Frozen Dessert

In Italy, coffee granita is served in tall glasses filled halfway with granita and topped with whipped cream. We've added some white chocolate and anise-flavored liqueur.

Active time: 5 min Start to finish: 2 1/2 hr (includes freezing)

Active time: 20 min Start to finish: 4 hr

It is essential to slice the brownie in half through the middle lengthwise; otherwise, the cake slices will be too thick.

A favorite test-kitchen Muscat wine is Bonny Doon's Muscat Vin de Glacière from California.

This recipe is an accompaniment for Flourless Chocolate-Orange Almond Cake .

(GELATO AL CIOCCOLATO) We tested this recipe with both regular and Dutch-process cocoa powders and loved both versions. The Dutch-process cocoa powder yields a slightly more intense flavor.

"By adding a little espresso powder to a recipe for caramel sauce, I created an ice cream topping that has made this sundae the signature dessert in my house I had always refused to share the recipe with friends who requested it, but I finally decided that it's too good to keep secret," says Gordon Finley of Durham, North Carolina. These are terrific made with coffee or vanilla ice cream — or both.

"My husband and I recently went to Chez Mimi in nearby Santa Monica," writes Randi Fine of Sherman Oaks, California. "We shared a luscious dessert called caramel chomeur, a cake baked atop caramel sauce and served with vanilla ice cream. I've searched my cookbooks, but I can't find a recipe close to it." Chef Mimi Hebert tells us that this dessert from the Great Depression era was called chomeur (from the French word for "unemployed") because it was inexpensive to make.

"The strawberry cream cake recipe from "A Swedish Midsummer Party" in your June 1997 issue reminded me of a dessert my grandmother, who was of Swedish descent, used to make," says Jill M. Kuhn of Sherman Oaks, California. An electric carving knife makes slicing this dessert a breeze.

For a quick and easy version, just stir one cup of praline into a one-quart tub of vanilla ice cream that has been softened slightly.