Ann is ann_t. You can go to her member page to send her an email requesting the book. She will then send you a link to download the dessert chapter. You can also ask for her earlier recipe book: THIBEAULTÂS TABLE. The desserts chapter is an expanded dessert chapter for the book. Here is a link that might be useful: Ann_t's member page

Hi Sands, welcome back. Here are a few that might work for you. Home Cookin Chapter: Recipes From Thibeault's Table Cassata Cake (Sicilian Ricotta Cheesecake) ========================================== Source: Bonnie Stern, Toronto Cake Base 1 cup unsalted butter 1 1/2 cups sugar 5 eggs 2 cups cake flour 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon vanilla 2 tablespoons lemon juice (Brandy, orange ligueur or Amaretto) Preheat oven to 325F. Butter a 9 x 5 loaf pan. Cream butter until light and add sugar gradually. Beat eggs in one at a time. Add vanilla and flavorings Stir or sift dry ingredients together and stir into egg mixture quickly. Pour into pan and bake 1 1/4 or 1 1/2 hours. Note: This cake improves with age and freezes well. Filling, Icing and Final Assembly 1 pound ricotta cheese 2/3 cups sugar 2 teaspoon vanilla 2 ounces of liqueur (Orange, Cognac, Amaretto, your choice) 2 oz. semisweet chocolate grated 1/4 cup candied fruit Icing, 2 cups whipping cream 1/4 cup sifted icing sugar 2 oz liqueur (use the same as above) Beat the sugar into the cheese. Add vanilla, liqueur, fruit and chocolate. Slice the cake into 3 or 4 layers and spread each with some of the cheese mixture reshaping the cake into a loaf as you proceed. Finish with a layer of cake. The cake will keep, well wrapped, two days at this point. A few hours before serving whip the cream until light and add the sugar and liqueur. Continue beating until quite stiff. Spread a coating of cream over the sides and top of the cake. Place the remaining cream into a piping bag and decorate the cake. It could be garnished with pistachio nuts , chocolate curls or strawberries. This cake is very rich so serve think slices. Notes: This cake ban also be iced with chocolate icing and it can be made into a round instead of in a loaf. My Notes: I usually add extra chocolate to the filling and leave out the candied fruit. Home Cookin Chapter: Recipes From Thibeault's Table White Chocolate Cream cheese Raspberry Tart =========================================== Shortbread Tart Pastry ====================== 1 cup butter, room temperature 1/2 cup Icing sugar (powdered sugar) 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour Place the flour and icing sugar in the bowl of a food processor. Cut the butter into pieces and add to the bowl. Using the pulse function process the mixture until it forms a ball. White Chocolate Cream Cheese Filling 8 ounces white chocolate melted (I melt in the microwave on medium low heat in 20 to 30 second intervals) Stir in between. Chocolate should not be hot. 8 ounces cream cheese room temperature 2 large eggs 1 cup heavy cream 1/2 white sugar 2 to 3 teaspoons vanilla extract Fresh Raspberries (enough filling for two pies) Preheat oven to 425°F. Prepare the crust first. Divide dough into 4 equal pieces and place in the bottom of a tart pan with removeable bottom. Using your fingers pat the dough evenly along the sides and bottom of the pan. Prick with a fork and put in the freezer for 15 minutes. Prick again. Place on a cookie sheet and bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until crust is golden. Check after the first 6 or 7 minutes and if the pastry is rising up, flatten gently with a fork. Remove from oven and let cool on a rack. Lower the temperature to 350°F Filling Beat the cream cheese with sugar until soft and creamy. Add the eggs and continue to beat. Beat in melted white chocolate,cream and vanilla. Decorate tart shell with raspberries. Slowly pour the cream cheese filling around the berries. Bake for approximately 25 to 30 minutes or until the filling is set. Let cool on rack. May be decorated with melted chocolate. Note, enough filling for two pies. Home Cookin Chapter: Recipes From Thibeault's Table Praline Cheesecake ================== 1-1/4 cup crushed graham crackers 1/4 cup granulated sugar 1/4 cup finely chopped pecans toasted 1/4 cup butter melted 3 - 8 oz packages cream cheese 1 cup packed brown sugar 2/3 cup evaporated milk NOte: I used coffee cream 2 Tablespoons all purpose flour 2 teaspoons vanilla 3 eggs 1 cup pecan halves toasted. Caramel Sauce topping 1 cup corn syrup - dark 1/4 cup cornstarch 2 Tablespoon Brown sugar 1 Tablespoon vanilla Nnte: I use my regular caramel sauce instead of the one mentioned above: Caramel Sauce 1 cup butter 1 cup sugar 1 cup brown sugar 1 cup cream pinch of salt 2 teaspoons vanilla Mix all the ingredients together and simmer for about 5 or 6 minutes. Serve over Bread and butter pudding, apple pie and icecream, warm gingerbread, etc.. . Combine graham crackers, sugar, pecans and stir in melted butter. Press mixture over the bottom and 1 1/2 inches up sides of a 9" ich spring pan. Bake at 350°F for 10 minutes. Beat cream cheese, 1 cup brown sugar, evaporated milk, flour and vanilla. Add egss and beat until just blended. pour into crust. Bake 50 to 55 minutes or until set. Cool in pan for 30 minutes. Loosen sides and remove rim. Cool completely. Arrange toasted pecans on top of cake decoratively. Make Topping by combining corn syrup, cornstarch and brown sugar in a small saucepan. Cook and stir until thickened. Remove from heat and add vanilla. To serve cake, Pour sauce over top and serve remaining sauce in a pitcher at the table. NOTE: I baked the cake in a Baine Marie. I wrapped foil around the outside of the springform pan to prevent any water from seeping in to the cake. (Toronto Star Newspaper: 1981)

