate icing on some cakes and still have a great taste without all the calories that come along with the icing. Simply replacing the sugary icing with some fresh fruit may be just the trick to make it look great without the extra calories or sugar.

Tip #4 - Look for Lower Fat Milk Substitutes

Many recipes call for the use of whole milk, which adds quite a bit of fat and calories to the finished dessert. You can lower the calories and fat significantly by simply going with a lower fat milk option, such as 1% milk or skim milk. You may be able to use low fat non-dairy milks like soy milk or rice milk as well.

Tip #5 - Cut Back on Ingredients High in Calories

It's also a great idea to cut back on the ingredients that are high in calories to make your desserts a lot healthier. For example, if you have a recipe that calls for ½ cup of chopped pecans, cut that back to 1/3 cup. It won't hurt the recipe and you'll shave off a lot of calories without affecting the taste.

These are just a few of the substitutions you can make if you want to start enjoying healthier desserts. Of course, there are other substitutions you can learn about as well. Take the time to do some research to find out more hints that will help you enjoy sweets without ruining your healthy diet.

Easy Dessert Recipes - 3 Simple Tips

Always finding ourselves short of time in today's world, easy dessert recipes are more important than ever. Have you ever wanted to make a wonderful and delicious dessert to magnificently top off a gathering meal but found yourself short on time? Or maybe you are new to making desserts and need some help? I'm sure it happens to all of us now and then.

As a dessert lover myself, I always try to make sure that the dessert I make will at least result in some words of praise from my guests. One of the best things about having great dessert is not just that it gives you that wonderful feeling, but it also makes you happy when you see how much your guests or family members are enjoying it. But how do you do that if you are new and find dessert-making difficult, or if you're constantly busy and making dessert is too time-consuming?

This article gives you some simple tips for making life simpler by choosing the right easy dessert recipes, and some advice for making almost any dessert recipe easier.

1. Recipe Size

Often we overlook the fact that the dessert recipes we make can be downsized to fit our needs. This can be as simple as taking a normal dessert recipe and dividing all the ingredient portions in half or in quarter, but not every recipe may be so appropriately scaled down. When searching for easy dessert recipes, be on the look out for the serving sizes listed for each recipe. Some recipes are specially designed for a small number of guests and these will save you a lot of hassle and worry.

Small dessert recipes are easier to make and they bake faster too. This is especially so if your kitchen isn't as big as you want it to be, or you don't have enough large bowls. Also, keep in mind that desserts are normally eaten after a large, full meal, and smaller easy dessert recipes will go well with the guests. If you have any guests who are trying to keep control of their weight, they will thank you for this too.

2. Ingredients Required

The best easy dessert recipes to choose are preferably those with convenient ingredients that you can easily find in your local store. If you are in a rush, then you might want to opt for an easy dessert recipe that can be made with the ingredients you already have on hand in your pantry or refrigerator. Recipes that require fewer ingredients will generally be easier to make. Try searching for recipes with three to five ingredients for maximum easiness in making.

3. Component Substitution

Many long-winding recipes can be made easier to some extent by simple component substitution. If certain components of a particular easy dessert recipe can be store-bought, it will save you a lot of time and effort. For example, when making a tiramisu, instead of having to make the ladyfingers and cheesecake filling from scratch according to the recipe, it would also be possible for you to buy pre-made packages of ladyfingers from the store, and ready-to-eat cheesecake filling too. Then just add coffee syrup or other flavoring according to your tastes, and assemble it for a quick tiramisu dessert.

Some people may frown upon this saying that those ready-made components do not make a dessert that tastes as good as the ones you make yourself. Well for me, I feel that this in itself is an art. It takes a certain amount of knowledge and experience to know which brand of ingredients is of the best quality and go well together. Of course easy dessert recipes that are made from scratch will often taste better, if done right, due to the effort and thought put into them. But the difference is not always that large, and there are times when we don't always get things done right. If you're just a beginner who is just starting out, then this is a good place to start too.

Try these three simple tips for making easy dessert recipes even easier, and they will save you a lot of effort. You will even find that you have more time to enjoy yourself in the kitchen.

Art Young is a mysterious pastry chef and baker extraordinaire who has a special passion for home cooking. He is currently traveling the world in search of the secret ingredients for making the ultimate dessert...