Apple and Gingerbread Trifle
This is the ultimate comfort food: applesauce, gingerbread and whipped cream!
Apricot Crumb Cake
This good all-purpose crumb cake can be made with any juicy fresh fruit. Try substituting prune plums or pitted cherries for the apricots.
Babka
(Yeast-Risen Coffee Cake from Poland)
This is a particularly light and flavorful version of this Eastern European standard. Though some versions of babka are rolled up with a filling before being placed in the pan, this one simply mixes the ingredients together and is none the worse for it.
Baked Indian Pudding
An old-fashioned New England favorite, Indian pudding is a classic American dessert that just happens to be low in calories. I remember tasting it for the first time at the original Durgin Park restaurant in Boston, back in the 1960s. As with many other starch-based puddings, success with this recipe depends on long, slow cooking. Some modern interpretations add a couple of eggs to help the pudding set quickly, but the real thing is made without eggs.
Baked Peaches with Macaroon Filling
This is a classic Italian dish often known as Pesche alla Piemontese, peaches in the style of Piedmont, though I’m not sure exactly why. Piedmont is where the rare and costly white truffles come from, but I’ve never read or heard that it is a peach-growing area, and as far as the macaroon filling is concerned, hazelnuts would be more like it—Piedmont is covered with hazelnut trees. In any case, this is an easy, light, and excellent summer dessert for the middle to the end of the season, when you feel like doing something more than just eating a perfectly ripe, juicy peach as is.
Banana Loaf Cake
No matter what type of banana cake you’re making, only one thing is really essential: The bananas have to be really ripe, or you might as well use potatoes. Of course, many of us don’t get the urge to make a banana-flavored cake or bread until we have some over-ripe bananas hanging around. If you have to buy the bananas especially for a baking project, make sure to let them ripen at least until they are covered with spots—I even like them a little beyond that point for a really rich banana flavor. Another key to excellent banana flavor is to mash them well with a fork or potato masher—don’t puree them in a food processor or blender. The small pieces of banana left behind from hand mashing pack a lot of flavor.
Basler Kaeswaie
(Cheese Tart from Basel)
This tart, along with an accompanying onion tart and a bowl of brown flour soup, form the typical Basel Carnival breakfast. In the early hours of daylight, residents and tourists alike congregate in all of Basel’s restaurants after the pre-dawn Morgenstreich, the official beginning of the Basler Fasnacht, or carnival celebration. It all begins on the Monday morning after Ash Wednesday, when the carnivals in Latin countries have been over since the previous week. I have visited Basel many times, but never for Fasnacht, so the following recipe is based on information from my friend Erika Lieben, a native of and frequent visitor to Basel and the recipe in a cookbook called Basler Kochschule (Basel Cooking School) by Amalie Schneider-Schloeth.
Batch Cake
This recipe fascinated me when I came across it because it calls for baking a freestanding cake on a cookie sheet. The results is a kind of cross between a giant scone and a light fruitcake. It’s quick and easy to prepare and a perfect cake to serve for brunch or with tea or coffee. Vary the mix of raisins and candied fruit any way you like. If you like, you can leave out the candied fruit altogether and make up the quantity with additional raisins.
Best Strawberry Shortcake
This easy recipe is adapted from Great Baking Begins with White Lily Flour, a collection of Southern baking recipes published by the eponymous Knoxville mill.
Bûche de Noël
There are many variations in flavor and presentation for the traditional French Christmas log. I like this one because the chocolate cake and coffee buttercream are not an excessively sweet combination. The marzipan decorations can be prepared well in advance and kept loosely covered until needed.
Bunuelos de Cordoba (Spanish Fritters)
These delicate fritters from southwestern Spain are popular throughout the Hispanic world in many different forms.
Cantuccini: Classic Tuscan Biscotti
These classic Tuscan biscotti are very popular all over Italy. They are harder than most biscotti Americans are accustomed to and are made to be dunked in sweet wine or coffee.
Casatelli Rustici
(Pizza Rustica Turnovers)
In Italian the expression “rustico” refers to a savory pastry and “rustici” are assorted savory pastries. The word also means rustic, and I guess the derivation stems from the fact that country-style baking was more likely to work with the ingredients available—cured meats, cheeses, and vegetables—rather than turning out sugar-laden cakes and pastries the way city pastry shops did.
