Desserts for a Crowd
8 of my Favorite Treats for Gathering
8 of my Favorite Treats for Gathering
Hello and welcome to new members! Thanks for being here 🥰 If this is your first week, you can expect to see a new post every Wednesday afternoon, and I aim to send out two emails each month with the most recent additions to the site— look for the next one on September 6th. (If you opted in to receive emails when you signed up, you’ll be all set. If not, sign up here!) This week, I’m sharing a roundup of my go-to desserts for hosting and bringing along to gatherings. I’ll share notes on each recipe: which elements you can easily prep in advance and what’s easiest to bring elsewhere vs. make when the party’s at your place. A very useful item for some of these desserts: a dish tote!
Eton Mess | Travels well
Think of the Eton Mess like a cross between a pavlova and a shortcake: you can put it together like a trifle with defined layers, all together in a big bowl, or on a plate like so. I made this for a group of around 13 for New Year’s Eve last year and it was easy to prep the merengue during the day, and then assemble individual plates later on in the evening. Linked above is a classic strawberry version I love, and the one pictured here is the cranberry-lemon-pistachio Eton Mess from the NYT. You can really make this your own and use whichever jams or berries are your favorite: here I’ve got fresh raspberries, cranberry jam, lemon curd, crumbled meringue and graham cracker, some crushed pistachios, and whipped cream. If you have the time, make the whipped cream fresh— if you’re traveling with these components, which easily pack up very well, buy some Tru Whip at the store on the way :)
Dutch Baby | Batter travels well
I am a massive fan of the Dutch baby and make this often as either a little brunch treat or as a dessert for just my husband and me. One 9-inch cast iron of this could easily serve four if you’re hosting, and this is one I’d recommend making at home: prep the batter in all of five minutes earlier in the day, then add it to the cast iron when you’re ready to go. This one is so easy and is much like the above in the sense that you can add fresh fruit, jam, powdered sugar, cinnamon, melted chocolate, a compote— whatever your heart desires. You could even put two of these in the oven at once and set up a little topping bar if that’s your sort of thing. *I’d make this at a friend’s if I’m committed to thoroughly cleaning their cast iron or bringing my own, and the batter would travel well in a mixing bowl with a good lid.
No Bake Blueberry Pie
This one is best served at home as it doesn’t travel all that well, and it’s a very low-effort yet wonderfully fluffy dessert made even easier if you buy the pie crust yourself. If I’m hosting and have four other dishes going, I’ll opt for the store-bought crust, which honestly, is great. If you have the time to make a graham cracker crust, it’ll be all the more enjoyable.
Ingredients:
9-inch pie crust, graham cracker or otherwise
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 cup powdered sugar, sifted and divided
1 cup heavy cream
For Berry Compote
2 cups blueberries, raspberries, strawberries…
4 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp lemon zest
For serving
Mint leaves
Cinnamon, optional
Lemon zest, optional
Directions:
In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese and ½ cup sifted powdered sugar with an electric mixer until smooth. Set aside.
In another large bowl, whisk heavy cream with an electric mixer until it begins to become lightly fluffy. Add the remaining ½ cup powdered sugar into the whisked cream and beat lightly until combined.
Fold the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture until fully combined, then pour the filling into the pie crust.
Add to the fridge and let chill for at least two hours before topping with berry compote, which you’ll make while that chills:
Place the 2 cups berries, 4 Tbsp sugar, 2 Tbsp lemon juice, and 1 Tbsp lemon zest in a saucepan over medium heat and bring to a very gentle simmer.
Simmer for 6-8 minutes, stirring frequently until the fruit starts to break down a bit and the sauce thickens. I like mine thick with berries still intact, but you can lightly mash the berries if you want them to be more broken down. Continue to cook long enough for the sugar to dissolve and mix in with the berries, a minute or two more.
Let cool, then store in an airtight container in the fridge until ready to use. It’ll keep for a couple of weeks.
After the pie has chilled, top with compote and mint, (and lemon zest or cinnamon if you’d like). Store it in the fridge until you’re ready to serve.
Bundt Cake (Paleo or Not) | Travels well
This is a cake I’ve made for my husband’s birthday a few times and it’s easy enough to swap regular yogurt for coconut yogurt if you’re not worried about it being paleo. It’s so good either way! A solid contender for bringing to a friend’s house and topping with glaze/berries later.
Salted Butter and Chocolate Chunk Shortbread Cookies
If there's one dessert I’m terrible at making properly, it’s cookies. I’ve yet to figure out why my cookies always turn out too flat or too puffy despite chilling dough in the fridge for hours and following instructions to a t, but even when I make these and they don’t turn out looking quite like they should, they’re still my very favorite chocolate chip cookies out there.
Cheesecake | Travels well
Always a fan favorite and perfect for holiday parties— top with your favorite berry compote and you’re good to go. We bought a traveling cake carrier for this very cheesecake and I’d really recommend it for any taller desserts 👌🏼
Coffee Cake | Travels well
Personally, I’m a huge fan of the classics, and more specifically, remaking classics I grew up liking a little but that had much room to improve. Coffee cake has major Sunday-mornings-with-grandparents connotations for me, and finding the perfect crumbly and fluffy version to make as an adult has been quite enjoyable. I’ve also found it to be a lovely Thanksgiving and/or Christmas morning type of dessert what with all the cinnamon!
Simple Fruit Tart | Travels well w. a dish tote
My mouth is watering thinking about this vanilla pastry cream/pudding— the pudding recipes in Alison Roman’s new dessert cookbook have changed my life for the better and this is one I made several times in a matter of about six weeks. It’s so delicious you’ll want to eat it plain, and even better paired with berries and a pie crust.
Enjoy! 🍰🍪🍮🍧🥮🍨🎂🍦🧁🍡🥧
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