Baking

A combination of ground, crystallized, and fresh ginger gives these soft, chewy cookies their intense flavor.

Tarte Tatin, the classic French dessert, is made by putting butter and sugar in a shallow baking dish, then topping the mixture with apples and a pastry crust. As the dish bakes, the butter and sugar turn into caramel. The finished dessert is inverted onto a plate, with the caramel sauce on top. In this version, pears stand in for apples and the crust and topping are made separately, then assembled before serving.

This gorgeous dessert features crisp peppermint meringues layered with tender chocolate cake and rich chocolate frosting.

These thin, elegant cookies get their flavor from dried cranberries and homemade candied lemon peel. Because the lemon peel needs to dry overnight, be sure to begin this recipe one day ahead.

In this festive treat, the shortbread base is topped with dark chocolate, chopped peppermint candies, and a drizzle of white chocolate. Cutting the cookies into irregular pieces makes for a fun presentation.

What could be more American than candy corn? Try maple pecan popcorn treats, for starters. They're made with three ingredients—maple syrup, pecans, and popcorn—that originated in the New World.

Too often crackers get short shrift as merely vehicles for a slice or smear of cheese. Not here. By incorporating cheese into the dough, along with the tiny crunch of poppy seeds, these crackers become crisp snacks that keep your fingers reaching for another and then another and, well, you know how it goes. In no time, they're history.

In name alone, a devil's food cake is an obvious choice for a Halloween dessert. This one will far exceed your expectations of deep chocolaty naughtiness hidden under a fluff of espresso-tinged frosting. (If your trick-or-treaters are too young to embrace the slightly adult bitterness the coffee flavor adds, feel free to substitute a couple of teaspoons of good old vanilla extract.) Have some fun with a very tasty spiderweb—you'll want to eat it rather than shriek and brush it off.

For many, Thanksgiving without pumpkin pie is unthinkable, but that doesn't mean you can't jazz up the old standby.

The bread basket just became a little more exciting. These savory muffins are made with white cornmeal—favored over yellow by many southern cooks—and strewn with corn kernels and shreds of cheese. Albin considered putting jalapeño into the muffins but prefers the fresher, more vibrant color and flavor it offers in the butter.

Four ingredients and a quarter of an hour are all that's required to turn out the ultimate pastry dough.

A thin layer of deep-flavored molasses filling gives way to a tangy buttermilk custard.

A towering dessert on the holiday sideboard always gets attention. And the oohs and aahs will only get louder when you cut in to reveal its moist crumb dotted with ruby-red cranberries and topaz-colored pear. Its scent of vanilla and spices is very inviting, while the brown sugar and cinnamon glaze is, of course, the icing on the cake.

The inspiration here is the fantastically rich dish called Zwiebelkuchen (onion cake), a southern German specialty that arrived in America with European settlers and quickly became a staple in Pennsylvania Dutch homes, where it is known as Zwiwwelkuche. Slow-cooked onions are combined with eggs and sour cream and spooned into a yeasted dough. The pastry is then partially folded over the filling.

Noodle kugels, or baked puddings, abound in Ashkenazic Jewish cookery, and this particular version makes an outstanding dessert or brunch dish. You'll find that the mild sweetness of coarsely grated Gala apples perks up the hearty richness.

Combining bittersweet chocolate and cocoa powder intensifies the chocolaty essence of this cheesecake to the nth degree. Silken tofu brings a delicate creaminess to the filling while also taking the place of eggs by acting as a binding agent.

A trifle is not only one of the most elegant desserts around, it's also one of the most exuberant—which is why it is tempting to toss aside decorum and dive right into the bowl. The nontraditional version here is sturdy, made with robust gingerbread and mellow pumpkin mousse instead of the classic spongecake and custard.

We like to bake this luscious cake in a cast-iron skillet, but you could use a 10-inch ovenproof skillet. Stone-ground yellow cornmeal replaces the traditional wheat flour for an interesting change in texture and flavor.

A jumble of fruit and nuts cascading over tender frangipane creates quite a picture, and there is flavor to match. Although frangipane sounds fancy, it's a breeze to whiz up in a food processor—simply grind the almonds and sugar, then add the flour, butter, and eggs. The oven's heat concentrates the grapes' sweetness and perfume, and dusting the hot tart with confectioners sugar bestows a subtle shine.