Chocolate Ginger Pound Cake
This cake is quite rich — the almonds make a perfect background flavor for the chocolate and ginger.
Chocolate Mascarpone Tart with Chocolate Decoration
This rich chocolate filling is welcome as a thin layer in a tart as opposed to a deep cake or torte. The decoration may be as simple or complex as you wish.
Chocolate Raspberry Cream Cake
Though this cake is made of a rich layer combined with a rich filling it is surprisingly light, and of course, very satisfying.
Coconut Raspberry Layer Cake
This is a great combination—white cake layers, lemon buttercream, raspberry preserves and fluffy, white coconut. It’s a perfect old-fashioned layer cake.
Cranberry Oatmeal Bars
These moist, chewy bars are a perfect snack. The dried cranberries add a tangy note that makes them really satisfying.
Crisp Cornmeal Flatbread
This recipe was inspired by a cornmeal cracker that I saw San Francisco baker, author, and owner of the now-defunct Patisserie Française, Fran Gage, prepare at a demonstration in New York. I love the crunch of the crisp bread coupled with the slight sweetness of corn. Be sure to use stone-ground cornmeal, whether yellow or white, for this. The degerminated cornmeal regularly available in supermarkets doesn’t have much corn flavor.
Darina Allen’s Soda Bread
Most versions of soda bread seen in the United States are fancy, with lots of butter, sugar, raisins, and sometimes caraway seeds added for flavor and richness. Really, however, traditional Irish soda bread is similar to a slightly dry version of a scone. It is very simple and needs a little butter and marmalade to make it more interesting. The versions of soda bread that follow are adapted from one of my favorite cookbooks, Darina Allen’s Traditional Irish Cooking (Kyle Cathie, 1995). Darina runs a very highly regarded cooking school and country inn at Ballymaloe in Ireland and is rightly considered the top food authority of that country.
Engadiner Nusstorte
The valley in southeastern Switzerland known as the Engadin has the distinction of having had more pastry cooks born to its population than any other part of the world. During the nineteenth century, residents of the Engadin emigrated to every inhabited area on earth and opened pastry shops. This walnut pastry is one of the great Engadin specialties.
Fanchonette
(Meringue Tart with Apricot and Raspberry Preserves)
The name of this delightful antique tart derives from a small lace fichu worn as a head covering by women in the traditional costumes of some areas of France. The word also refers to the diminutive of the name Francoise—it may well be a combination of the two.
Focaccia
This wonderful Italian flatbread is among the easiest of all breads to prepare. It makes a wonderful (and quickly made) accompaniment to a meal and is also great for sandwiches.
Focaccia alla Barese
(Christmas Eve Onion Pie from Bari)
Though some kinds of focaccia function as bread, this one is more like an onion pizza. My friend and second mother, Ann Amendolara Nurse, whose mother comes from Grumo, near Bari, described it to me and I developed this version of it. Ann’s ancestors on both sides of her family come from Apulia and after she tasted this version, Ann pronounced it the real thing. It’s traditional to serve this for Christmas Eve in Bari, though it is equally good at any time of the year.
Focaccia alla Novese
(Focaccia from Nove Ligure)
In November 1998, I attended the Slow Food conference in Turin with some friends from New York. We went to the conference at the last minute, so we were unable to attend any of the seminars, but did manage to spend quite a while on the tasting floor - for a modest sum you could buy tickets for tastes of every kind of Italian artisanal food product exhibited. Of course, I headed straight for the bakery stands where a baker from Liguria was making and selling this salt-drenched focaccia. This is my re-creation of that very well enjoyed and remembered focaccia - not too difficult, because the list of ingredients was posted at his stand - of course lard turned out to be the secret to a tasty and tender result.
Frozen Raspberry Mousse
Serve this with whipped cream and berries or with a light chocolate sauce.
Fruit Financier
This fruit-filled version of a financier is mixed using the high-ratio method for greater ease.
Ginger Pound Cake with Lemon Glaze
This moist, spicy cake is a perfect brunch or picnic cake.
