Two Picnic Dessert Recipes For Spring

http://www.flickr.com/photos/stevendepolo/ / CC BY 2.0

While spring produce isn’t here yet in Michigan, the weather certainly is beautiful. It’s the perfect time to eat outside. So dust off those blankets and picnic baskets.

My friend Chen at http://www.picnicfood-ideas.com was kind enough to share two fabulous dessert recipes that are perfect for the season.

Determining what kind of dessert you should make for a picnic really has a lot to do with what season it happens to be at the time.  Why is this? Each season suggests a certain flavor, style, or composition, in order to create a food that just seems to complement the weather and environment.

Spring is no exception. Desserts in spring should be light and airy, and should involve a lot of fruit in order to bring in the crisp, refreshing aspect of the season.  These two picnic dessert recipes are perfect for spring-time picnics and will complement any picnic ideas appropriate for the season.

Picnic Dessert Recipe #1:  Lemon Cream Napoleon

The napoleon (not the dictator!) is a delicious French pastry that is light, airy, yet satisfyingly crisp and fruity – the perfect spring dessert. There are several ways to make this treat, and you can use a variety of fillings other than lemon cream. (One personal favorite is a strawberry cream napoleon that is great for summer.)

For this recipe, we are going to use lemon cream to give the dessert a special spring-time zest.  To make this dessert, you will need the following ingredients:

–          12 wonton wrappers

–          1 box, instant lemon pudding

–          1 tablespoon of minced lemon zest

–          5 tablespoons of whipped cream topping

–          1 teaspoon, vanilla extract

–          ¾ cup of light sour cream

–          1 tablespoon of honey

–          ¾ cup of ricotta cheese

Start off by preheating the oven to 350 degrees before using a food processor to combine the pudding, ricotta cheese, and sour cream. Then, add in the lemon zest. Process this until it reaches a pudding-like consistency.  Line a baking sheet with wax paper. Dissolve the honey in a bit of warm water, then brush this mixture onto both sides of a wonton wrapper before placing it on the baking sheet.  Once finished with all the wrappers, bake for 7-8 minutes (or until golden brown).

To construct the dessert, cover the top of a wrapper with the pudding mixture.  Then place a wrapper on top of it, and repeat with another layer of pudding mixture.  Place one more wrapper on top. Add vanilla to the whipped cream topping and place on the very top of the dish.

Picnic Dessert Recipe #2:  Strawberry Ginger Graham Delight

This dessert is wonderfully simple – but oh so tasty! To make this easy dessert, you will need:

–          2 cups of fresh sliced strawberries

–          3 tablespoons of light brown sugar

–          1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon of ginger (finely chopped and crystallized)

–          ¾ cup of sour cream

–          Fresh mint

–          Graham crackers

To make, simply mix the sour cream, ginger, and sugar together and let chill in a refrigerator.  Then, mash up the graham crackers into fine crumbs (or buy a package of graham cracker crumbs). Right before serving, cover a dessert dish with a layer of crumbs, then add the strawberries to your cream mixture and put into the dish.  You can then garnish with a sprig of fresh mint.

This article is courtesy of Chen from Picnic  Food Ideas .

This post linked to Things I Love Thursday and the Ultimate Recipe Swap