Baking

Active time: 15 min Start to finish: 1 3/4 hr

Here's the traditional southern way to bake and serve corn bread: right in the skillet. Using shortening to grease the pan produces a nice, brown crust.

"I have been enjoying Aperto restaurant here in San Francisco ever since it opened eight years ago," writes Leslie Appleton, of San Francisco, California. "Everything prepared in that little kitchen is delicious and attractively presented. If you could obtain the recipe for the soft-centered chocolate soufflés served there, you would make me very happy." These can be prepared ahead.

If you're making this entire menu, we recommend assembling the cobbler and putting it into the oven just before you begin grilling the steak. That way, the cobbler will be cool enough to serve after you have finished eating the main course and cleared the table.

If you don't have a 2 3/4-inch-diameter cookie cutter, the same size tin can (with top and bottom removed) works just as well.

Unsweetened coconut can be found at natural foods stores.

Begin making the lime-ginger curd one day before baking the cake. The assembled dessert can be chilled overnight before serving.

The recipe for this "sugar tart," a Belgian classic, comes from Auberge du Moulin Hideux. Similar to a rustic coffee cake, this treat is lovely for brunch or as an afternoon snack with coffee or tea.

The secret to garlic bread that's neither too greasy nor too dry is having the correct proportion of butter to bread, so we give specific dimensions for the Italian loaf. If yours is a different size, you'll need to adjust the amount of garlic butter accordingly.

Remember the commercial that re-created the invention of Reese's Peanut Butter cups? A woman is walking down the street eating a chocolate bar, and a man is walking the other way eating a tub of peanut butter. They bump into each other, causing the chocolate and peanut butter to mix. Overcome by the new taste sensation, they immediately check into a motel (I may be misremembering that last part). I've never cared for the chocolate-peanut butter combo, so if that idiot had ruined my chocolate bar, I would have pushed him into oncoming traffic. But my mom, who says she's going to have chocolate with peanut butter for her last meal, swears by these cookies. She thinks they're even better than traditional chocolate chip cookies.

All the appeal of traditional mincemeat pie—without all of the traditional work.

Try any leftover sauce on ice cream.

This cake can be prepared one day ahead. Sweetened cream of coconut is available in the liquor section of most supermarkets.