If you're in for 'something fun?' Use either 1 banana per person or cut in half (my preference) w/a plastic knife. Insert wooden skewer from the cut end of the banana. (they have shorter than chopstix size at the grocery of cake supply place.) In a small, deep microwavable bowl, melt milk chocolate chips in the mircrowave or stovetop (per pkg directions, ) and dip the bananas into the chocolate-spin the stick slightly to remove excess. Roll in crushed peanuts that are placed on waxed paper. Put a sheet of waxed or parchment paper on to a cookie sheet & place the dipped banana stix on it & freeze until serving. Kids LOVE them!

Ah! Shaw. You're right. Thanks for the correction! (Truly!) Funny about cakes. I always think of France as having all the different cakes. But if there's any cake that gains popularity, you'll see it in our bakeries. Like Tres Leches used to just be in the Mexican bakeries, but it's mainstream now. Most of our cakes are butter cake variations, with a few chiffons thrown in, whereas French cakes have all kinds of different batters/doughs and creams. But maybe that's just me being unaware of the cakes, or lack thereof, in the UK. For us, unless we're being divergent, celebrations have cakes: Birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, baptisms, graduations, etc. And less so now, but in the past, most people served dessert at a regular home meal (back when people were thinner!). Often that meant homebaked cake. Which is where the rise of the cake mix came from. And then the rise of cakes made by doctoring cake mixes. Interesting about the cookies. We have infinite kinds of cookies, and as you might have seen in the other thread, traditions of baking many kinds and making gift baskets for friends and neighbors. As we've grown more health conscious that has become less of a thing, but it's still very much done. On American TV you'll see challenge shows for decorating and constructing with cookies, and they do take flavor and texture into account, but the real cookies that most people bake (or buy) and eat are mostly about the eating. Growing up for me, dessert was fruit, but there were always cookies and ice cream available. My father liked both. We rarely had cake that wasn't leftover from a celebration, but there were lots of celebrations. What we really looked forward to, every year, however, which my mother would get for the big Hanukkah party (where there were tons of homemade and individually wrapped cookies hanging on forms as decorations to eat, along with net bags of chocolate coins), was the Swiss bakery fruit torte, which other bakeries have started selling in recent years, but not as good. It was a huge sheet pan sized of puff filled with pastry cream and the ripest and best and most delicious of berries and tropical fruits, with a light tart glaze.