To really celebrate Mardi Gras in style, you need good desserts and strong drinks. It is, after all, the feasting before the fasting of Lent. All the things that are about to be forbidden for 40 days are consumed in one final hurrah. To make sure your Mardi Gras celebration is top notch, here is a guide to classic desserts and drinks, New Orleans style.

Mardi Gras Desserts

King Cake, the quintessential Mardi Gras dessert, is a colorful confection rich in history and tradition. It dates back to 12th century France where it was used to celebrate Twelfth Night or the Feast of Epiphany that remembers the Wise Men (Kings) who brought gifts to the Christ child.

At it’s most basic, a King Cake is a ring of twisted bread, similar to a cinnamon roll, topped with an icing glaze that is either tinted in purple, green and gold or sprinkled with purple, green and gold colored sugar. Somewhere inside the cake is a trinket, usually a plastic baby but could also be a nut or bean. Most American King Cake traditions hold that who ever gets the piece with the baby in it must provide next King Cake.

There are many, many ways to make a King Cake. For a strictly traditional recipe, try this one. For an easier, less time consuming method, try this one. For a cream cheese filled version, try this one.

Other desserts to consider for a Mardi Gras party are Bananas Foster, Bread Pudding, and Chocolate Doberge Cake.

Mardi Gras Drinks

Sazerac is the official cocktail of New Orleans, officially named so by the Louisiana House of Representatives in 2008. It was the creation of  Creole apothecary Antoine Peychaud, also known for his bitters, in the 1930s. This simple yet complex drink was named for Peychaud’s favorite brand of Cognac from France. The key to building the drink was absinthe and when that particular libation was outlawed, Herbsaint or Pernod was substituted. Now that absinthe is once again legal, it’s all a matter of personal taste.

How to Make the Classic Sazerac Cocktail

Ingredients

• 2 ounces Rye whiskey
• Three dashes Peychaud’s Bitters (some also add 2 dashes Angostura bitters)
• One sugar cube or 1 tsp simple syrup
• 1 Tbs of absinthe or Herbsaint

Technique

Pack an old fashioned or rocks glass with ice, set aside to chill. In another glass, muddle the sugar cube with the bitters (or if using simple syrup, mix with the bitters). Add the rye whiskey and stir. Empty the ice from the chilled glass, pour in the absinthe or Herbsaint and swirl to coat the glass. Discard the remaining absinthe or Herbsaint. Pour the rye mixture into the coated glass. Rub the rim of the glass with a lemon twist then add it to the glass as a garnish.

Other popular drinks for Mardi Gras – the Hurricane (as made famous by Pat O’Brien’s), a blushing mimosa, a Mardi Gras mojito or Mardi Gras punch.

However you choose to mark the occasion, just remember to do so with “joie de vivre” and to always “laissez les bons temps rouler“!

photo credits: King Cakes by svywlch on Flickr, Sazerac by thebittenword.com on Flickr