Do you have a good recipe for Baked Alaska? How did this strangely named dessert gets its name? Do you like it?

Oh yes, one great exotic yet simple recipe. Now, if they would only make it with no calories. Of course, in chocolate!

I like to use Betty Crocker or Better Homes and Gardens recipes. They have online recipes, but I have their books to use. This little beauty is great for parties, surprises, and people of all ages seem fascinated by it.It can be made round, cone shaped, square, rectangle or a tall cylinder!

Okay, this one is over the top! Going to have to bake it for someone's birthday party, soon! As for recipes, all you need is to follow the basic rules below.

You can use any cake, any pie shell, any ice cream, any extra filling, and a good meringue recipe. Here is one variation in pie form, from Betty Crocker, which is quite good. You can substitute cake for the bottom layer, instead of pie.

You can add a filling in between the cake and the ice cream, such as cooked fruit or pudding, caramel sauce, chocolate chips, nuts or anything you like! You can make the pie crust out of crushed cookies, such as Oreos (TM) or Vanilla Wafers (TM) or your own cookie dough recipe. From Betty Crocker online.

http://www.bettycrocker.com Pastry 1 cup Gold Medal® all-purpose flour 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon shortening 2 to 3 tablespoons cold water Filling 1 pint (2 cups) strawberry ice cream 1 pint (2 cups) vanilla ice cream 1 pint (2 cups) chocolate ice cream Meringue 3 egg whites 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar 6 tablespoons sugar 1/2 teaspoon vanilla 1. In medium bowl, mix flour and salt. Cut in shortening, using pastry blender (or pulling 2 table knives through ingredients in opposite directions), until particles are size of small peas.

Sprinkle with cold water, 1 tablespoon at a time, tossing with fork until all flour is moistened and pastry almost cleans side of bowl (1 to 2 teaspoons more water can be added if necessary). 2. Gather pastry into a ball.

Shape into flattened round on lightly floured surface. Wrap in plastic wrap; refrigerate about 45 minutes or until dough is firm and cold, yet pliable. This allows the shortening to become slightly firm, which helps make the baked pastry more flaky.

If refrigerated longer, let pastry soften slightly before rolling. 3. Heat oven to 475ºF.

With floured rolling pin, roll pastry into round 2 inches larger than upside-down 9-inch glass pie plate. Fold pastry into fourths; place in pie plate. Unfold and ease into plate, pressing firmly against bottom and side.

Trim overhanging edge of pastry 1 inch from rim of pie plate. Fold and roll pastry under, even with plate; flute as desired. Prick bottom and side of pastry thoroughly with fork.

Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until light brown; cool on cooling rack. 4. Pack scoops of ice cream, alternating flavors, in pie crust.

Cover and freeze about 2 hours or until firm. 5. Heat oven to 475°F.

In medium bowl, beat egg whites and cream of tartar with electric mixer on high speed until foamy. Beat in sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time; continue beating until stiff and glossy.Do not underbeat. Beat in vanilla.

Spoon meringue onto ice cream; spread gently, sealing meringue to edge of crust. Bake 2 to 4 minutes or until top is light brown. Serve immediately, or cover and freeze no longer than 48 hours.

Store in freezer. Success Adding sugar gradually to the egg white foam helps stabilize the meringue. Time Saver Use Betty Crocker® pie crust mix instead of the scratch pastry in this recipe and save time.

Variation Go ahead and play with your favorite ice cream flavors. Why not chocolate, chocolate-chip mint and vanilla for Baked Alaska Grasshopper Pie? Or chocolate, coffee and vanilla for Baked Alaska Cappuccino Pie?

Nutrition Information: 1 Serving: Calories 365 (Calories from Fat 190 ); Total Fat 21 g (Saturated Fat 9 g); Cholesterol 40 mg; Sodium 250 mg; Total Carbohydrate 40 g (Dietary Fiber 1 g); Protein 7 g Percent Daily Value*: Vitamin A 8 %; Vitamin C 0%; Calcium 12 %; Iron 6 % Exchanges: *Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Not what you're looking for? Try another search: © 2009 ®/TM General Mills All Rights Reserved This site below has some good tips on this dessert and some history.

I never did know where the term truly originated. Really, I wasn't there when it was! Apparently "homemade dessert recipes site" doesn't know either, but this story is interesting: (( QUOTE )) story of Baked Alaska The history of baked Alaska recipes is sketchy at best.

It is unknown when the dessert was first invented or by whom. Some historians credit the American physicist Benjamin Thompson, also known as Count Rumford, with its invention in 1804, but some say it first appeared in France in the mid 1800s. Others claim its origin lies much earlier with the Chinese.

It is known, however, that this unique dessert cake with its baked outer shell and frozen interior was served by French chef Charles Ranhofer to patrons at Delmonico's, the world-famous New York City restaurant, in 1867. Chef Ranhofer created his version of baked ice cream to commemorate the United States' purchase of Alaska from Russia, and he eventually named it Baked Alaska. Popularly mocked in the press at the time as "Icebergia," Alaska was thought by many to be little more than a wasteland of ice and snow.

The passage of time, however, has revealed quite the opposite. Alaska is now one of the richest and most beautiful areas of the world, and Ranhofer's classy, spectacular dessert which bears its name is no longer associated with folly, but with triumph. (( QUOTE )) http://www.homemade-dessert-recipes.com/baked-alaska-recipes.html.

This desert was invented early in the 19th century by Baron Rumford, the multitalented scientist who researched the nature of heat and who was a prolific inventor and chef. However, the name came later, and it was called "Alaska, Florida" in the 1870's. Presumably that referred to it being both hot and cold.

The name changed to "Baked Alaska" around 1905. I am not keen on it to eat; but, it is interesting for its demonstration of the insulating property of the air bubbles in meringue.

A baked Alaska is basically an ice cream desert that is covered in meringue and then baked just long enough for the meringue to brown and is then removed from the oven. Hence the name, it's cold, yet baked. Here's a link to a recipe.... allrecipes.com/Recipe/Baked-Alaska-2/Det....

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.