Baking

My friend Melissa McDonnell is finishing up her architectural studies in Texas, but she always finds time to bake her famous ginger cookies. These cookies are chewy, hearty, and totally addictive. The dough does need to chill for an hour, so be sure to prepare accordingly. And keep a close eye on these—my husband is a ginger-cookie addict and stole almost half the batch while they were cooling.

In my house, baking cookies was a cutthroat competition among siblings, with my mother presiding, Iron Chef style, with one baby perched on her hip and the other clamped to her knee. Our approaches varied. Mary increased the sugar in an attempt to up the crunch. Patrick (ever the psycho perfectionist) altered the recipe and portion size teaspoon by teaspoon in pursuit of a product with Mom's thin and crispy edges. Bill made his backwards, just to act rad. It was never my intention to upstage your cookies, Mom—but you should know that I've never claimed a victory as great as when you tasted your first Babycakes NYC cookie and said: "These are better than mine." Slather an exceedingly generous dollop of your favorite frosting between two of these cookies and you've got your newest addiction, the Babycakes NYC cookie sandwich. Try freezing them.

These cakes are delicate and golden, tasting subtly of vanilla with a faint hint of lemon.

Praline, a southern candy, forms the top of this showstopping cake.

Top these delicious bite-size cheesecakes with fresh raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, and/or blueberries.

These brown-sugar brownies have a lovely cakey texture. For an extradecadent dessert, top each blondie with a scoop of ice cream, drizzle with caramel or chocolate sauce, and sprinkle with peanuts.

A sprinkling of sweetened coconut tempers the tangy lime filling.

The white chocolate ganache mimics the steamed-milk foam on the top of a cappuccino. A dusting of cinnamon completes the homage.

These moist, tender treats are a cross between a cookie and a cake. They're delicious plain, but also make nice ice cream sandwiches.

The oat mixture makes a delicious crust for the bottom—and a tasty crumble on top. Lemon perks up the blueberry filling.

This version of the scone is based on the recipe from the Standard Baking Company. Molly tweaked the recipe slightly in her home kitchen. If using frozen blueberries, do not thaw them before folding into the batter.

These are outstanding buns, substantial yet tender. The soft sides of the top-split hot dog buns are made for grilling or toasting.

Simple, tender buttermilk cake with a sugary crunch: We like it full of raspberries, but you could substitute any berry you pick up at the farmers market.

Flax is rich in substances that have been shown to protect against heart disease and cancer. It has a very mild taste and is good mixed into muffins and breads as well as sprinkled on cereal. This flax muffin recipe is one way to add a daily tablespoon of flaxseed to your breakfast and snacks. These muffins are remarkably sweet and moist, despite having no added fat. (The 3 grams of fat per muffin are from the health-protective fats in the ground flaxseed meal.)

These cakey, low-fat cookies digest easily and are good for a preexercise snack or recovery food. The recipe makes about 5 dozen cookies—enough to feed the whole team. If you are cooking for yourself, you might want to cut the recipe in half.

Pat: Broccoli in cornbread—who knew? But sometimes you need to go to great lengths, and be very crafty, to get your kids to eat more vegetables. The result in this instance is a moist, incredibly satisfying cornbread that gets added richness from both cottage and cheddar cheese. We call for frozen broccoli, which makes this recipe easy enough to whip together in the time it takes your oven to preheat. (You can also use 2 1/2 cups of fresh steamed broccoli.)

A crème fraîche custard is folded into the mixed-fruit filling of this elegant nectarine-blackberry crisp.

An amazing mix of textures and flavors—nutty, sweet, salty, plus a touch of heat from the peppercorns.