by Meeta Khurana of What’s For Lunch, Honey?

How many times have you wished you could simply skip the main dish and tuck straight into a delightful dessert? If you have the worst case of sweet tooth, trust me you are not alone. You are in good company. We all have our weaknesses – a creamy mousse, a chocolate soufflé, a bite of an éclair, a spoonful of tiramisu, or a rich panna cotta. Oh the list goes on.

Every country has its amazing and delectable sweet specialties and as the world shrinks to fit into the Internet, we have all these goodies right at the tip of our fingers.

Just knowing that I can satisfy all my sweet cravings at anytime by simply typing it into a search field and being offered a huge variety of the particular dessert is simply mind-blowing. However, the selection can be quite overwhelming and so this roundup takes you on a trip around the world of sweet treats to make finding the perfect dessert to match your needs easier.

The dictionary describes dessert as:

“cake, pie, fruit, pudding, ice cream, etc., served as the final course of a meal.”

My sweet trip through the blogesphere in search of mousse, puddings, panna cotta, tiramisus, crème brulee, tarts, pies and cakes has got to be my favorite roundup to date! The list I have compiled features some mouth-watering delicacies and hope you will join me indulging in these delightful desserts.

Come away with me to the Middle East where Tony’s Muhallebi lures us with aromas of orange blossom and cinnamon. Tony looks at the origins of this wonderful Arabic pudding. I simply remember it being pure bliss!

Let’s stay awhile within the sweet realms of the Middle East as Warda tantalizes us with a bread pudding that is like no other bread pudding you have ever had. She prepares her Om Ali using orange blossom water, cinnamon, juicy raisins and nuts and a delicious spiced Algerian bread.

Tony, Warda I thank you for taking me back to the time I was growing up in the region - both these desserts were my absolute favorites!

Our next stop is India, where sweets are a part of everyday life. Being an Indian my mouth simply starts to water as I think of the plethora of desserts available. Depending on the region you are currently in there will be a sweet treat to fit each palate.

Over at Home Cook’s Recipes there is a lovely traditional way of preparing ras malai. This dessert is made by making creamy balls of paneer dumplings, which are cooked in a sugar syrup and then served in a thin milk syrup. A few pistachios and a hint of saffron completes this delicate sweet dream.

Sailu takes us step by step through the making of Gulab Jamun, a North Indian delicacy. Melt-in-your-mouth golden balls of thickened milk paste, known as khoya, steeped in sugar syrup.

My favorite dessert has got to be Gajar ka Halwa - a sensational carrot pudding flavored with cinnamon and cardamom and topped off with nuts. Served warm this is pure bliss with vanilla ice-cream.

A quick stop in Thailand for a bite of sweet sticky rice parcels or Khao Tom Pad made by Syrie of Taste Buddies. These are deliciously filled with bananas and black beans. Just perfect when you are taken over by a sweet craving.

KJ of a Cracking Good Egg is one of my favorite food bloggers, she lives in Australia, but today we travel with her to England. KJ rescues her ginger lemon meringue by making a sensational Ginger Lemon Eton Mess. If you’ve never heard of an Eton Mess before well it’s the perfect mixture of crunchy, fruity and creamy - made with broken meringue, fresh whipped cream and delicious juicy strawberries.

A “very British” dessert is the lovely layering of custard, fruit and cake, better known as trifle. The dessert is anything but trifle to say the least. The many dimensions of this dessert adds for an exciting end to any meal. My version uses the flavors of rhubarb and raspberries in a gorgeous pink rhubarb raspberry trifle.

“oh la la!” is what I often think when I am over at Helen’s. Her French desserts are creative and so innovative. I loved her experiments with making fresh French cheese, in particular Faiselle with thyme lemon curd. Heavenly!

Tarte tatin – not only a melodic name but the whole concept of placing fruit and then covering it with a layer of pastry, which caramelized the fruit so sweetly, is so perfect. Peter uses plums with a hint of nutmeg and covers his plum tarte tatin with an almond pie crust. Finally he serves it with a scoop of cinnamon ice-cream. Delicious!

