Easy dessert recipes you'll love

Some easy dessert recipes traditional in the Catalan-speaking countries are inspired in the Moorish tradition. Others date back to medieval times like the delicious almond-milk pudding we call "white food" created by clever Catalan monks in the eighth century to make the Lent abstinence a little more bearable.

Mediterranean dessert recipes Making your loved ones happy

There is thus an interesting sweet link that connects the Western Mediterranean with the Arabic Eastern Mediterranean. It takes the mouthwatering forms of pastries, all kinds of sweets and plenty of easy desserts. On opposite shores of the Mediterranean Sea, Egyptians are as fond of sweets as Catalans!

At this stage, Mediterranean diet purists become disappointed. They needn't be. Gourmet dessert recipes are fine as long as they are eaten in moderation, and they are certainly an integral part of the authentic Mediterranean diet tradition. Lebanese, Italian, Turkish, Greek, all have delicious easy dessert recipes too.

Consuming the gourmet dessert recipes I publish on this web site, perhaps once a week, does no harm, and rounds out family meals and social gatherings. Moreover, you can alternate them with quick and easy dessert recipes like seasonal fresh fruit salads and plain pieces of seasonal fruit.

I am positive that how you enjoy food is as much an integral part of the healthy Mediterranean diet as the ingredients and the superb olive oil based Mediterranean recipes.

Granted, it used to be easier. As in other Mediterranean regions, in Catalonia the yearly "sweet calendar" was so established by tradition that if you followed it you were safe. You didn't have to worry about putting on weight or consuming too much sugar.

Housewives prepared easy dessert recipes for specific holidays: The creme brulee recipe on Saint Joseph's day, panellets were eaten on All Saint's Day, torrons for Christmas, and on Saint John's day we always ate, and still eat actually, a pastry called coca de Sant Joan.

Nowadays the offer is wider and traditions have changed regarding easy dessert recipes. We have to use our own judgment and develop our own sweet calendar.

Gourmet dessert recipes