Gingerbread People
Of course you don't have to cut these cookies into any particular shape, but if you want to make gingerbread people this is the recipe to use. And these cookies are ideal for decorating; I usually use Royal Icing for that purpose. A bonus: this dough is so tender that you can roll and reroll the scraps without having to worry that the last batch of cookies you roll will be tough. This recipe makes a lot of dough, but it's easy to halve if you need less.
Gingery Macadamia Biscotti
These are inspired by, but not based on, a recipe called Gingerful Biscotti by my friend and mentor, Maida Heatter.
Hasselnusstorte
(Austrian "Tender" Tart)
The somewhat sketchy recipe on which this one is based is adapted from T he Alice B. Toklas Cookbook (Anchor Books, 1960). Miss Toklas stated that the recipe was one prepared by her Viennese servant, Friedrich, who was skilled in all sorts of fancy baking. The hazelnut tart was the last of Friedrich's pastries left after his unexpected departure from the Stein/Toklas household. I've modified the recipe so the tart has a lattice top crust, which looks more appealing and provides plenty of room for the airy filling to expand.
Infasciadedde
These were a specialty of my late great-aunt, Elvira Pescatore Basile, who made them every Christmas. The recipe for the cookies that I demonstrated on Home Matters.
Jan Hagel
(Spicy Almond-Studded Dutch Shortbreads)
All resemblance between the name of these cookies and American industrially-made ones is purely coincidental. This is a real Dutch recipe for easy-to-prepare and delicious cookies.
Jo Bettoja's Roman Ricotta Tart
This exquisitely perfumed ricotta tart is enriched with pine nuts bound with crunchy caramel. The recipe is based on one by my friend, cookbook author and former Rome cooking school owner Jo Bettoja, an American originally from the Atlanta area, who has lived in Rome for many years and now speaks Italian with a classic Roman accent. I tasted this at Jo’s Rome apartment in the early Nineties and I’m recreating it here from memory.
Krentenbollen
(Dutch Currant Rolls)
Though these rolls are full of currants and raisins, they are not particularly sweet. In Holland they are often used to make cheese sandwiches with aged Gouda.
Lemon Buttermilk Poundcake
This moist, lemony cake is a perfect brunch or picnic cake.
Lemon Cornmeal Scones with Dried Cherries
Though I would probably eat (and enjoy) anything made from cornmeal, these scones are particular favorites. The flavor of the dried cherries really complements the slight sweetness of the cornmeal.
Lemon-Scented White Cake with Milk Chocolate Frosting
The unusual flavoring for this cake is lemon zest. It is used in both the light, moist cake and the milk chocolate ganache and it delicately perfumes and complements both. Lemon zest, which is rich in the essential oil of lemon, transmits a lemon perfume without any of the acidity of lemon juice, which would mar the chocolate flavor.
Melissa's Chocolate Pecan Cake
I first heard about this rich cake from that inveterate traveler, my friend Gary Peese. He had tasted the cake in Cape Town and was intrigued by it. So I sent my deputy cake sleuth, my friend Kyra Effren, to Melissa’s, a lovely prepared food store a little outside the center of Cape Town. Kyra goes to visit her mother there several times a year and is always ready to tackle a new cake project. Unfortunately, neither Gary nor Kyra was able to extract the recipe from the store, so I made it my business to go right to Melissa’s when I arrived in Cape Town for my first visit in June of 2004. I was thrilled finally to have a taste of the now-legendary cake, and I immediately realized that the intriguing butterscotch taste of the chocolate filling came from the presence of South Africa’s highly salted butter in it. The cake layers themselves are firm and almost chewy, though not with a brownie-style texture. Here is my attempt to reproduce the much-sought-after cake. If you ever travel to Cape Town, don’t neglect to drop by Melissa’s for a piece of cake so you can compare the versions.
Milk Chocolate Biscotti
This is a neat way to incorporate the delicate flavor of milk chocolate into a crunchy cookie. The recipe for Milk Chocolate Biscotti that so many of you have requested.
Milk Chocolate Mousse Cake
This rich cake is easy to whip up at the last minute.
Mrs. MacNab’s Scones
This is a famous Scottish scone recipe, which I have adapted from The Scots Kitchen by F. Marian McNeill (Blackie and Son, 1929-1955). Mrs. Macnab was a farm wife at Ballater, not far from Balmoral, the summer residence of the British royal family. During her lifetime in the late nineteenth century, many of the dignitaries visiting Balmoral, including King Frederick of Prussia, came to tea at Mrs. Macnab’s farmhouse because of the excellence of her scones. Now we can all enjoy them!
