Baking

"My mother's favorite restaurant in Sacramento is Biba," writes Grace Bannor, San Francisco, CA. "She claims it's the most authentic Italian food she has tasted outside her native Florence. Whenever the jam tart is on the menu, it's a must-have for my mother. If I had the recipe, I could make it for her next birthday."

Fuji or McIntosh apples work best for this tart; other varieties may be too juicy.

For a shiny finish, brush the warm tart with melted apricot preserves.

In this dessert, two fillings — a dark mocha ganache and a white chocolate ganache — are swirled together with a small knife for a dramatic effect.

Terrific with a scoop of vanilla frozen yogurt.

Every year for nearly twenty years Gourmet's production director baked this cake for our mailroom manager on his birthday. Suffice it to say that this delectable dessert has stood the test of time.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Rich with chocolate and dried apricots, this dessert is a stately yeast-risen cake that requires no kneading and very little attention. When you set it aside in a warm place, it does much of the work by itself. A large bundt or angel food pan can replace the traditional ornate mold.

We loved L.A. chef Mary Sue Milliken's crisp baked-tortilla crackers in her pool-party menu (August 2000). Here, we invent our own version of them.

This crust is an excellent choice for double-crust fruit pies. For a single-crust pie, simply divide the recipe in half. The dough may also be used for tartlets

Both the use of butter and shortening make for a flaky pie crust. It is best to refrigerate the dough overnight if possible for ease in rolling it out between two sheets of lightly floured wax paper.