5 Ingredients or Fewer

When summer is in full swing and melons are fat and juicy, treat yourself to this delightful, kid-friendly beverage. You can use cantaloupe, honeydew, or a mixture of different melons. Watermelon works best on its own, though—its consistency doesn’t jive with other kinds of melons. For a more adult beverage, try spiking this with tequila or vodka!

Pimientos de Padrón are little peppers that hail from Spain, where they’re simply prepared and served as a tapa or snack. You can eat these tender peppers whole, and they go perfectly with a glass of crisp dry sherry. This preparation hardly requires a recipe, but it’s so good that it deserves the formal attention of one. If you can’t find Pimientos de Padrón, look for Italian friarielli or Japanese shishitsu peppers (often stocked at Japanese grocers). In their absence, fresh okra spears make an excellent substitute—they just take a little longer to cook. You may also want to add a sprinkle of chile flakes to replicate the occasional heat of the Padróns.

Because of its seductive red color, this granita is the sexiest slushy on earth. It’s incredibly easy to make and requires the simplest of equipment. To take it over the top, serve with whipped cream or, for that Creamsicle effect, with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. If blood oranges are not available, you can also use ruby grapefruit, Valencia oranges, pomelos, or Meyer lemons. Tarter citruses will require additional sugar, so taste a bit of the mixture before you freeze it.

Letting the broccolini brown slightly in the pan gives it a boost of flavor. To accomplish this, the broccolini must be absolutely dry when it goes into the pan; otherwise, it’ll steam and won’t take on any color. A large cast-iron skillet is the ideal cooking vessel for this dish.

This is a simple sandwich, but the combination of classic Spanish ingredients is nothing short of stellar. Try serving with cornichons, pickled carrots, or a brightly dressed green salad to counterbalance the sandwich’s richness. To make it vegetarian, just omit the serrano ham—it will still be delicious.

This unique combination of ice cream, citrus-infused olive oil, and salt is one of the Creamery’s best-selling sundaes; it was even featured on the Food Network’s show The Best Thing I Ever Ate. It may seem strange, but believe me, it’s really good. The oil congeals as it cools and creates a luscious mouthfeel, while the salt brightens the flavors and provides an interesting crunchy texture. The whipped cream is optional but really balances out the richness of the sundae. Our friend Giuseppe Cagnoni, an artisan food producer in Umbria, inspired this dessert when I tasted his Eturia brand oil infused with bergamot (which gives Earl Grey tea its distinctive taste). You can also try other intensely flavored oils, including orange or lemon oil, citrus-infused olive oil, or even toasted sesame oil.

Lighter than a custard-based ice cream, Chef Rob Wilson’s sorbet makes a refreshing accompaniment to summer berries, grilled peaches, or baked fruit desserts. Or scoop the sorbet into compote dishes and accompany with his Chocolate Sea Salt Cookies (page 185).

Like the marriage of prosciutto and melon, this duo explores the harmony of salty and sweet. Replace the peaches with nectarines, figs, or pears, if you prefer, or offer a combination. It’s an easy, juicy hors d’oeuvre for a hot summer evening. Although you can wrap the charred fruit with prosciutto, the nutty, earthy serrano ham from Spain is less commonplace and may be a discovery for some of your guests. Don’t wrap the fruit ahead or the ham will soften.

This is a great dessert to vary, according to your cravings and mood, with different flavors of ice cream and sauces. I love the uncomplicated taste of vanilla bean ice cream with brownies, but go for any of your favorite flavors. The Caramel Sauce adds another dimension of flavor and color to the chocolate and vanilla, but many other traditional ice cream sauces will also work. I like to spoon a little of the sauce between the brownies and ice cream to prevent the brownie layer from tasting too dry. The sauce helps pack it together with a nice gooey consistency, so that it’s not too much of a textural contrast from the ice cream.

Although just a minor variation on the Vanilla Icing (page 136), the addition of Marshmallow Fluff makes this version a bit lighter and more smooth. The marshmallow flavor is not overwhelming, and it’s a pleasant addition to the Devil’s Food Cake (page 98) in the Mini S’mores Cupcakes (page 101). We also use this icing, along with sweetened white coconut, atop Devil’s Food Cake and call it the “Snowball” during the winter or the “Bunny Tail” for Easter celebrations. Partnered with a smear of peanut butter, this icing is much loved on Vanilla Cake (page 115) in our “Fluffer Nutter,” or substitute Banana Cake (page 126) for Vanilla in the Fluffer Nutter version to get “The Elvis.” Marshmallow Icing can even be paired with Pumpkin Cake (page 128) in a dessert twist on candied yams.

Many peanut butter icings achieve a thin, smooth consistency by diluting the peanut butter with sugar and heavy cream, but ours is concentrated and stays true to the nutty flavor. It can be more challenging to achieve a smooth finish when icing a cake with this icing, so be prepared for your cakes to have a more textured finish.

