Fall Dessert and Wine Pairing Teaser for A Night to Remember
I have very exciting news! b. sweet will be partnering with Palate Bottle Shop & Reserve and Jeff Gordon Chevrolet on October 4th for A Night to Remember - dessert and wine pairing benefiting Alzheimer’s Research. I will be creating 4 mini desserts to pair with 4 wonderful dessert wines from Palate and all to support the fundraising efforts of Jeff Gordon Chevrolet for the Walk to End Alzheimer’s. Sweets, wine, and a good cause, what else do you need? I’m so excited about this event; I thought I’d share with you guys some dessert and wine pairing tips as well as some dessert teasers to show you what types of desserts I will be making, like these sweet and salty kettle corn macarons and milk chocolate spiced pear petit fours. Buy your tickets here!
The main take away from dessert and wine pairing is to think about matching the sweetness and richness of your wine with the dessert so that the two don’t compete. Good rule of thumb is as your wine gets darker so should your dessert. Rich flavors like chocolate tend to play well with red wines. Fruity lighter bodied reds with milk chocolate and richer reds with dark chocolate.
I chose to concentrate my pairings for this post on versatile wines that you are probably already buying to have with dinner or to drink with friends. If you would like to explore some fantastic dessert wine that will really make your sweets sing, head over to Palate. Better yet, come to A Night to Remember and sample both my desserts and the wine.
Kettle Corn Macaron with Prosecco
Prosecco is a classic Italian apéritif but works with dessert too. Pairing an extra dry Prosecco with sweet and salty kettle corn macarons both complement and enhance its sweetness. If you have a sweet, light, and subtle dessert like classic vanilla cake or fruit tart, something light with the addition of bubbles like Prosecco complements those key flavors. The addition of salt here is the key to taking things to the next level. Just like a sprinkling of salt on your chocolate chip cookies or mixing it into your caramel sauce, it enhances what could be one note flavors. Salt can also enhance the notes in your wine.
Milk Chocolate, Pear and Cardamom Petit Fours with Pinot Noir
These petite fours are layered with milk Chocolate sponge, hazelnut, cardamom poached pears, and Swiss meringue buttercream. All topped with a milk chocolate mirror glaze. Lighter medium bodied reds like pinot noir pair well with milk chocolate. The smooth finish works well with the smooth cocoa butter flavor to the chocolate. When your pairing for richness like with chocolate, think about the mouth feel of your dessert. The richer the dessert the more full bodied the wine should be. I also played off of the slight spice of the wine by adding cardamom to my pear poaching liquid.