Norwegian Cinnamon Rolls
These simple sugar-and-cinnamon-filled rolls are popular throughout Scandinavia, but this Norwegian version is especially good and also quite easy to prepare.
Old-Fashioned Apple Charlotte
This classic dessert deserves to be seen more often. Nothing more than a rich apple compote enclosed in golden, buttery toasted bread, it is the perfect fall and winter dessert.
Old-fashioned Buttercrunch
Always among the most popular confections, buttercrunch successfully combines chocolate, nuts and sugar in an enticing manner. The recipe for Old-fashioned Buttercrunch that I made with Martha Stewart on the Food Network.
Oxford Fruitcake
This has been my favorite fruitcake since I first tasted it when I was in my teens. The recipe is adapted from one given to me by Daphne Giles, the British sister-in-law of my late childhood friend, Noel Giles. Daphne comes from Newbury, near Oxford, and prepared this every year for Noel’s Christmas day birthday.
Pastel de Tres Leches
("Three Milks" Cake from Mexico)
This is a recipe with a convoluted and conflicting history. Mexico, Nicaragua, Venezuela, and other South and Central American countries claim it as their own. Basically it is a light, spongy cake soaked with a citrus-perfumed mixture of evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk, and cream. Sometimes it is topped with meringue, other times with whipped cream. According to my friend Roberto Santibanez, culinary director of the Rosa Mexicano restaurant group here in New York, during the late nineteenth century there appeared several written recipes for a cake called Pastel de Leche (Milk Cake) in the Tabasco state of central Mexico...
Peach Upside-Down Cake
This tasty variation of the classic pineapple cake is equally good with fresh apricots or cooked dried apricots.
Peppery Chocolate Sablés
These are based on a delicious cookie made by my friend and former student Stephen Hoffman.
Petits Pains aux Amandes (Swiss Almond Buns)
These almond buns are a perfect breakfast or brunch pastry. Tender, buttery, and not too sweet, they have a crunchy almond and sugar topping that makes them as appealing looking as they are delicious.
Phyllis Vaccarelli's Pumpkin Pecan Loaf Cake
This is a specialty of Los Angeles teacher and cooking school owner Phyllis Vacarelli. I tasted it at her house when visiting in October 1995 and just had to have the recipe—I know it will immediately become one of your favorites, too. This is a perfect breakfast or brunch cake, or you can dress it up for dinner with a scoop of cinnamon or butter pecan ice cream.
Pizza Chiena
(Neapolitan Meat and Cheese Pie)
Pizza chiena is Neapolitan dialect for what would be called pizza ripiena, or filled pizza, in Italian. The assortment of cured meats and cheeses here is a fairly standard one, though it varies town by town and even family by family, so don't be afraid to experiment with your own combinations-it's thoroughly Italian to do that...
Pizza Rustica alla Milanese
This Lombard version of pizza rustica uses cooked ham and Swiss cheese instead of the more traditional southern prosciutto and mozzarella.
Pizza Rustica alla Napoletana
This most typical savory pie is served for Carnevale (the day before Ash Wednesday) and then again for Easter.
Pleyels
(French Chocolate Almond Cakes)
Pleyels are rich and light little cakes, like cupcakes with a French pedigree. I like to bake them in cupcake pans, although they are much more elegant than the standard cupcake. These are adapted from La Maison du Chocolat in Paris.
Prinsessens Kramkake
(Princess Cream Cake)
This by far the most popular layer cake in all of Norway. It consists of layers of a light sponge cake alternating with layers of custard cream and whipped cream, then covered with a sheet of green or pink almond paste. It’s a wonderful dessert cake because it is both light and extremely delicate in flavor and texture.
Pumpkin Pecan Buttermilk Tart with Cinnamon Whipped Cream
This is a great showstopper for holiday meals—lighter and more festive than plain pumpkin pie. If you want to use fresh pumpkin, peel, seed, and coarsely dice the pumpkin and steam it until tender. Puree, measure, and proceed with the recipe.
