5 Easy Ways to Salt-ify Summer Sweets

By: Roberto Ferdman
Sweet Corn

Remember when salted caramel was considered a culinary novelty? What about when bacon chocolate chip cookies were avant-garde? With maple bacon cupcakes and salted caramel milkshakes now on the menu, it's easy to forget that not long ago sprinkling sea salt over anything sweet was a little bit brave.

If you're daydreaming about Pineapple Upside Cake with Hawaiian Sea Salt right about now, you're not alone — we are too. It's summer and we're hooked on the whole sweet and savory thing ourselves.  In fact, just thinking about all the clever and complex summer pairings that have yet to make it mainstream has our sweet (and salty) tooths going AWOL.

Hungry for answers, we caught up with Pastry Chef Christina Lee of NYC's Recette to uncover a few off-the-beaten path ideas for salt-ifying popular summer desserts.

5 Salty Sweet Pairings for the Summer:
Madras Curry Powder
  1. Sweet summer corn can be roasted or grilled and tossed with a little sugar syrup and used as a topping for ice cream. Try: Michael Symon's Sweet Corn Ice Cream
  2. Madras curry powder is a great addition to tropical fruits such as Mangoes and Pineapples to make homemade ice pops or sorbets. Add approximately 1/2 teaspoon of curry powder per quart of juice or adjust to taste. Try: Bal's Curry and Mint Ice Cream or Yigit's Madras Coconut Cookies
Herbs
  1. Herbs such as thyme and tarragon are great additions to creamy desserts. The fresh herbs can be infused into cream or processed with sugar and added to any custard or ice cream base. Try: Plum Upside -Down Cake with Thyme, Lemon and Fennel
  1. Cayenne or Ancho chili powder can be added to brownies or chocolate cakes to balance out the sweetness and enhance the flavors of milk to darker chocolates. Add according to your taste for spice but 1 Tablespoon of cayenne to a standard recipe should give it a little kick that you’re looking for. Try: Spicy Mexican Hot Chocolate Cookies or Chocolate Chile Cake
  2. Smoke is an interesting element that helps give depth to many sweets. Spruce up your next sundae by sprinkling smoked salt over the caramel sauce, or sprinkle smoked salt over grilled pound cake before using it in a summer fruit trifle or parfait. Try: Dark Chocolate Souffle with Smoked Salt
More Salty Sweets and Bacon Treats:

Next Up

Summer Fest: 5 Ways to Prepare Sweet Potatoes

Sweet potatoes are available most of the year, but the fall season is truly when they shine as that is when the fresh crop comes in.

Summer Fest: Stuffed Peppers 5 Ways

Colorful and crispy, peppers of all colors stand up well when baked. Pick your favorite varieties at the market right now and stuff them full of everything from rice to cheese.

Summer Fest: The 5 Best Picnic Sweets

S'mores bars, hand pies and cookies for summer parties and picnics.

Easy Summer Cookout Menu

Fire up your grill for this collection of impressive outdoor-inspired recipes.

Summer Fest: Easy Tomato Galette

I grew up picking tomatoes straight from the garden and eating them like apples, warm from the sun. Since then, I've had a hard-and-fast two-tomato-a-day rule every summer. Sure, I love tomato salads, BLTs, and simple, garlicky sauce, but this summer, my favorite way to reach my daily quota is a slice of tomato galette.

5 Ways to Cook Potatoes

Versatile and filling, potatoes can be baked in the oven, steamed on a stove or even cooked in a slow cooker. Try your hand at each method and pick your favorite way of cooking these starchy tubers.

On TV

So Much Pretty Food Here