Serving How-To

Set up the buffet table — minus the pastries and beverages — the night before. Before setting out your dessert spread, keep these table tips in mind.

Place a couple of small platters or plates of assorted pastries around the room on a coffee table or a mantel.

Set out dishes of your favorite chocolates or chocolate-covered nuts.

Place the plates at the far end of the table, the food in the middle, and the beverages, cutlery, and napkins at the other end so guests are free to reach for the pastries.

You can never have too many cocktail napkins, both on the buffet and on end tables.

Once the party starts, maintain! When a tray empties, refill it or remove it.

Pastry in a Package

When there’s no time for made-from-scratch desserts, opt for almost-homemade with the help of a few packaged doughs.

Puff pastry is a rich, buttery dough that expands into thin, flaky layers when heated. Available frozen, it requires thawing. Pepperidge Farm ($4) works fine, but a richer, all-butter alternative is Dufour (about $9), sold at Whole Foods Markets and specialty stores.

Piecrust isn’t just for pies. It can also be used for rolled cookies, like rugelach. In addition to crust that comes in a pie plate, Pillsbury makes two others — one that’s folded and one that’s rolled ($3 each) — that are perfect when you’re not making pie.

Sugar cookie dough, packaged in logs and ready to bake, can be kept in the refrigerator for last-minute holiday cravings. It’s sticky, so roll it out on a floured work surface.

Dessert Buffet Recipes

Palmiers

Rugelach

Sugar Cookie Stars

Panettone Bread Pudding

High-Altitude Desserts

If you have a cake stand, this is the perfect occasion to bring it out. The height will add visual impact to the table and will offer a bit of extra space for napkins on the crowded buffet table.

Brownie Bar

Indulge your guests’ inner children by setting up a self-serve brownie station.

Brownies: Start with a boxed mix — no one will know the difference. Pour the batter into a 9-inch springform or cake pan lined with an 11-inch circle of parchment paper (use an overturned mixing bowl to trace a circle). Bake at 350° F for 35 minutes. Let cool. Remove the side of the pan if using a springform; if using a cake pan, invert onto a plate, then invert again. Place the brownie (and parchment) on a cake stand.

Whipped cream: A few minutes before your guests arrive, beat 1 pint of heavy cream with 3 tablespoons of confectioners’ sugar until stiff peaks form. The cream should remain whipped for at least an hour. Keep watch and remove it from the table when the peaks start to sag.

Chocolate sauce: Pour a jar of chocolate or fudge sauce into a serving dish and hide the evidence. Splurge on a specialty label. (Nothing is more disappointing than chocolate that’s not worth the calories.)

Dulce de leche: This Latin American delicacy, made by slowly simmering milk until the sugars caramelize, is rich, creamy, and fabulously sweet. It’s available in cans or jars at many supermarkets and specialty stores.

What to Sip

To complement both the effervescent atmosphere and the sugary pastries, wine expert Andrea Robinson suggests a sweet sparkling wine, such as Giorgio Rivetti La Spinetta Moscato d’Asti ($18). Set out something slightly stronger (but still sweet) near the brownie bar, like a Madeira (try Broadbent Rainwater 3-Year, $16) or a port (for an American variation, try Ficklin Old Vine Tinta, $14).