Chocolate

This pretty bar cookie is another play on a brownie. Dark brown sugar and a hint of cinnamon are perfect partners for the robust flavor of the chocolate. The top is generously sprinkled with macadamia nuts and has a chocolate webbed finish that's guaranteed to catch your eye.

From cornbread slathered with jam to peanut butter and jelly, there are few things closer to my heart than the combination of salty and sweet. After I’d worked out the pancake recipe, it occurred to me—by way of an Eggo-heavy childhood—that a waffle recipe would be the perfect opportunity to explore salty-sweet in depth. Personally I find that a dollop of coconut oil and a sprinkle of salt on each waffle before the Agave Maple Syrup is perfect. Even more perfect? Making them chocolate-chipped! The next time you’re roaming the grocery store aisles and you happen—accidentally or otherwise—onto that wonderful section stuffed with every known variety of organic and sweetened and unsweetened and flavored chocolate, make sure to attack it full force. Then head immediately for the vegan whipped cream and pick it up. Find some vegan powdered sugar and place it in your basket. Load these groceries into your trunk or into your little go-cart to push home and get on your phone and offer up your waffle-making services to anyone willing to clean up the mess you’re about to make.

Dark, milk, and white chocolate chips are sprinkled throughout this rich chocolate cupcake. For a more sophisticated version, use only dark chocolate chips. Guaranteed to fulfill your daily chocolate craving.

This is a childhood favorite reinvented for grown-up tastes. You've got the texture of a Fudgsicle but with the flavor of rich dark chocolate, salty peanuts, and sweet caramel, all combined in a dessert pretty enough to make people think it came out of a professional kitchen. It's important that the Fudgsicle bars soften at room temperature for 5 minutes before serving, otherwise they'll be too hard to cut into. The flavor comes forward when the dessert warms a little. Don't forgo the ice-water bath. You need to cool the custard quickly to keep it from overcooking.

Chef David Schmidt whips up this moist chocolate confection for 70 people at a time, but we've cut it down to sheet-pan size. Serve with lowfat vanilla ice cream.

Plan to start making this truffle-rich ice cream five days before you serve it and you'll be rewarded for the waiting. It took the chefs at St. John years to arrive at this recipe. We're glad they did.

Garnish this dessert with whipped cream and chocolate shavings, which are a snap to make using a vegetable peeler. If the chocolate is especially hard, as bittersweet chocolate tends to be, microwave it in 15-second intervals until it's soft enough to be shaved. The softer the chocolate, the larger the curls.

I'm not the first to think of this variation on everyone's favorite campfire sweet, but I'm willing to pit mine against anyone else's! This is a win-win s'more because not only does it turn a beloved but messy dessert into something spectacular—and easy—for any time of year, but it also frees you from having to fire up the grill to reach chocolate-marshmallow nirvana. Even better, you can secretly feel good knowing you are upping everyone's fiber with 100 percent whole-wheat crêpes (you can't say that about graham crackers), yet the crêpes are so tender and have such a deliciously nutty flavor that you'd never guess they're actually good for you. The marshmallow filling may be homemade or store-bought. Raspberries are optional, but I bet you'll find they add a welcome hit of color and tang. Intrigued by the whole-wheat flour in the crêpes? Read my rant about white flour and my tips for using whole-wheat flour on the Gourmet Live blog. Then check out the 05.11.11 issue of Gourmet Live to read about my on-again, off-again affair with crêpes.

You can make the custard base a day ahead for this chocolate chip gelato.

This triple threat dessert offers three distinct textures and flavors: A nutty, crumbly crust is filled with a dark chocolate pudding enriched with bittersweet chocolate, cocoa, and chocolate stout, then topped with a billowy bourbon whipped cream. For more seasonal recipes, download the free Gourmet Live app and stay tuned to the Gourmet Live blog for the latest updates.

"Classic tiramisù doesn't usually contain chocolate, but I love how it pairs with the coffee. It's just one of those magical flavor combinations." —Kriss Harvey

Here's how Mario Carbone and Rich Torrisi of New York City's Torrisi Italian Specialties make these cake-like Technicolor treats.

"I like to put these little doughnuts in a brown paper sack with a few shakes of powdered sugar and eat them straight out of the bag."—Ethan Stowell

Chase Utley is not a dessert guy, unless it is mud pie. Once you try this incredible dessert recipe, you, too, will find your dinner guests unable to turn away a serving of bliss.

OK, you have to first understand that when I say "biscuit," I am referring to "cookies," not those big muffin-looking things you eat at breakfast to keep the bacon grease of your hands! In Britain, biscuits are cookies...and cookies...well those are things that keep popping up on your computer screens. That explained, this is an amazing no-bake cake best served straight from your refrigerator. I can't say how long it keeps because I have never had one last longer than five minutes before I was starting at a plate of crumbs. Without a doubt, it is the Queen's favorite tea cake. We had request after request from palace visitors to divulge the recipe. Well, I've held out until now. Enjoy!

Dacquoise sounds very fancy, but it's just a dessert made of giant flat meringues layered with mousse, whipped cream, or buttercream.

About seven minutes of beating is all it takes to turn water, sugar, egg whites, and cream of tartar into a fluffy, soft marshmallowy frosting.

When I was growing up, chocolate milk was a treat, and the chocolate milk that ended up in a bowl of Cocoa Puffs when I had those for breakfast was the biggest treat of all. This soup is chocolate milk made cool and grown up, with quality ingredients and a contrast of textures. It reminds me of home.

People think of truffles as such a luxurious item, yet they couldn't be easier to make. Pop one in your mouth for a mid-afternoon snack or serve as a small delicious bite at the end of a large meal. There is so much buzz out there lately about the good effects of chocolate—hey, think of it as health food!