With quick-cooking tapioca or any of the 3 packaged prepared tapioca puddings, making dessert is easy.

Tapioca Cream, Buffet Style. Place bowl of fluffy tapioca cream on chop plate or platter. Around it, arrange just-thawed frozen pineapple chunks, Bing cherries, bananas on half shell. Garnish with mint and dried apricots (plumped for 10 min. In strainer over boiling water).

Marbled Cream. Into sherbet or tall glasses, spoon tapioca cream, in layers, with one of these:

Melted semisweet-chocolate pieces, chopped walnuts Canned crushed pineapple, flavored with peppermint extract, then tinted green Cut-up oranges and snipped fresh mint Brown sugar and butter, melted until syrupy Melted currant jelly, tossed with coconut Canned whole-fruit apricot nectar or strained peaches (baby pack), flavored with almond extract Canned cranberry sauce, mixed with slivered almonds

Frosted Tapioca. After spooning tapioca cream into dessert dishes, spoon on one of these: Strawberry, chocolate, or cherry-vanilla ice cream Just-thawed quick-frozen strawberries or raspberries Whipped cream, topped with snipped gumdrops Crushed peanut brittle or peppermint candy Snipped dates, or dried figs, and chopped nuts, moistened with thawed frozen orange-juice concentrate Shredded coconut with grated orange rind Pink rhubarb sauce

Tapioca Ripple. Fold any of these into tapioca: Cut-up maraschino cherries and snipped marshmallows, mixed with whipped cream Green-tinted coconut and canned pineapple tidbits Drained canned Bing cherries Salted peanuts, bit of chocolate or butterscotch sauce Chopped unpared red apple Raspberry, strawberry, or peach jam or preserves