Baking

Here, the building blocks of Scottish cranachan are brought together in a different guise, layered into an alternately crisp, creamy, and fruity cheesecake. It's not as rustically simple as the dessert that inspired it, but it does, I think, stay true to cranachan's ingredient-centric ethos, with honey, raspberries, whiskey, and oats in perfect balance.

This luscious molten chocolate cake has just five ingredients and takes less than 20 minutes to whip up.

Before I had children, I swore up and down that I'd never be one of those parents kowtowing to the little picky eaters' preferences at mealtimes. And then I had actual children. I'm no parenting expert, but my personal studies have shown that anytime you can legitimately make a meal out of a cookie and milk, you're golden. As it happens, grown-ups won't turn these down, either. And, bonus! When made with flax "eggs" and gluten-free oats, these wholesome gems are vegan and gluten-free.

This decadent cake is infused with rich coffee flavor in three forms: brewed coffee, espresso powder, and coffee liqueur.

These dream bars have made the rounds. My mother's friend Phyllis Grossman passed the recipe to my mother when I was growing up. My mother passed the recipe to me, and I have since passed it along to friends. We all make it. I have baked versions with milk chocolate and hot fudge, but the best filling by far is bittersweet chocolate. I melt the chocolate, spread it on a sheet pan and chill it, break it into shards, and press it into the dough. Then I spread a brown sugar meringue on top. I warn you—as I warn every new employee at Hot Chocolate—proceed with caution. You have to either never eat these or succumb to the fact that you will be addicted forever to Dream Bars.

This moist, simple cake has a tender golden crumb and a subtle citrus flavor. I love a thin slice—okay, a thick slice—in the middle of the afternoon with coffee, but it's also well matched with summer berries and stone fruits. My husband enjoys it for breakfast. Accompany the cake and fruit with a dollop of the Yogurt Cream, if you like. In winter, pair the cake with a citrus compote or poached quince. This recipe is adapted from one given to me by Bill Corbett, executive pastry chef for the Absinthe Group in San Francisco, who uses yogurt frequently in his desserts. The cake stays moist for a week if stored in a lidded plastic cake container.

Here's my basic no-knead, long-fermented rustic bread, a round loaf, or boule. It's an adaptation for the home kitchen of the much larger oval filone and the football-shaped pugliese sold at the Sullivan Street Bakery. I suggest you try this before any of the variations in Chapter Three, to get the hang of it. Even if you've baked before, the process is probably nothing like what your experience would lead you to expect. For one thing, many people who bake this bread find the dough to be unusually wet. Remember that most of the water is meant to be released as steam in the covered pot, and you'll be handling the dough very little anyway. Don't feel too uptight about any of this. For example, I specify that the dough should rise at room temperature, about 72 degrees Fahrenheit. (In many of the recipes, I say to put the dough in a warm, draft-free spot—same thing.) But if that's not what you have at the moment, you'll be okay anyway. Just pay attention to the visual cues: At the end of the first rise, the dough is properly fermented when it has developed a darkened appearance and bubbles, and long, thread-like strands cling to the bowl when it's moved. After the second, briefer, rise, the loaf has risen sufficiently if it holds the impression of your fingertip when you poke it lightly, making an indentation about 1/4 inch deep. It should hold that impression. If it springs back, let it rise for another 15 minutes.

Add lemon granola to your citrus cookies , and they become lemon-treehugger cookies. When you hear that a cookie has granola in it, somehow you feel like you're making a "healthier" choice, right? Use Meyer lemons, a fragrant lemon hybrid more common in California than Brooklyn, if you can get your hands on them.

That's a whole lotta citrus in this here recipe. If you want to make a citrus cookie that tastes like you climbed up a tree and plucked a cookie off the branch, that's what it takes.

Our version of the dessert-of-the-moment gets extra flair (and a gorgeous magenta hue) from the addition of hibiscus flowers.

The one-bowl chocolate cake is a busy baker's workhorse, and a concept that's been riffed on in countless ways by just about every cookbook, food magazine, and professional domestic goddess over the past few decades. And for good reason-who doesn't love being minutes away from homemade chocolate cake, no complicated machinery required? My version is naturally sweetened with maple syrup, which also makes it unbeatably moist.

On those mornings when you don't want to do anything but get up, pour coffee, and sit with your face in the sun, homemade granola is a good thing to have around. Ours is meant to be not too sweet. We serve it over very tangy plain yogurt from upstate New York's Ronnybrook Farm dairy and add a swirl of local honey for people who want it a little sweeter.

These mini tarts are double sealed for extra insurance.