Baking

The parmesan here is the catalyst that makes the cheesy flavors jump out of the airy centers. These popovers are best when baked at the last minute, but you can make the batter ahead.

Quiche became a classic for a very good reason—its creamy, tender custard is as seductive as it is satisfying. Here, deep-colored broccoli boosts the drama quotient for brunch, lunch, or supper.

Plums and pluots—a hybrid that blends the color of plums with the flavor and soft texture of apricots—have a natural tartness that flatters the accompanying pound cake (which tastes even better if made a couple of days ahead).

The nectarine, a subspecies of peach, generally has a sharper, more intense taste. The homey yellow cake here is studded with wedges of them, their summery, sunshiny essence set off by a trace of nutmeg. It's buttery and flavorful yet not too rich; a sprinkle of sugar on top gives it just enough crustiness to hold up a dollop of softly whipped cream, but it's delicious stark naked as well.

Finikia It has been said that the Phoenicians introduced these delicious honey-dipped cookies to the people of Greece.

Legend has it that on December 13, 1764, a gentleman in Sweden was roused in the middle of the night by a beautiful voice. He saw a young woman in white moving through his room singing. She had wings and was carrying a candle. That was Lucia the Saint. She brought light, food, and wine as comfort on what was, in the Gregorian calendar, the longest night of the year. We celebrate Saint Lucia on December 13. Children will walk with lit candles singing the beautiful Lucia carol and bringing the Lucia bread.

Pastry chef Mathew Rice uses flavors from his childhood as inspiration for his desserts. Here, pears and buttermilk cake are transformed with thyme, lemon, and crème fraîche. And the ice cream? A very grown-up Greek yogurt.

At FIG, ice cream isn't just for warm weather. In winter you'll find, say, molten chocolate cake paired with pistachio ice cream or maple ice cream atop spiced apple-raisin crumble. Summer in South Carolina means fresh local peaches, and chef Mike Lata puts them to good use in these single-serving tarte Tatins. They're pretty and delicious on their own, but with the addition of the Lemon Ice Cream, they're absolutely sublime.

These "Hawks Bars" are so good, chef-owners Michael Fagnoni and Molly Hawks named them after their restaurant. Super-sweet, fudgy brownies are topped with layers of white-chocolate-flavored caramel, bittersweet-chocolate ganache, and candied pecans and served with a scoop of not-too-sweet Cacao Nib Gelato. Incredible.

If you don't get enough fat from the chicken, supplement with purchased chicken fat (from the freezer section of the supermarket). Go here for pastry-making tips.

Use a tablespoon to shape the dough.

Almost every ingredient in this delicious chocolate cake is a pantry staple, making this a time-saving, budget-friendly dessert that still feeds a crowd. Plus, it keeps well, so even if you do have leftovers, you can enjoy the cake all week.

You can bake the cookies to order, straight from the freezer.

This treat is a holiday or wedding dessert, but delicious any time. It is a dense sponge cake soaked in syrup.

In the land of milk and honey, injera may be the staple, but it is not the only kind of bread. In the morning, it's dabo—honey bread—that graces the Ethiopian breakfast table. Unlike the pancakelike injera, dabo is a European-style loaf that is typically slathered with shiro, a chickpea spread. It highlights one of the distinctive characteristics of Ethiopian cooking: sweeteners are very rarely used, but an element of sweetness is introduced through other means, such as sugary coffees and teas; tej, a syrupy honey wine; or this dense breakfast bread, which lends a gentle sweetness to the start of the day.

Dripping with snowy-white icing and paired with fresh berries and a ruby-red currant and raspberry sauce, this sheet cake is a charming way to end a dinner party.

Everyone's free to be a kid again with one of these wickedly good frozen treats in hand. Chewy blondie cookies bookend a thick layer of lemony ice cream (store-bought vanilla bumped up with lemon juice and zest) ribboned with a speedy blueberry compote.

What's integral here is a very thin biscuit crust instead of one made of pastry dough. The inspiration is twofold: the tomato pie brought to us in August 1992 by the late novelist and food writer Laurie Colwin and James Beard's recipe for a quiche-like tomato cheese pie, which appeared in his American Cookery (1972). It's fun to imagine inviting the pair of them for lunch and serving this, along with a crunchy green salad and a big, beautiful glass pitcher of iced tea.