"dessert trend" news and stories

Peanut brittle might remind you of something grandma kept in a jar and doled out during special visits. Crunchy, sweet and translucent brown, brittle tasted of peanuts in a way far different from peanut butter. But it was also one of those candies the dentists warned you about -- with brittle's adamantine hardness, you were bound to lose a filling or chip a tooth. Spoilsports.

Now, according to Nation's Restaurant News, peanut and other nut and seed brittles are undergoing a revival in restaurants across the country, where pastry chefs are crushing them and sprinkling them over other desserts such as puddings and cakes (think pistachio brittle over creamy cheesecake), to add texture. They're also using brittle as a component of layered confections, spicing it up with cayenne and cloves, or simply incorporating it into the mix of components on the dessert plate (such as a panna cotta served with olive-oil cake and figs).

With a startling protein content of 24 percent, making it the most nutritious of legumes, peanuts may be making a comeback, and in its simplicity and ease of preparation, peanut brittle will be leading the charge, followed by brittles made from, among others, pecans, pistachios and pumpkin seeds. (Visit Kitchen Daily for a selection of peanut brittle recipes.)

Beer does not immediately spring to mind when asked to think about desserts. Whether you like dark or pale ales, chances are that you are more likely to want a beer with your pizza than with your creme brule. Restaurateurs and brewers, however, are seeing things in a different light. With the proliferation of microbreweries, including restaurants and pubs that brew their own blends, a wider variety of beers are showing up on menus and the unique flavors in some brews - from honey to blackberry - are helping to put some beers on the dessert menu on a regular basis. Strong, dark beers can have a noticeably bitter after taste, but many pair well with fruit to make sorbets. Dairy can mute the flavors of some malts, but also conceals lingering bitterness, so it pairs well with stronger ales. Wine and champagne have long been making appearances in desserts - why not beer?

Guinness has appeared, with success, in ice creams already and there are commercial varieties of beer ice cream as well, though unique new flavors will not have the same lure of a brand name to draw consumers in.

[Photo Sydney Morning Herald]

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