Twenty years ago this icing was more commonly made with vegetable shortening than with butter. Even now, some grocery stores and lower-end bakeries still use shortening to save money. When the frosting is made with shortening, the sugar is really the only flavor you taste. To enhance the flavors, and because of an overall avoidance of trans fats (which are common in shortening), today at high-end bakeries and at home, butter is more commonly used for the base of this icing. The secret to this simple-to-make butter icing is beating it in a mixer for a good 5 to 8 minutes total, so that it is light and fluffy. Our recipe differs from others out there because it uses far less sugar, but this is still inherently a very sweet icing. In addition, using less sugar results in a naturally more yellow color, so if you want to get a bright white or if you’re planning to tint it a different color, beat the icing in a standing mixer until it is colorless—the more air you incorporate, the whiter it will be. To make our “Sassy” Cinnamon Icing, which pairs well with all of the cakes in the Banana Cake chapter (page 125), just add one tablespoon of ground cinnamon and mix until combined.

In this icing, the acidity of the citrus enhances the tanginess of the cream cheese. Orange, lemon, and lime all work well. Although the orange icing is my favorite, lemon is especially flavorful with fruity vanilla cakes, such as the Blueberry “Cheesecake” (page 123), and the lime icing spread over a vanilla cupcake and sprinkled with graham cracker crumbs, or sandwiched between two homemade graham crackers (see Graham Cracker Dough, page 86), can evoke a Key lime pie.

Cream Cheese Icing is a less sweet alternative to the Vanilla Icing (page 136), but it’s not quite as fussy as the Swiss Buttercream (page 155), making it suitable for a Father’s Day dinner or for entertaining your boss. It is also the only icing that pairs well with all the cake flavors in this book, as well as being a great filling for sandwich cookies—particularly graham crackers (see Graham Cracker Dough, page 86). (Please note: It is important that the butter and cream cheese are both at room temperature when they are mixed, or they will not fully incorporate.)

The health benefits of dark chocolate, almonds, and dried fruit make this a great option to serve as a snack or to give as a gift to a health-conscious friend. In a box or tin beautifully tied with ribbon, the flourless bark can also make a welcome Passover hostess gift, which can be served immediately or nibbled on all week long. The dried cranberries add a delicious chewiness to this otherwise solid bark. All sorts of dried fruits and nuts can be used, but when buying the dried fruit, especially cranberries, be sure to pick an unsweetened variety. The added sugar can change the taste of the fruit and also alter the tempered chocolate.

Salt and Pepper Chocolate is one of our more exotic, but top-selling, flavor combinations. The idea was given to us by one of our customers, who had seen a similar chocolate bar on a trip to Paris. This surprisingly elegant flavor pairing is an eye-catching chocolate treat to set out at the end of a dinner party.

Whereas the Double Chocolate Truffles (page 172) are the easy crowd-pleasers, Wasabi–Black Sesame Truffles should be reserved for your more adventurous friends. When mixed with chocolate, the spiciness of the wasabi is subdued, but it brings out some bitterness in the dark chocolate and gives the ganache a subtle kick. The strength of the wasabi varies greatly among the different brands of wasabi powder. Start with 1 tablespoon and then feel free to add more to taste. Keep in mind that the flavor will intensify as the ganache ages. The black sesame seeds are an important component of the truffle, both for their texture and for their nutty sweetness, which helps balance the bitterness of the ganache. If you can’t find black sesame seeds, regular sesames are a reasonable substitute, but they are a little softer and have a less intense flavor, so toast them first: Spread them in one layer on a sheet pan and roast them in a 350˚F oven for 5 to 8 minutes. Check them after about 4 minutes and shake the pan gently to turn them. They should be a light to medium golden brown when they’re done.

These Double Chocolate Truffles are about as fundamental as you get in the world of chocolate confections. The flavor is that of pure chocolate. The vanilla extract in the ganache, combined with the milk chocolate coating, keeps this truffle from being too bitter, but the overall flavor is still closer to dark chocolate than to milk. For that reason, Double Chocolate Truffles are crowd-pleasers; they appeal to a wide range of chocolate palates. Cocoa nibs, which are roasted cocoa beans broken into small bits, give a little crunch to an otherwise silky-smooth treat and also give it a little more of an exotic or gourmet touch. Nibs can usually be found in specialty food stores, but if you can’t find them, mini chocolate chips will give the truffles a similar crunch.

With real vanilla bean and honey, homemade caramel sauce will have a much more expressive flavor than anything store bought. This recipe is a great use for leftover caramel—if you have any scraps after cutting Chewy Caramel Candies or if you make more than you need (see Fashion Emergency below). Drizzling the sauce over ice cream is the obvious use, but the sauce can also add an extra element of flavor when served as a topping on cupcakes or a cake.

Sprinkled sugar cookies are the easiest way to make a festive, special cookie in a variety of fun shapes. Making them is an easy activity to involve your kids in (especially younger ones). The cookies are a delicious, personalized gift for grandparents, teachers, or friends. You can stick with one shape of cookie cutter and one color of sprinkles, or you can mix and match for endless variations of this tasty treat.