What’s better than a luscious, lovely Thanksgiving dessert? Enjoying it with a glass of Northern Michigan dessert wine. Toast your friends and family with any (or all) of these perfect dessert wine pairings.
Cardamom Apricots
These look chic and pretty, are a snap to throw together, and are perfect when there’s really only room for one more bite. The recipe comes from spice maven Mary Perzigian at Pizelle Gourmet Pantry. Get the recipe.
Wine Pairing
Bowers Harbor Vineyards Ice Gewürztraminer: This zesty-sweet dessert wine was made with estate-grown Gewürztraminer grapes plucked in the late fall of 2006—just as the fruit was gilded with frost. It’s smooth, lush and complex with soft tropical fruits and Gewürz’s trademark flavors of rose petals and spice, which pair perfectly with the aromatic, exotic cardamom in the apricots.
Pineapple Gingerbread Upside-Down Cakes
This sweet update on a classic dish combines two of Grandma’s very best recipes. Get the recipe.
Wine Pairing
Shady Lane Cellars Late Harvest Vignoles: The grapes were picked when the snow was on the ground, giving it a rich, lush sweetness and aromas of caramel, pineapple, spice and vanilla.
Pauline’s Pumpkin Cheesecake
Even those fiercely loyal to their pumpkin pie will veer from tradition with this silky, spicy cheesecake. It comes from Pauline Marmion, who gathers with her family in Kewadin. She says it’s a hybrid of two Gourmet magazine recipes with a few tweaks of her own, and that the flavors are even better after several days—so go ahead and cross this one off your holiday baking list first. Get the recipe.
Wine Pairing
Black Star Farms Sirius Maple Dessert Wine: Black Star’s winemaker Lee Lutes just finished a new bottling of this port-style wine in time for Thanksgiving. He presses apple cider, fortifies it with apple brandy, and then sweetens it with maple syrup that he and the winery staff cooked over an open fire last spring. The 18-percent alcohol content makes it a perfect digestif for this dessert—first comes the brandy’s gentle warmth, then the distinct, pure maple sweetness that really brings out the tang of the cheesecake.
Plum Almond Tart
With its tender short-crust, layers of sweet-tart plums and frangipane (the irresistible ground almond filling) this showstopper almost trumps the turkey at Thanksgiving dinner. Get the recipe.
Wine Pairing
Brys Estate 2007 “Dry Ice” Ice Wine: This is an elegant, well-balanced ice wine made with Riesling grapes, with hints of apricot and passion fruit. Or open a bottle of the honey-hued Peninsula Cellars Riesling Ice Wine with intense tropical fruit flavors and its own gorgeous birch gift box.
Cinnamon Chocolate Mousse
This light, velvety dark chocolate mousse with the cozy kick of cinnamon slips down nicely after dinner. Get the recipe.
Wine Pairing
Chateau Chantal Cerise: With a pure tart cherry flavor this Cerise has just the right boozy glow. Longview Cherry Port, made with the winery’s award-winning cherry wine, fortified with spirits and aged in French oak is another perfect match.
More Holiday Recipes
- Traverse City Holiday Hors D’oeuvre Recipes
- Divine Secrets of the Lake Ann Cookie Queen
- Holiday Bread Recipes from Traverse City
- Warm Up with Northern Michigan Drinks