The Miraculous 12-Second Indian Dessert

Generally speaking, when I make a dinner party, my emotional investment drops off somewhere after the main course.

Oh, I know I'll get a good dessert to the table, but I don't think of myself as a baker, or a patissière, so I just do my best to come up with something presentable. And the less time it takes, the better.

And this is precisely why I got so excited, recently, when I tasted a spiced product from a very high-quality Indian spice purveyor in Minnesota about whom I have raved before.

This "magic, dessert powder" is simplicity itself: it consists of high-grade sugar, expertly blended with saffron, crushed cardamom seeds, bits of almonds, and skim-milk powder for body.

Taste it by itself, and you'll be amazed.

Sprinkle it on something...and you'll be an Indian dessert master!

If the dinner party revolves around some esoteric cuisine, outside of the France-America-Italy baking circle—then I'm really looking for easy solutions!

Seriously. What I do now at Indian dinner parties is serve each guest a dollop of plain yogurt in a bowl. Then I go around sprinkling my "magic powder" on top—a teaspoon or so will do. As if some sort of laboratory experiment is taking place, the yogurt transforms before your very eyes from white to rich yellow. After it does, just give it a stir, and a taste. See if you don't have the most delicious Indian dessert ever on your hands! Its reward is ridiculously beyond your effort.

My guests have been raving about the intensity of flavor, the vividness of flavor—particularly from the saffron and the cardamom. Then, there's a pleasing, crunchy-frilly mouth-feel that converts a spoon of yogurt to something quite regal. I'm telling you...no one is ever prepared for just how spectacular this is!

Join me. Make your stellar Indian desserts in 12 seconds. And, if you've got 112 seconds, you can also layer yogurt, bananas, raisins, other fruits, before sprinkling the "magic powder" on. The sky's the limit! Let me know what you come up with.