Chefs frequently turn to grandma’s dessert recipes to showcase exciting and indulgent new flavors. Coconut, Guinness, sour cream, guanábana, thyme, ginger, chipotle, bourbon and miso are just some of the ingredients now appearing in classic dessert formats. Reinventing recognizable desserts from the past, such as whoopie pies, cupcakes, bread pudding and apple pie, using foreign flavors, mixes nostalgia with adventure. Recently, chefs have been changing the original desserts and flavoring them with different, exotic flavors. The whoopie pie, for example, can be made many ways; from the original chocolate and cream filling to butterscotch toffee or red velvet with cream cheese. These changes give consumers updated flavors in a recognizable way.
Deconstructing the Traditional
Apple pies, tarts and crumbles, some of the country’s favorite dessert choices, are deconstructed by many pastry chefs. Chef Mindy Segal, from Mindy’s HotChocolate Restaurant and Dessert Bar in Chicago, makes a warm apple confit with brown butter streusel, tart cider semifreddo, a pecan caramel candy bar and an apple butter cream puff. Pastry chef Maximo Santiago, of Miami, has created an apple crostada with bûcheron ice cream, aged balsamic vinegar and spiced apple clouds. Cupcakes with bold new flavor profiles, like chai-spiced, Key lime, tiramisu and Nutella are another new national trend. There are even stores dedicated solely to cupcakes, like Molly’s Cupcakes and Swirlz Cupcakes in Chicago.