Sweet treats when cooking for one

By JOE YONAN

With a little know-how, you can downsize recipes for a party of one.

WASHINGTON — Dessert might be the last frontier of the solo cook. It hardly seems worth the time to whip up something fanciful for a meal-ender when you’re the only one who’s going to appreciate it.

I have never pulled out my pastry bag, for instance, to pipe a rosette of whipped cream onto pie unless I’m serving it to friends. But that doesn’t mean my sweet tooth deactivates when I’m cooking for myself.

On the contrary, by the time I’ve put together and polished off a quick weeknight dinner, I’m ready to grab just about anything sugary that’s hanging around. It’s a dangerous moment, along the lines of supermarket shopping on an empty stomach. Something left over from a previous baking binge — say, half a layer cake I made for a birthday dinner the day before — becomes fair game. All of it.

Which is why I try to pawn off cake or pie leftovers on departing guests and instead stock my fridge, freezer and pantry with lighter ways to get my dessert fix. The most common is probably a parfait I make by layering Greek-style yogurt or its Icelandic cousin, skyr, with honey, nuts and seasonal fruit or jam. In the summer, I’ll sometimes spoon yogurt over berries or stone fruit in a gratin dish, sprinkle with brown sugar and run it all under the broiler.

Need more

As delicious as that is, sometimes it’s just not enough. My urge for an actual baked good will start to get the best of me, and that’s when I usually pull a sheet of puff-pastry dough out of the freezer, cut out a square and bake a free-form apple, pear or peach tart. Once I add dried cranberries and walnuts, plus a little ground cardamom or cinnamon, I feel like I’ve almost made something from scratch.

If I want to indulge, I indulge, and pick up a cup of 2-percent yogurt — oh, the naughtiness! — instead of the nonfat kind to eat alongside.

Even that option can get old. So my need to sift flour, whisk eggs and crank up the hand mixer takes over. I’ll bake a batch of cookies, eat just a few (or try to) and take the rest to co-workers. Or if I can find a spare corner in my freezer, I’ll stash some of the unbaked dough there. I often forget to label it, which causes some confusion a year later when I pull it out and wonder what lurks inside the plastic.

Better solutions

There are better ways to make dessert, even though solo cooks don’t always believe it. When Debby Maugans wrote her 2004 cookbook “Small-Batch Baking,” she heard the refrain. “People would say, ‘I’m not going to go to all that trouble and turn on the oven for that small of an amount,’” said Maugans (who, after her divorce, has stopped using the surname Nakos that appears on the book).

But it’s actually pretty easy to drop a few tablespoons of flour into a bowl, beat a single egg white with a little sugar and fold the two together for miniature angel food cakes that you bake in two wells of a large-muffin pan. This works perfectly in a modern toaster oven.

Maugans, who lives in Birmingham, Ala., is working on a book about small-batch baking with chocolate. The most difficult part of her testing has been, not surprisingly, scaling down recipes without losing quality. Adjusting the leavening agents (eggs, baking soda and baking powder) was the biggest challenge.

She wrote her book with couples in mind; most of the recipes serve two. But in many cases, such as mini-layer cakes (which she bakes in aluminum cans such as those that once held tomatoes or beans), the recipe could easily be adapted to one. Freeze one of the cakes; make half of the frosting now and half later. A much better idea than staring at a recipe for a party-size cake and wondering how to adapt it for a party of one.

Once I really started looking into the idea, the prospect of desserts for one became less daunting. One of my favorite cookbook authors, San Francisco’s Joyce Goldstein, speaks directly to my tastes in the dessert chapter of her 2003 book, “Solo Suppers.” In fact, her simple fruit-gratin recipe reads like a recitation of my own technique. Her desserts in the book skew toward the minimal, and she writes that, indeed, her go-to meal-ender is likely to be fruit and cheese (albeit a delectable combination such as pear, Gorgonzola cheese and chestnut honey).

She has created some slightly more involved desserts, and they’re tempting. Goldstein’s individual rice pudding, which calls for cooking a mere three tablespoons of short-grain rice in a cup of water, then stirring it into spiced and sweetened milk, has made it onto my must-try list.

But first I have to get my fill of her dessert French toast, a version of French pain perdu or Spanish torrijas. The first time I soaked a piece of challah in a single egg beaten with a little milk, coated it in sugared panko flakes and pan-fried it in butter, I was in heaven from the smell alone. Then I added the saut ed bananas and a dollop of yogurt, tasted it and thought: Who needs a dinner party?

The following recipe makes 2 large-muffin-size cakes. These virtually fat-free cakes get a bright boost (and a little extra fat) from a tangerine glaze. Make them in 2 wells of a jumbo-muffin pan and, if desired, wrap one of the cooled, unglazed cakes in plastic wrap and freeze for up to 6 months. The recipe makes enough glaze for both cakes.

Angel Food Cakes With Tangerines

For the cakes:

3 tablespoons sifted cake flour

1‚Ñ4 cup superfine sugar (see note)

1‚Ñ4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

2 large egg whites, at room temperature

1‚Ñ8 teaspoon salt

1‚Ñ4 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the glaze:

2 tangerines

1 tablespoon heavy cream

1‚Ñ2 cup sifted confectioners’ sugar

For the cakes: Position a rack in the middle of the oven; preheat to 350 degrees. Have ready an ungreased jumbo-muffin pan (preferably nonstick).

