Baking

These tempting, reduced-fat muffins are a nice way to get started in the morning.

In this easy starter, a mix of tangy blue cheese, chopped toasted walnuts and peppery arugula makes a delicious topping for baguette toasts.

If you don't have individual soufflé dishes, this can be prepared in a 13 x 9-inch glass baking dish, in which case the crisp will need to bake for about 55 minutes.

Store-bought crusts make these scrumptious a snap to prepare.

(ZALETTINI) These shortbread-like cookies get their crunchy texture and pretty yellow color from cornmeal. They are enjoyed all over Veneto, a region known for its polenta. In fact, zalettini means "little yellow ones" in the Venetian dialect.

Anadama bread recipes, which date back to pre-Revolutionary New England, all call for molasses and cornmeal for substantial- and delicious- results. This contemporary rendition is no exception.

Bright ribbons of cranberry puree swirled through a creamy white cheesecake create a pretty contrast. Begin the cake a day ahead.

Senior editor Karen Kaplan devised these delicious lemon sugar cookies. They're cut into Hanukkah shapes-menorahs, dreidels and Hebrew letters-and decorated with blue and white icing. Wrap them in tins, decorated shoe boxes, hatboxes or pretty bags. They make nice hostess gifts for couples with young children.

These slightly sweet rounds are a cross between a cookie and a cracker. Eat them plain or with jam for breakfast, or top them with cheese for a snack.

This simple white cake has a lemon curd filling and glaze. Big cakes like this are typical special-occasion desserts in the South.

This treat is topped with slices of bright oranges. The slices must be cooked very slowly, or the pulp will fall away. Begin preparing the cheesecake one day before you plan to serve it.

Ginger's peppery flavor is the perfect foil for white chocolate. Here, the ginger is used in several forms, each contributing its own nuance: Crystallized ginger provides texture and a warm bite to the filling, gingersnaps are used for the crust, and ground ginger enhances both crust and filling. Begin making this dessert a day ahead.

From Goldie's by the Bridge, North Tarrytown, New York.

Intense chocolate flavor accented with orange highlights this lovely layer cake.

A fast version of an old favorite. Wine-bottle gift bags make perfect packaging.