A quick and easy dessert from Everyday Food: Great Food Fast using amaretti cookies, which are sweet, crispy Italian macaroons made with almond paste.

1 container (15 oz) part-skim ricotta
1/3 cup sugar
2 tsp instant espresso
4 amaretti cookies

Combine ricotta, sugar, and espresso in a food processor and puree until very smooth, at least 1-2 minutes. Pour into 4 dessert cups or glasses and chill, at least 30 minutes and up to 1 day (recommendation: 1 hour).

For serving, crumble an amaretti cookie over each dessert. 

This one was tough to puree in a blender, so the texture wasn’t as smooth as I would have liked. Also, make sure the dessert is well chilled.

Here is yet another great recipe from Everyday Food magazine (did I mention I love, love, love this magazine?). This one uses fresh peaches and raspberries, perfectly in season this time of year, combined with subtle vanilla flavor.

2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice (from 1 large lemon)
2 tbsp sugar
1 vanilla bean, halved lengthwise and scraped, OR 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
4 firm, ripe peaches (1 to 1 1/2 pounds total), halved and pitted
1 package, 5 to 6 oz, raspberries
1 pint vanilla iced cream

Preheat oven to 400F

In a large, shallow baking dish, combine butter, lemon juice, sugar, and vanilla. Add peaches, turning to coat all sides with butter mixture, and arrange cut-side down in a single layer.

Roast until peaches are tender and cooking liquid is syrupy, 15 to 25 minutes, brushing with cooking liquid half-way through. Whisk in 1 to 2 tbsp warm water if cooking liquid is too thick to drizzle. Serve peaches (warm or room temperature) with raspberries and vanilla iced cream, drizzled with cooking liquid.

I brought this dish to a reunion, but doubled the recipe. To double:

1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup lemon juice (1 1/2 to 2 large lemons)
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
8 peaches, quartered and pitted
1 pint raspberries
1 gallon vanilla iced cream
Follow same directions for baking as above, but turn peaches once during cooking. Cooking times might vary.

Another tasty dessert from Everyday Food’s book “Great Food Fast,” from the Kitchen’s of Martha Stewart. This dish is best served warm with ice cream on the side. The tart taste of rhubarb goes well with fresh strawberries or, like this recipe, strawberry ice cream. The book points out that though rhubarb is a vegetable, it is usually used in desserts or jams.

2 lb rhubarb
1 1/2 cups sugar, divided
3/4 cup flour, divided
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, chilled, cut into pieces
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Strawberry ice cream, for serving, or vanilla (optional)

Preheat oven to 400 F

Wash and remove leafy ends of rhubarb. Cut into diagonal pieces 3/4 inch thick. Place in a 9×13 baking dish. Toss with 1 cup sugar and 1/4 cup flour.

In a food processor or chopper, pulse remaining 1/2 cup flour with the butter until the clumps are pea-sized. Add remaining 1/2 cup sugar, rolled oats, and cinnamon. Pulse just to combine. Sprinkle over rhubarb.

Bake until the rhubarb is tender and the topping is golden, 25-35 minutes. Serve warm with ice cream, if desired.

The recipe calls for 35 minutes, though mine was bubbly and brown at about 25 minutes, so cooking time will vary. The strawberry ice cream complimented the rhubarb well, the picture below shows my serving with a small scoop of strawberry and vanilla.

Here is a great dessert recipe from the Everyday Food book. It is listed in the “Fall” chapter, but I think it works better for spring or summer, when the stone fruits are more in season. The combination I used was peaches, plums, and apricots. Because the apricots were small, I used 4 instead of 2.

Pick 3 of the following:
2 apricots
2 nectarines
2 peaches
2 plums
Plus:
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
2 to 3 tbsp sugar (depending on the sweetness of the fruit)
2 tbsp butter, cut into pieces
1 tbsp fresh lime juice (about 1 small)
Vanilla ice cream or frozen yogurt, optional

Preheat oven to 400F

Prick the skins of the stone fruit. Halve each fruit and remove pits. Halve fruit again. Separate rosemary leaves and discard stems.

In a roasting pan, toss the fruit with rosemary, sugar, butter, and lime juice. Roast, tossing occasionally, until the fruit is fork-tender, 15 to 20 minutes.

Serve warm over vanilla ice cream or frozen yogurt, if desired, and drizzle the pan juices over the top.

Here is a quick and easy dessert from Taste of Home’s magazine “Cooking for 2.” This is the perfect dish to share between two people.

2 (6-inch) flour tortillas
2 tbsp honey
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tbsp chocolate chips
cooking spray

Drizzle honey over one tortilla then sprinkle with cinnamon. Top with chocolate chips (don’t get too close to the edges). Top with remaining tortilla.  

Coat a medium frying pan or skillet with cooking spray. Cook quesadilla over medium heat for 2 minutes on each side or until lightly browned. Flip carefully, if the filling spills out, quesadilla will be sticky.  

Cut into four wedges and serve immediately.