Combine the flour, 2 tablespoons of the sugar and the nutmeg in a small bowl and whisk to incorporate.

Combine the egg whites, salt and vanilla extract in a medium mixing bowl; beat with a hand-held electric mixer on medium speed for 20 to 30 seconds or until soft peaks form. With the mixer running, gradually add the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar; increase the speed to high and beat for 45 seconds or until the whites are glossy and form stiff peaks.

Sift half of the flour mixture over the egg whites and use a flexible spatula to gently fold it in, then fold in the remaining flour mixture. Divide the batter between two of the ungreased muffin wells, filling them to the top. Use water to fill each of the remaining empty muffin wells halfway full to prevent those wells from scorching. Bake for 15 minutes, then cover loosely with a piece of aluminum foil to keep the cakes from overbrowning. Bake for 5 to 10 minutes or until the tops are golden and spring back when lightly touched in the center.

Carefully pour the water out of the wells, then invert the muffin pan and balance it on a couple of water bottles or tumblers; let the cakes cool completely.

Meanwhile, make the glaze: Squeeze the juice of one tangerine into a measuring cup. Peel and segment the remaining tangerine (see note), working over the measuring cup to catch its juices. There should be about 1‚Ñ4 cup total.

Pour the juice into a small saucepan; bring to a boil over medium-high heat for a few minutes, until it has reduced to 2 tablespoons. Remove from the heat and add the cream and confectioners’ sugar, stirring to mix well.

To assemble: Remove the cakes from the muffin pan by releasing their edges with a rounded knife. When ready to serve, place a cake on a serving plate, browned side up. Garnish with the tangerine segments; drizzle the glaze over the cake and the fruit.

Note: Superfine sugar, often used in baked goods and desserts, is fine-grained and quick-dissolving. Some sources advise creating a substitute by grinding granulated sugar in a food processor; others caution that the processor will not create an acceptable stand-in and that the result might be gritty. Another name for superfine sugar is bar sugar, so you might be able to find it where bar supplies are sold.

To section the tangerine, use a paring knife to cut downward along the curve of the fruit, slicing away both the peel and pith while leaving as much of the fruit as possible. Cut between the sections to detach each section of fruit from its surrounding membrane. Discard any seeds in the sections.

Nutritional information

Per cake (using half of the glaze): 268 calories, 5 g protein, 59 g carbohydrates, 2 g fat, 1 g saturated fat, 5 mg cholesterol, 116 mg sodium, 2 g dietary fiber, 46 g sugar.

Adapted from “Small-Batch Baking,” by Debby Maugans Nakos (Workman, 2004).

Adding sweetened bread crumbs to the preparation of the following recipe makes a French toast with extra crunch and a dark exterior, a nice contrast to the light, moist interior. Bananas are a natural with this, but any seasonal fruit can work: sliced apples or peaches sauteed in butter, fresh berries or, when the fruit bowl is empty, your favorite jam. Makes 1 serving.

Dessert French Toast With Banana

Ingredients:

1 large egg

1‚Ñ4 cup nonfat milk

1‚Ñ4 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract

1 slice firm, 1-inch-thick bread, such as old-fashioned white, brioche or challah, trimmed neatly into a round or square (crusts removed)

1‚Ñ4 cup plain dried bread crumbs or panko (Japanese-style dried bread crumbs)

1‚Ñ4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon sugar

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, or more as needed

1 banana, peeled and cut on the diagonal into 1‚Ñ2-inch slices

Flavorful honey, for serving

Nonfat Greek-style yogurt, for serving (optional)

Whisk the egg in a shallow bowl until it is well blended, then add the milk and vanilla or almond extract, whisking to combine.

Place the bread in the bowl; let it stand for about 10 minutes, turning it over about halfway through, until it has absorbed most of the liquid.

Combine the bread crumbs, cinnamon and sugar on a plate. Use a spatula to transfer the soaked bread to the crumb mixture, turning to coat both sides evenly. Pat all of the mixture onto the bread.

Melt the butter over medium-low heat in a small saut pan. Add the bread and cook for about 6 minutes total, turning once, until it is golden brown and crusted on both sides; reduce the temperature as needed to keep it from getting too dark.

Transfer to a plate (preferably warmed). The inside of the French toast will be fairly spongy.

Add the banana slices to the pan; stir until they have warmed through and are coated with some of the butter in the pan. (If there is not much butter left in the pan, add a teaspoon or so and swirl to melt before adding the banana.)

Spoon the warmed banana slices over the French toast, then drizzle a bit of honey over the fruit and toast. Top with a dollop of yogurt, if desired; eat while the French toast is warm.

Nutritional information

Per serving: 484 calories, 15 g protein, 65 g carbohydrates, 19 g fat, 10 g saturated fat, 263 mg cholesterol, 323 mg sodium, 5 g dietary fiber, 23 g sugar.

Adapted from “Solo Suppers: Simple Delicious Meals to Cook for Yourself,” by Joyce Goldstein (Chronicle Books, 2003).