Baking

To keep things simple, we don't peel the fruit before baking it. As a result, it's best to avoid ''fuzzy" fruits such as peaches and apricots.

Lemon juice and sugar bring out the natural juices of the berries.

In this modern take on cobbler, the biscuits are baked separately rather than on top of the filling. You can also serve this shortcake-style by splitting the biscuits and topping them with the filling and a generous dollop of crème fraîche.

Purchased pie dough makes an almost-instant crust for the tiny tarts.

Made without butter or flour, these dense, chewy cookies will satisfy even the most intense chocolate craving.

Port gives this dessert a sophisticated flavor.

As with many European desserts, this recipe calls for no salt but does use salted butter rather than unsalted.

We know these monster biscuits look like gougères on steroids, but we promise there are no illicit performance-enhancing ingredients at work here: just an egg-rich batter that (naturally) bakes up big.

Our Europe correspondent, Alexander Lobrano, was wary of working with pastry long before attending his course at Les Petits Farcis, in Nice. "This recipe is really genius," he says. "I'm more of a savory/stewing type of cook, but this is so easy and works so well that it's become a staple for me." Olive oil in the crust gives it a rich, crumbly texture, and the zing of the lemon filling really steals the show.

In the remote mountains of Georgia, the star ingredient of this bread called khachapuri—akin to pizza—is the firm but creamy salted cow's-milk cheese called sulguni. A blend of Havarti and mozzarella will give you a similar velvety texture.

In this dessert from Cafe Paradiso, pink peppercorns give the meringues a subtle floral flavor.

Frozen puff pastry makes a quick and easy crust for this modern take on pizza.

Shaving the side edge of the coconut pieces with a vegetable peeler is the best way to get strips of uniform width for garnishing the cake.

These are made with wedges of a moist, rich cake and served with a sauce that blends cooked and fresh strawberries.

For the moistest, most intense mostaccioli imaginable, Miraglia Eriquez increased the cocoa, hazelnuts, and spices. And these little frosted cookies only get better with age, so feel free to bake them up to four days ahead of when you plan to serve them.

Torta di Cioccolata al Forno con Vaniglia e Noccio For this sophisticated cake, which will thrill any fan of bittersweet chocolate, Ferrigno took inspiration from a favorite Perugian café called Bar Sandri—Perugia being, as she puts it, the "firm historical chocolate capital" of Italy. And inspiration was all she could take: She requested the recipe from the chef several times, but he wouldn't divulge it. Desperate, she played around with the ingredients until she came up with something that tasted right.

Ingredients of Sephardic cooking—dates, cardamom, and orange zest—bring a mosaic of Mediterranean scents and textures to the Passover table. The cake has a coarse crumb yet is incredibly moist and chewy, thanks to the dates. A sprinkle of our Passover version of powdered sugar dresses up the torte for a special occasion.