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A jar of Palette dessert sauce does so many things—like make “instant tarts.” Shown: Apple Pie & Ice Cream sauce topped with candied ginger, Chocolate Orange Spice sauce topped with dried cranberries and Gingerbread Cream sauce with a dab of whipped cream. Photo by Melody Lan. |
| WHAT IT IS: Multi-tasking dessert sauces. |
| WHY IT’S DIFFERENT: Complex dessert sauces that can be heated to create liquid toppings, used in their natural, solid form to fill tart shells, or incorporated as an ingredient in more elaborate preparations. |
| WHY WE LOVE IT: Delicious as “spoon candy” from the jar, they turn simple foods—ice cream, fruit, cookies, pound cakes—into deluxe desserts. |
| FIND IT AT: DavesGourmet.com. |
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Palette Fine Foods:
Saucy Solutions
CAPSULE REPORT: It’s a dessert topping...a pancake topping...a layer cake filling...an instant fondue. It makes an entire tray of mini-tarts in minutes. It’s the new line of dessert sauces from Palette Fine Foods. And it’s what we at THE NIBBLE™ call a “rabbit out of a hat” product, a magic trick that performs in a number of different, splendid ways.
With these jars of cannily-crafted dessert sauces, in Apple Pie & Ice Cream, Chocolate Orange Spice and Gingerbread Cream, you’ll always be ready for sweet-toothed guests, whether planned or unexpected. Or for moments when you need a little self-indulgence, grab a spoon, twist off the lid and dig in.
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Books Of Easy Desserts
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| Ice Cream Treats: Easy Ways to Transform Your Favorite Ice Cream into Spectacular Desserts, by Charity Ferreira. Even beginners can create delicious pies and tarts, using the four basic recipes upon which all other pies and tarts are based. $13.22. Click here for more information or to purchase. |
Dessert Circus at Home: Fun, Fanciful, And Easy-To-Make Desserts, by Jacques Torres. Even if your pastry skills are elementary, Torres leads you through recipes step-by step. His mouth-watering recipes are certain to please. $24.70. Click here for more information or to purchase. |
Easy Cakes, by Linda Collister. The Queen of Cakes provides the easiest recipes for the most delicious cakes you’ll ever taste, made with a hand-held beater. From layer cakes to pound cakes to tray cakes, you won’t know which to make first. $11.01. Click here for more information or to purchase. |
Saucy Solutions: Palette Fine Foods Dessert Sauces
Palette Fine Foods, which was acquired last year by Dave’s Gourmet, was developed by the wonderfully gifted Marnie Fudge. We hope that she continues to focus on new product development, since everything she makes is a standout. Following magnificent gourmet preserves that also double as cheese condiments and three heavenly flavors of infused honey, this year the brand introduced a line of specialty dessert sauces. These delicious multi-taskers work as:
- Ice cream toppings
- Brownie sauces and frostings
- Cake and pie embellishments
- Pound cake, carrot cake and banana bread
sauces and frostings
- Cheesecake and pie garnishes
- Layer cake fillings
- Tart*, meringue and puff pastry fillings
- Cookie frostings and cookie sandwich fillings
- Fondue dips
- Pancake and waffle toppings (especially
Gingerbread Cream—add some toasted
pecans or chopped macadamias)
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Gingerbread lovers will thank their stars for this
heavenly Gingerbread
Cream dessert sauce. |
Or just enjoy them as “spoon candy” from the jar, straight or with your beverage of choice.
*See our review of Clearbrook Farms miniature tart shells—the perfect size.
The dessert sauce flavors are delightfully out-of-the-ordinary, yet classic combinations:
- Apple Pie & Ice Cream. Granny Smith apples, cream and spices create buttery, caramel-and-apple goodness. It’s Tarte Tatin flavor rather than Apple Pie & Ice Cream (no complaints there!). But warm it in the microwave and add some vanilla ice cream, and you have a deconstructed apple pie à la mode.
- Chocolate Orange Spice. Creamy dark chocolate subtly accented with orange and spices, this sauce is rich but not cloying. It’s a jar of chocolate you can warm up to no matter what the season—great for making cookie sandwiches, too.
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BYO ice cream: Apple Pie & Ice Cream tastes like caramelized Tarte Tatin. (Mmmm).
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- Gingerbread Cream. The title says it all: a very creamy gingerbread spread. It’s especially festive on pumpkin bread and gingerbread cookies—use it as a filling to make sandwiches. We liked it on chocolate pound cake and baked apples, too.
