desserts

From Nigel Slater's Ripe (Ten Speed Press, 2012). Slater uses sugar; I prefer honey (and a tablespoon less). Use whichever appeals. He also suggests you chill the fool for an hour before serving; in case you don't have the time or patience, I've eaten it almost immediately after making and found it still irresistible

The dough is one simple shortbread that you use for both the crust and the topping (which will make you wonder why you'd ever make them separately). You can make the entire thing in about an hour, including clean-up, and yet somehow it comes out looking like a Byzantine mosaic.

This recipe was the result of an intense cookie desire one late night in college. Lacking both white and brown sugar, and with only the dregs of a box of turbinado sugar, I made do with what I had and was pleasantly surprised by how tasty and addictive these were! Since that first batch, I've refined the recipe a bit. These cookies are wholesome, but still a treat. They're great with a cup of tea or coffee in the afternoon.

A citrus-kissed cake that has a gloriously soft crumb, topped with a mint-flecked glaze.

This combination of shortbread and jam is both a perfect ending to a dinner party and a lovely treat for teatime. I’ve made them tiny, in financier molds, medium sized in classic small tart molds, and in a 9-inch tart pan. The shortbread crust is pantry-friendly, it’s ready in an instant, and it marries perfectly with whatever leftover jam is lurking in your refrigerator. The crust can be made by hand or with a mixer; I use a mixer. This is a very sandy dough. Don't despair. Press it into the molds and bake.

With a sweet, fruity addition and a generous amount of addictive crumbs, your favorite Southern side is about to become your favorite dessert.

Apple Strudel ("Apfelstrudel") is a typical and beloved Austrian dessert. This is my granny's recipe -- and I've never had any better tasting Apple Strudel. I think it would be awfully impolite not to share this outstanding piece of dessert with you. Hell, it took Austria at least two dynasties of decadent monarchs to come up with delicious treats like that while ignoring things like international relations and world politics. I hope the length of the recipe doesn’t scare you off. This is just because I explained everything in detail. For accuracy, I recommend measuring everything by weight if you can. Enjoy!

This recipe came about primarily because I wanted a reason to make a batch of cajeta (adapted from Leite's Culinaria: http://leitesculinaria.com/85946/recipes-cajeta.html). (For those that aren’t familiar with cajeta, it’s basically dulce de leche made from goat milk. The goat milk gives it a wonderful tangy flavor, and I have been obsessed with it since I made my first batch.)

When I was a kid, my dad used to set bananas on fire in the frying pan by pouring alcohol on them. It was a little stunt he had and we were madly impressed every time. We asked him to do it often, even though we actually weren’t too fond of the taste of the bananas. Today I have grown to love those flavors. I don’t set my peaches on fire, but I think they make a pretty good dessert anyway.

Yes, I may have baked this pie specifically so that I could eat pie for breakfast. It's important to have your priorities straight! The leftovers made a good dessert, though. I wanted to make plum pie because I've been reading the children's book "Each Peach Pear Plum" to my son a lot lately. It ends with "Plum pie in the sun, I spy everyone!" And all the characters look so happy eating the pie and plum pie sounds so appealing, and I realized I had never made a plum pie. So I did. I threw in a handful of raspberries because I had some that needed using. Raspberries always make baked goods even just a little bit better, in my opinion! The crust is from Joanne Chang's Flour cookbook. It's my current favorite.