Baking

Arrange the soft, spicy cookies on a platter with apples and Vermont cheddar cheese; also serve hot cider or hot buttered rum.

The name, literally translated as "cats' tongues," refers to the shape of these cookies.

To many people living in the middle of the country, celebration cakes must be chocolate cakes — especially German chocolate cakes. This one embellishes the tradition, using unsweetened chocolate instead of sweet chocolate, a luscious caramel-coconut filling between the layers and lots of creamy chocolate frosting. (By the way, German chocolate cakes have nothing to do with the immigrants who settled in the heartland; the name actually comes from the fact that the cakes were first made with Baker's brand German's sweet baking chocolate.)

There is hardly a wedding or garden party in the Lowcountry without these yeast biscuits. They are small, only about an inch in diameter, and they are split to hold slivers of salty country ham tempered with dollops of chutney or mustard. One ham provides enough meat for 200 to 250 biscuits. These doubly lightened breads — really yeast rolls — are also called "angel biscuits" and "bride's biscuits." Bill Neal has suggested that the "bride" is the inexperienced cook who needs the insurance policy of the double leavening.

Rich brownies are baked with a chocolate syrup that sinks to the bottom and thickens into a fudgy sauce, creating a luscious layering of textures.

Here's an opportunity to enjoy the best summer fruit. Serve this dessert with butter cookies from the bakery.

These individual Pavlovas are inspired by the popular Australian dessert (named for the Russian ballerina), which combines crisp meringue with whipped cream and assorted fruit. It's easy to form the cups with a pastry bag, but if you don't have one, try this technique: Drop the meringue by half-cupfuls onto the baking sheets, then use the back of a spoon to create a deep, wide indentation in the center of each.

Serve this dense, moist cake with a big bowl of lightly sweetened strawberries.

Orange syrup sweetens the cake and the fresh fruit that goes with it.