Baking

Inspired by the robust cooking of Alsace, a region in northeastern France bordering Germany, this flaky pie features a rich filling of potatoes, Comté (or Gruyère) cheese, leeks, and garlic-infused cream. Rather than adding the cream to the filling at the beginning, it is poured through the vents on top of the pie only after the pastry has turned golden brown, and then the pie is baked ten minutes more. This allows the crust to crisp properly and keeps the potatoes from soaking up all the cream before the pie has finished baking.

The lattice top is taken to a new level with this yellow-and-green basket-weave design made from strips of summer squashes. The tart offers as good a reason as any to head to a farmers’ market—or, if you’re lucky, your own garden—for zucchini and yellow squash. Use a mandoline or other adjustable-blade slicer to slice the squashes lengthwise.

Combined with garlic, fresh chile, walnuts, olives, and Parmesan, the humble scallion is the basis for a delightfully earthy, toss-together topping for puff-pastry squares. As the tartlets bake, the scallions caramelize, turning golden, sweet, and intensely flavorful. Instead of individual tartlets, you can form the dough and filling into two large tarts: Roll out and cut pastry into two eight-inch squares, divide filling evenly between crusts, and bake thirty minutes.

A savory short crust flavored with manchego envelops Spanish-inspired hand pies filled with oven-roasted cauliflower, toasted hazelnut paste, chopped rosemary, and more of the grated cheese. Serve them as an appetizer, with slices of membrillo (Spanish quince paste often served alongside cheese, for tapas) and a glass of fine sherry.

Thin slices of roasted red, golden, and striped beets overlap atop a combination of ricotta and goat cheeses to produce a stunning shingled tart. The beets are sprinkled with grated fontina before baking. Use beets in a variety of colors if you can find them.

Chopped fresh rosemary, grated parsnip, and cheese flavor the crust of these sensational little tarts. More cheese is sprinkled over the apple-and-onion filling. The tarts are perfect for an autumn picnic, harvest party, or other outdoor occasion.

Pies and tarts filled with Swiss chard, pine nuts, and raisins are common in southern France and Italy, where they may be served for dessert, sprinkled with confectioners’ sugar or toasted almonds. Goat cheese and anchovies make this galette decidedly savory, while the crust departs from the standard with wholesome oats and whole-wheat flour.

Just a sliver of this ultra-rich tart will satisfy even the heartiest appetites. It features a quick herb-infused custard, made by blending softened Brie, eggs, and cream in a food processor, then pouring over sautéed Granny Smith apples in a deep pâte brisée shell.

This pie combines the ease of a galette—no need to attach a top crust or crimp any edges—with the convenience of oven-to-table serving. Before the tender dough is fitted in the pie plate, it is cut into flaps around the edge for neat, even folding over the filling. When the pie emerges from the oven, the tomatoes will be near bursting, their juices mingling with the cheeses, zucchini, and basil. It just might remind you of another delicious savory pie: pizza.

Puff pastry replaces phyllo dough to produce handheld individual servings of spanakøpita, a Greek spinach-and-feta pie. As such, the turnovers are quicker to assemble (no buttering and stacking of sheets necessary) yet still bake to a crisp, golden, flaky finish. You can prepare and freeze the turnovers two months in advance, then bake them straight from the freezer. Because feta cheese is on the salty side, taste the filling before seasoning it.

Baby leeks, sautéed until meltingly tender and arranged end to end, top this showstopping first course. Other components include Niçoise olives and two types of cheese—one fresh (Pavé d’Affinois, a soft cow’s milk cheese similar to Brie); the other aged (Parmigiano-Reggiano). If you can’t find baby leeks, you can use regular leeks, or if it’s springtime, look for ramps at a farmers’ market.

Dark chocolate–on-chocolate tartlets lend themselves well to bold decorative patterns stenciled with white confectioners’ sugar. Snowflake-shaped stencils are appropriate for the winter holidays, but any shape will do, depending on the occasion. You could also use this recipe and apply the technique with letter stencils to spell out a holiday message or birthday greeting.

This Yuletide variation on the popular Austrian linzertorte (page 236) features an innovative gingerbread crust surrounding a homemade raspberry-jam filling. Snowflake and dot shapes are cut out from the top; sprinkle the snowflake cutouts—and any others cut from dough scraps—with sugar and bake them to serve as cookies alongside.

In a season filled with supersweet treats of all sorts, this aptly named tart stands out for its mouth-puckering flavor. Serve it on Thanksgiving or Christmas—it’s equally suited to both holidays. To keep the crust from becoming soggy when the cranberries are added, brush lightly beaten egg white onto the partially baked shell.

Consider this tart a welcome alternative—or an addition—to pecan pie at Thanksgiving. The recipe is virtually the same, but with walnuts filling in for half the pecans, and maple syrup replacing the corn syrup. You can incorporate other nuts, such as almonds and hazelnuts, as long as the total volume remains the same.

Elegantly piped ruffles of whipped cream and a fluted crust make for a decidedly more stylish version of the holiday classic. The velvety pumpkin mousse filling is flavored with all the traditional Thanksgiving spices—ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice—and a healthy dose of brandy for good measure. Graham-cracker crumbs are combined with cocoa powder in the crust.

Facial features for these grinning jack-o’-lanterns are carved from piecrust instead of pumpkins. Chilling the pastry cutouts helps ensure crisp, clean edges, and baking them separately from the tarts keeps them from shrinking into the spiced pumpkin filling.

Serve this tart at a Halloween party, and watch as unsuspecting guests get lured into its chocolate web. The lightly spiced chocolate crust is coated with melted chocolate, then filled with creamy pumpkin purée. More melted semisweet chocolate is piped in a spiderweb pattern to add a frightful finish; the web also serves as an excellent guide for slicing.

For this edible interpretation of Old Glory, rows of raspberries, some glazed with jam and some dusted with powdered sugar, form the American flag’s red and white stripes; blueberries represent the starry field of blue. One tart will have seven rows of berries; the other six. Use smaller berries for the seven-row tart. If you have only one tart pan, you can bake the shells consecutively; let the first shell cool completely in the pan before removing. The interior of each tart shell is brushed with melted chocolate before it is filled; this is an optional step for added flavor. An easy variation (see below) yields three solid-colored tarts in blue, white, and red—also the colors of the French flag—perfect for a Bastille Day celebration.

Single-serving patriotic pies—each slightly different from the rest—are embellished with a host of cutout and appliquéd shapes. Use cookie cutters to make pastry-dough stars in various sizes, and a pastry wheel to cut strips that stand in for stripes; arrange them in whatever patterns you please. Here, a top crust is spangled with tiny star cutouts; a ring of stars frames a bed of blueberries; and stripes and stars suggest the American flag. Red raspberries, sliced strawberries, blueberries, or blackberries in the fillings carry along the Fourth of July color scheme.