A mousse is such an exquisite dessert - creamy, light, fluffy and rich all at the same time. While chocolate is probably the most common flavor, there are so many interesting combinations all ranging in texture and aromas. One that intrigued me with it’s fruit flavors was Vera’s cranberry orange mousse. Perfect for this time of year where cranberries are in abundance and very much en vogue. Vera uses white chocolate in her mousse so chocolate lovers will appreciate everything the dessert offers.

I too love fruity and tangy flavors for my mousse. Earlier this year the lemon buttermilk mousse topped off with a jello-like berry compote was a delicious refreshing treat to indulge in.

For the lovers of the traditional chocolate mousse I have a special treat for you. Dagmar makes chocolate mousse but her dessert is served as a cake. She lures us with chocolate mousse cake with vanilla vodka marinated raspberries. Have I left you drooling?

Crème Brulee or Crème Catalana as it is known in Spain is another one of those all time favorites. How many always order this in restaurants? Making it at home is extremely simple and there need be no fears when attempting this dessert for the first time. Over at Market Manila you will find a great basic recipe for this delicious vanilla flavored cream Crème Brulee a la Marketman is a recipe for a party of 10 and offers great step by step pictures to follow.

Once you have mastered the dessert let me entice you with a flavored version of the crème brulee. My lime brulee offers a perfect harmony of creamy and zesty flavours for all those citrus fans out there.

Fiodone is a Corsican style cheesecake without a crust and made with a specific cheese called brocciu. It was in Bastia that I first tasted this delicious creamy cake. I was not always fond of cheesecake and the Fiodone experience left me marked. Now more than ever I always catch myself comparing all cheesecakes to the Fiodone. I shouldn’t, I know, for no two cheesecakes are alike and no cheesecake will ever be like the smooth Fiodone. Coltide of Chocolate & Zucchini flavors her Fiodone with violet essence bringing this whole experience to a new level.

We now stop over in Germany where one particular dessert I often enjoy here is Bavarian cream. Wills Eats serves a charming vanilla Bavarian cream with a raspberry sauce which I know will also have you drooling for more.

Our last stop on this world blog tour of delightful desserts is Italy. In my books it’s the Italian (not the French) who make the most scrumptious desserts. Before I get rotten boos from my French Foodie friends – please take this with a pinch of salt! This is only my opinion mainly because I am sure I was an Italian in my previous life. I love everything about this country most of all their huge variety of sweet treats – from Amaretti cream to zabaione and everything in between.

Ivonne is very specific about her crostada. Hailing from a family of crostada makers we can trust her opinion and her recommendations. She shares a recipe of this delicate crust in her Jam crostada.

Panna cotta is that dreamy dessert made with simmering cream, milk and sugar. I made a slight twist on this dessert. Adding quark to the basic panna cotta recipe gave my quark vanilla panna cotta with star anise cranberry compote an incredible new texture and flavor dimension. I also sprinkled the desserts with spiced pecan brittle for an extra treat!

I just have to say the word and watch everyone drool – tiramisu! There I said it. What is it with this dessert? Why does it make the us all weak? Even after a filling meal, where our seams are on the verge of bursting, we still manage a stately portion of tiramisu. Marriana who shares my passion for Italy captivated me with her Limoncello tiramisu. She serves this classic dessert with an incredible tangy twist.

Z is for zabaione and sadly wraps up this scrumptious roundup. It is a beautiful delicate dessert of frothy cream made by beating egg yolks to triple its volume and flavored with a drizzling of marsala wine. In my Cooking School series I share a few tips and tricks for a perfect zabaione with a blissful recipe of zabaione with brandied plums.

One does not need the most expensive desserts to savor delectable treats. All you need is this compilation and a sweet tooth! You have both - so enjoy your delightful desserts.

Whether you are craving for mousse, cheesecake or tarts the FoodieView Search Engine will help you find the perfect dessert to suit your cravings.

Meeta is passionate about food, photography and life. On her blog What’s For Lunch, Honey? she shares her passion for cooking and pictures, all peppered with a good dose of life and a sweet helping of desserts.

This entry was posted on Monday, December 1st, 2008 at 11:32 am and is filed under Recipe Roundup. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.