Monday, February 23, 2009

To Enhance the Baby Shower Theme: Consider Sweets and Desserts

By Edie Mindell

Baby showers are not complete without sweets! Desserts, fruit, and pastries add sweetness and charm to special events. Sweets are an important part of a baby shower, so do not forget to include them in your menu. If you have reservations in a restaurant, the restaurant will probably offer a dessert menu from which you can choose your selection of sweets and post-meal indulgences.

If you are hosting the baby shower at a banquet hall or at someones home, the dessert menu is completely up to you to decide on. You can make desserts fun, sweet, and baby themed to match your event. If there is a specific theme that you are focusing on, like "Pink Tea," design your dessert menu around your theme. Popular sweets for baby showers are pastries, clairs, truffles, fruits, chocolates, and the ever-classic cake.

Pastries and clairs can be bought or baked. Visit your local bakery to find out about any special deals and offers that they can offer for a large quantity of pastries purchased. You can also find some good recipes online or in a cookbook, and bake the pastries yourself. A great alternative to this is to buy frozen pastries at your local grocery store, or better yet, at a wholesale grocery store. These are affordable and scrumptiously delicious. B.J.s and Costco supermarkets have amazing clairs that nobody will ever know were bought frozen.

Trufas are a Latin American version of truffles. Truffles are not necessarily made out of chocolate in Hispanic countries, but can be made with coconut, vanilla, and other flavors. Two popular flavors in Latin America are coconut and cocoa-flavored truffles. An easy recipe for truffles calls for one can of sweetened condensed milk, a box of crushed vanilla wafer cookies, and a half of a teaspoon of vanilla extract. Cocoa, sweetened shredded coconut, and sprinkles are good add-ons.

Crush the cookies until you end up purely with cookie crumbs. Slowly add the sweetened condensed milk until you reach the desire consistency of tough clay. Add the vanilla flavoring along with the chosen flavor (cocoa, coconut, etc.). Use you own taste to decide how much cocoa or coconut to use. Roll into small, round truffles. As a finishing touch, roll the coconut truffles around in shredded coconut, and roll the cocoa truffles in cocoa. Sprinkles are optional.

Fruits and dip is a healthy and fresh option for a sweet treat. Serve apple slices, strawberries, pineapple, grapes, and melon alongside fruit dip, and you have got a fabulous and nutritious treat! Popular choices for fruit dip are caramel, chocolate, and yogurt dip.

Chocolate is a must-have for any baby shower. Small chocolates can be bought in bulk and served on tiny cupcake cups, for an elegant touch. You can also buy pastel-colored white chocolate (sold in bags in most craft stores), melt it, and pour the melted chocolate into small baby-themed molds (also can be found at a craft store). Refrigerate, and voila: delicate and adorable little chocolates!

Whichever sweets you decide to include in your menu, and whether or not you decide to make or buy them, do not forget about the cake! Whether you order it and have it made especially for your shower, or make it yourself, make sure that you are 100% satisfied with its outcome and that it ties into your baby shower theme.

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