Chocolate

To make these holiday party standbys, you have to first bake a batch of brownies, then break them into bits, flavor them with rum, and roll them into balls. A generous coat of sanding sugar provides a sparkly finish.

Sweetened condensed milk adds an unmistakable richness to the coconut batter for these swirly treats. When marbleizing the coconut and brownie batters, make sure the butter knife reaches the bottom of the pan.

To make the batter for these super-quick brownies, melt butter and chocolate in a saucepan, then stir the other ingredients right in. Set a batch out on a serving platter, and watch it disappear just as quickly.

Children love these two-bite treats. When you prepare them, have a bowl of ice water ready. If reshaping the thumbprint is necessary during baking, dip your finger in the water for several seconds and allow to dry before reshaping. This will keep your finger cool.

Sarah Bernhardt cookies are as multilayered as their namesake—the famed French actress who once starred in the title role of Hamlet. An almond macaroon base is topped with silken chocolate filling and then covered in melted chocolate, resulting in a truffle-like cookie with a bit of crunch.

A mint ganache filling and a shiny chocolate glaze push these cookies over the top, but feel free to omit the glaze—they’re delectable without it, too.

A thick layer of poured chocolate ganache frosts the top of these wedge-shaped brownies. Sprinkle with tiny heart-shaped candies for your Valentine, change the garnish to suit other occasions, or simply present them unadorned.

Fans of fudgy brownies say this is the recipe of their dreams. In fact, it’s one of our all-time reader favorites. The brownies are versatile, too—they’re equally welcome packed into a picnic basket or stacked atop a cake stand and presented at the end of a dinner party.

Rugelach are traditionally hand formed into crescent shapes; here we’ve used the same ingredients to create easy-to-prepare bar cookies. The filling—a combination of chopped chocolate and dried fruit—is more traditional than the prune filling used for the rugelach on page 298.

Any sun-kissed berries will work atop the cream cheese filling in these mini chocolate cheesecake cookies.

Bite-size pistachio cookies, sandwiched around a soft, chocolate filling, are dipped in bittersweet chocolate and garnished with a sprinkle of bright-green, slivered pistachios. They are extravagant enough for a special dinner party.

These creature-of-the-night creations sandwich a rich dulche de leche filling between chocolate cookies. You will need an aspic cutter to form the bat shapes.

After they are sandwiched with rich chestnut filling, these cookies are partially dipped into melted chocolate. Crème de marron is chestnut puree sweetened with brown sugar and vanilla. It is available at large supermarkets.

The flavor of these dense bars is reminiscent of Black Forest cake, a classic German dessert that originated in the country’s southern Black Forest region, renowned for its sour cherries and kirsch (cherry brandy).

The magic ingredient in this outrageous two-layer dark chocolate cake is Dr Pepper, one of America’s oldest soft drinks. Dr Pepper was first made and sold in 1885 at Morrison’s Old Corner Drug Store in Waco, Texas. Just like the state it comes from, this cake is big and impressive. The soft drink’s carbonation gives the layers exceptional rising power, and its special blend of flavorings makes lickin’ the beaters especially appealing.

Dino waitresses love this pie. It’s rich chocolate pudding in a chocolate cookie crumb pie shell, and it’s guaranteed to satisfy all your chocolate cravings.

I started making these cookies in the eighth grade, and they just might be responsible for my love of cooking. It wasn’t just that they are gooey and awesome, which they are; it was also that people complimented me on my cooking skills, and that gave me confidence. It later worked out in the singing thing, too! Exactly how chewy these cookies are depends on how big you make them. I make mine a little bigger than the recipe calls for because I like them soft in the middle. They are best served with a really cold glass of milk … or more cookies!

I love these brownies plain, but Garth likes them frosted, so I usually make some Coconut Frosting (page 172) on the side just for him. The unsweetened baking chocolate keeps the brownies from being too sweet. I know, sweets are supposed to be sweet, but trust me, these are just right!

Every February, when Garth’s birthday rolls around, I make this beautiful and delicious cake for him. Last fall, he made some sad statement like, “Only three more months until you make me that awesome German chocolate cake again!” I made the cake the next day. (I know, I’m a sucker.) I double the frosting recipe to frost the entire cake, because my husband likes extra frosting, but one recipe will frost the tops of the layers and do the trick just fine—unless you’re Garth, of course! If you have some left over, the frosting is also good spread on a graham cracker or on brownies (page 198). Okay, it’s also good right off a spoon!

My mom use to take me and my brother to a pastry shop in a weird apartment building in Ottawa, and it had the best pastries. She would always choose the merveilleux. A meringue dessert is the best thing to make when you want to use up egg whites, after, say, an eggnog party! We make it every few weeks at the restaurant and pour hot chocolate sauce over the top at tableside. Everyone digs it.