Dessert For Two, a cookbook by Christina Lane, is such a wonderful and charming creation. This book is perfect for anyone who has a sweet tooth or loves someone who has a sweet tooth. The recipes in this book are mouthwatering cookies, puddings, miniature pies, tarts, cakes, popscicles, snacks and candies. The photography in the book is stunning and the writing has a great conversational feel. The recipes are deliciously evil but through Lane’s hard work of scaling down recipes, the risk of “accidentally” eating a dozen cookies disappears. As someone who struggles with poor willpower around sugar, I appreciate this. I also appreciate that Lane makes suggestions about bakeware (like getting adorable six inch pie tins and miniature loaf pans), but has alternative solutions if you find yourself living with a small kitchen that lacks miniature bakeware. I love the idea (as pictured on the cover of the book) of baking a miniature pie using a mason jar band as a pie tin.

I tested three recipes. The first was a biscuit bread pudding with whiskey sauce. My husband is a bread pudding freak and he said that it was the best that he’s ever had. I’m not as passionate about bread pudding as he is, but this is the recipe that turned me into a bread pudding person. It is very easy to make  and you can use day old biscuits, which you can either make yourself or buy pre-made. I used refrigerated biscuit dough and made biscuits from that and it turned out beautifully.  It is sweet and rich and the recipe really makes enough for three generous servings. It is a gooey, sweet and decadent dish. Because it does not have eggs, the sauce is clear and is easier and faster to make than a creme anglaise.

I also made the Pumpkin cupcakes with bourbon buttercream frosting. I got six cupcakes out of the batter and frosting rather than the four listed in the book. The cake itself is really good, and is moist with an interesting blend of spices. It is subtly sweet and spicy; I’d totally eat the cupcakes un-iced as a muffin. The buttercream frosting is very sweet, but it balances very well with the cake. These cupcakes were so delicious.

Last but not least, I made the Salted Butterscotch Pudding Pops. I made them with Nielsen-Massey vanilla extract, which is my new favorite baking product.  This recipe makes amazing pudding that you can then turn into popsicles, or just eat as pudding. The recipe made enough for over four popsicles, and I had a mold for four popsicles, so I ate the extra pudding while it was still warm (it was really good). The popsicles were also quite tasty. My husband gave his seal of approval on the pops as well. This recipe is quick and easy, and makes a great summer treat.

-JHC (Jennifer)