Nut

A mug of hot chocolate or a glass of milk would complement these updated, sophisticated chocolate chip cookies.

This family recipe is wonderful for dessert, breakfast or tea.

Multi-grain breads can vary widely in density. As a result, the 10 cups diced bread called for below may weigh a little more or less than 1 pound. We preferred a light-textured seven-grain bread for this stuffing.

Brandied whipped cream adds the perfect finishing touch to this moist, luscious cake. Leftovers are terrific with coffee the next day.

(FINANCIERS) The little rectangular almond cakes known as financiers are sold in many of the best pastry shops in Paris. Perfect financiers are about as addictive as chocolate, and I'd walk a mile or two for a good one. The finest have a firm, crusty exterior and a moist, almondy interior, tasting almost as if they were filled with almond paste. Next to the madeleine, the financier is probably the most popular little French cake, common street food for morning or afternoon snacking. The cake's name probably comes from the fact that a financier resembles a solid gold brick. Curiously, as popular as they are, financiers seldom appear in recipe books or in French literature. The secret to a good financier is in the baking: For a good crust, they must begin baking in a very hot oven. Then the temperature is reduced to keep the interior moist. Placing the molds on a thick baking sheet while they are in the oven is an important baking hint from the Left Bank pastry chef Jean-Luc Poujauran, who worked for months to perfect his financiers, which are among the best in Paris. The special tin financier molds, each measuring 2 x 4-inches (5 x 10-cm), can be found at restaurant supply shops. Small oval barquette molds or even muffin tins could also be used.

These cookies are also great made with regular semisweet chocolate chips.

If you can't find Cabrales cheese, substitute Roquefort or Danish blue cheese.

A great-looking, great-tasting summer pie. Brown sugar enhances the crust.

This is a variant on lemon surprise pudding, in which the mixture divides on cooking to produce a sponge above the thick lemony sauce which forms below. Indeed, it is known in my house as Lemon Surprise Pudding, the surprise being that it's chocolate. Although I didn't actually eat this as a child, it is heady with reminders of childhood foods: the hazelnuts in the sponge bring back memories of Nutella, the thick, dark, fudgy sauce of chocolate spread. The proportions below are geared towards 6, but easily feed 8. It's heavenly with fridge-cold heavy cream poured over it. It is also child's play to make. Choose good cocoa and good chocolate and stick carefully to the exact measurements. (You can, though, use 1 2/3 cups flour in place of the 1 1/4 cups flour and 1/2 cup ground nuts, if you prefer increasing the amount of baking powder needed to 1 1/2 teaspoons.) Use one of those standard white soufflé dishes 8 inches in diameter, or a shallow square 12-inch pan. If you've got only a single oven, it makes sense to use the shallow dish: it will take less time to cook.

Unlike most commercially available chocolate biscotti, these have a deep chocolaty flavor.

This is very easy to prepare and it makes an elegant addition to any party.

At the restaurant, the ravioli dough is made in-house. We used purchased wonton wrappers instead, making the recipe faster and easier. Note that the ravioli can be assembled ahead of time and frozen.