It's no secret that Americans have a huge sweet tooth. That's why they make some amazing desserts. No holiday is complete without pie; it's become a true tradition, a symbol of home comfort. Today, American desserts can be found on the menu of any modern restaurant.

In English, there are expressions like "As American as apple pie." Pies are baked in a thin shortcrust pastry shell, typically with soft fillings such as pumpkin or applesauce, lime, berries, cream cheese (the famous cheesecake), and so on.

A cobbler is a pie similar to a casserole. It's considered a simple dessert with fruit and served hot. Small, individual cobblers are often prepared for children. The dessert is called "cobble," which translates as "to lay cobblestones." Mini cobblers resemble pebbles and, when baked in the oven, resemble sweet paving stones.

America has many amazing desserts to offer, and we'll discuss some of them separately. Most of them are based on dough. But it's important to remember that Americans adore chocolate in any form.

Brownie is a chocolate cake

Raspberry Brownie

The brownie is the quintessentially American and chocolaty dessert. It was invented in 1893 in the kitchen of the Palmer Hotel in Chicago, specifically for women. Smaller than a slice of cake, it fit comfortably in the palm of your hand.

But there's another version of the dessert's origin. According to it, a certain Miss Brownie forgot to add baking powder to her cake batter. The batter didn't rise, and the cake turned out flat, but delicious. The recipe turned out surprisingly simple, and the result so amazing, that home cooks immediately took note.

Today, brownies come in many variations—with nuts, with cottage cheese and raspberries, with matzipan, with mascarpone, with Nutella filling, and so on. The base remains the same—chocolate dough with a liquid filling.

Dessert preparation time: 40 minutes. Serves 8. A 20 x 20 cm pan is recommended.

Ingredients:

  • ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 240 g dark chocolate 60-70% cocoa
  • ¾ cup fine brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or the seeds of one vanilla pod
  • two eggs
  • ¼ cup flour
  • 1 tablespoon of instant coffee
  • coarse sea salt

Preparation:

  1. Preheat the oven to 170 C. Grease an ovenproof dish with a small piece of butter and cover with baking paper.
  2. In a saucepan, combine olive oil and finely chopped chocolate. Place the bowl over a double boiler until the chocolate melts completely. Remove from heat.
  3. Stir sugar, coffee, and vanilla into the chocolate mixture. Add the eggs and beat with a mixer until smooth. Add the flour and beat on medium speed for about another minute.
  4. Place the dough into the prepared pan and sprinkle with a pinch of sea salt. Bake for half an hour. Cool and cut into small squares.
  5. When serving, the dessert can be garnished with fresh berries and mint.

Homemade marshmallow

Multicolored marshmallows.

American adults and children alike love marshmallows, a type of candy similar to marshmallow. The name "marshmallow" translates from "marsh mallow" or medicinal marshmallow. A sticky juice was extracted from the plant's root. Over time, this was replaced by gelatin and starch. Modern marshmallows first appeared in the United States in the 1950s, produced by the renowned company Kraft.

Americans often add small pieces of the sweet to desserts, decorate cakes and ice cream, and add them to cups of hot coffee, cocoa, or chocolate. The traditional way to prepare marshmallows in America is to roast them over a campfire. The resulting confection becomes chewy and crispy. Marshmallows are then sandwiched between two crackers. This treat is called S'mores.

S'mores is a shortened version of the phrase "some more." The first recipe was published in "Tramping and Trailing with the Girl Scouts" in 1927 by Loretta Scott Crew. S'mores have become a culinary craze in America—rolls, macarons, cupcakes, cookies—all these desserts are made with the flavor of S'mores, and even marshmallows with chocolate are baked in a pan.

How to cook?

Ingredients:

  • 450 grams of sugar
  • 350 ml of cold water
  • 15 ml corn syrup
  • 50 g of gelatin
  • two egg whites
  • 1 teaspoon cornstarch

Preparation:

1. Mix sugar with corn syrup, dissolve in 175 ml of water and heat to 125C.

2. Dissolve gelatin in the remaining cold water.

3. Beat the whites until white, add sugar (25 g) and continue beating until the sugar dissolves.

4. Add gelatin to the heated syrup and whisk thoroughly. Once the mixture is smooth, pour in the egg whites, whisking with a mixer until fluffy.

5. When the mixture has cooled slightly, pour it into a non-stick pan, spread evenly and leave to cool.

6. Cut the treat into cubes.

We offer another recipe for an American dessert: the Banana Split. This delicacy is sold at all ice cream stands and is especially popular on a hot summer day.

Banana Split Recipe

Banana Split

Ingredients:

  • ice cream
  • waffles or cookies
  • nuts
  • ½ bar of dark chocolate
  • 100 g heavy cream
  • 50 g butter

Preparation:

  1. Melt the butter and chocolate, then combine with the cream and sugar. Stir until a glaze forms. The sauce should be warm.
  2. Slice the bananas lengthwise and arrange the slices in a dessert bowl, facing each other. Place scoops of ice cream between the bananas.
  3. Before serving, drizzle the dessert with chocolate sauce. Sprinkle with wafer or cookie crumbs and crushed nuts. Garnish with fruit.