The review continues below with recipes.
Recipes
At room temperature the sauces are spreadable like peanut butter. Microwaved, they become instant fondue to dip fruit, marshmallows, cake chunks, pretzels and cookies. (If you find something to add to this list, please let us know. Click the “Contact Us” box at the top of the page.) Each jar comes with a selection of recipes. Here are some of the [mostly] no-cook, no-bake ones:
Apple Dipping Platter
Ingredients
- 1 jar Palette Apple Pie & Ice Cream Dessert Sauce
- 3 Granny Smith apples
- 3 Fuji or Gala apples (or other red-skinned apples)
- 1/2 cup pineapple juice
Directions
- Wash apples and slice into wedges. Toss with pineapple juice to prevent discoloration, and drain. Place around the outside of a serving platter or dish.
- Remove the lid of the sauce jar and heat in the microwave on medium-low heat, stirring twice, until warmed throughout. Be sure not to overheat. Place the jar in the middle of the platter and serve.
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The same approach turns the Chocolate Orange Spice sauce into chocolate fondue:
Instant Chocolate Fondue
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Ingredients
- 1 jar Palette Chocolate Orange Spice Dessert Sauce
- 3 cups sliced fruit (apples, oranges, strawberries,
bananas)
- 1/2 cup pineapple juice
Directions
- Wash and toss fruit with pineapple juice and drain. Place around the outside of a serving platter or dish.
- Remove the lid of the sauce jar and heat in the microwave on medium-low heat, stirring twice, until warmed throughout. Be sure not to overheat. Place the jar in the middle of the platter and serve.
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Gingerbread Brandy Glaze
Ingredients
- 1 jar Palette Gingerbread Cream Dessert Sauce
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 3 tablespoons brandy
Directions
- Place the Gingerbread Cream and the heavy cream into a saucepan on medium heat, stirring until warm. Add brandy and continue cooking, stirring constantly, until the mixture starts to boil.
- Remove from heat and pour over fresh or poached pears and apples, cake or ice cream.
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“Business Attire” Pumpkin Pie
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Dress up a store-bought pie so that it “means business.”
Ingredients
- 1 jar Palette Gingerbread Cream Dessert Sauce
- 1 store-bought pumpkin pie
- 1 cup heavy cream, whipped
Directions
- Fold the Gingerbread Cream into the whipped cream and spread over the top of the pumpkin pie.
- Chill for 1 hour before serving.
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Tart Art
Here are just a few ways we filled and garnished miniature tarts:
- Candied orange peel
- Candied, roasted, and/or chopped nuts
- Chocolate or butterscotch morsels (use a top
brand, like Guittard)
- Crystallized ginger†
- Decorative miniature candies (tiny nonpareils,
e.g.)
- Dried cherries or cranberries, or complementary
chopped dried fruits like apricot and mango
- Shaved chocolate or chocolate curls
- Sliced star fruit or other interesting fresh fruit
garnish, like champagne grapes
- Toffee bits
- Whipped cream—plain or lightly flavored
(almond, cardamom, ginger et al)
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†The crystallized ginger heart is from The Ginger People, GingerPeople.com.
No matter how you use the dessert sauces—as a host/hostess gift, stocking stuffer, gift basket goodie or personal pantry supply—these little jars are certain to make everyone happy. As a test, put all three flavors on the table with cookies, cake, fruit or ice cream (or just spoons), and gauge the happiness level of your family or guests.
—Karen Hochman
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FORWARD THIS NIBBLE to anyone who likes easy tricks for serving delicious food.
PALETTE FINE FOODS DESSERT SAUCES
Apple Pie & Ice Cream, Chocolate Orange Spice and Gingerbread Cream
Purchase online at DavesGourmet.com
Shipping additional. Prices and flavor
availability are verified at publication
but are subject to change.
Also available at fine retailers nationwide.
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Tasty trio. Photo by Melody Lan.
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Read about some of our other
favorite toppings, desserts and
sweets in these sections
of
THE NIBBLE™ online magazine:
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ABOUT THE NIBBLE™. THE NIBBLE™, Great Finds For Foodies™, is an online magazine about specialty foods and the gourmet life. It is the only consumer publication and website that focuses on reviewing the best specialty foods and beverages, in every category. The magazine also covers tabletop items, gourmet housewares, and other areas of interest to people who love fine food. This e-mail from the editors features the top food pick of the week. You can read the complete magazine and past issues at TheNibble.com.
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