Rosemary Focaccia
This wonderful Italian flatbread is among the easiest of all breads to prepare. Vary the flavoring with other fresh or dried herbs if you wish.
Sachertorte
(Austrian Chocolate Cake from the Hotel Sacher)
Of all Austria's luscious desserts, this may be the best known.
Schwarzwalder Kirschtorte
(Black Forest Cherry Cake)
Black Forest cake is a classic if ever there was one. The combination of chocolate cake perfumed with Kirsch syrup, sweetened sour cherries, and whipped cream is a memorable treat. Though the cake originated in Germany, it is copied and used all over Europe and called a Foret Noire in French and Foresta Nera in Italian. I first tried this version of it in the early seventies, when I was a student in culinary school, and have loved it ever since. Strangely, it comes from the American edition of a French cookbook, Modern French Culinary Art (World Publishing, 1966) by Henri-Paul Pellaprat, who was for many years the head chef at the renowned Cordon Bleu cooking school in Paris. This cake is well worth the time it takes to prepare it, but be smart and bake the cake layer the day before, so you will have less work to do when the time to assemble it arrives.
Scottish Shortbread
There is no cookie more associated with a specific country than shortbread is with Scotland. Many versions of the recipe call for rubbing the butter into the dry ingredients as for a pastry dough. I prefer to beat the butter and sugar until it is very light and soft—the beating incorporates air, makes the cookies puff a little while they are baking, and gives them a better baked texture. This is a variation on a recipe I got years ago from Peggy Pinckley, a native of Scotland.
Sour Cream Coffee Cake
I remember making this as a teenager, probably from this same recipe. It comes from my aunt, Virginia Malgieri, who is married to my father’s brother. Aunt Virginia has always liked to bake, and this is a recipe she makes frequently. It’s a good cake for breakfast, brunch, tea or whenever you feel like having a piece of cake. Thanks also to Alan Cohen, who shared a similar recipe.
Stephanie Alexander's Quince Tart
When I visited Australia for the first time in May 2002, I was on a mission to meet Stephanie Alexander, Australia’s most widely acclaimed food writer. Through friends of friends I finally managed to get a phone number and made an appointment to see her at the Richmond Hill Café and Larder, a business she runs that encompasses wine, cheese and specialty food sales and a successful restaurant that serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. A veteran author of many cookbooks and the chef-owner of Stephanie’s Restaurant for many years, she is the author of the impressive tome The Cook’s Companion: The Complete Book of Ingredients and Recipes for the Australian Kitchen, from which this recipe is adapted.
Strawberry Almond Tart
The combination of the almond topping and the strawberry filling makes a rich, delicate tart.
Strawberry Rhubarb Compote with Sugared Pecans
This was one of the desserts on the lunch menu for the opening of Windows on the World in 1976. We would put big crystal bowls of the two compotes and the sugared pecan topping on the buffet table every day; if it was a slow day, maybe some of the compote would come back with the other leftovers, but the sugared pecans never did. We suspected that the dining room staff made quick work of any remaining at the end of lunch. This is a good way to make a fine strawberry dessert when there are no sweet local strawberries and all you can get are hothouse-grown berries that have less flavor.
Swiss Chocolate Mousse
This extra light, foamy mousse is perfect for a buffet when you are also serving other desserts—it adds just the right chocolate note without being overly rich.
Swiss Easter Rice Tart
More commonly a pastry shop specialty than a dessert prepared by home cooks, this rice tart is popular throughout Switzerland. The key to getting the right consistency for the filling is to overcook the rice from the outset. It needs to become smooth and creamy in order to be pureed later on. The ground almonds add richness and flavor to this rice pudding baked in a crust.
Tan Fingers
This intriguing bar cookie was shared by my friend Thea Cvijanovich – the recipe comes from her sister Evi Abplanalp who lives in New Zealand.
Taralli Dolci di Pasqua
Sweet Easter Taralli
This is a great traditional cookie. This is loosely based on a recipe shared by Marie Ciampi...
Tarte au Chocolat et aux Noix à l’Orange
(Chocolate Walnut Tart Scented with Orange)
Christine Ferber is one of France’s most talented pastry chefs and in fact was voted pastry chef of the year for 1998. A childhood friend of Pierre Hermé, Ferber also grew up in Alsace, a place where baking is taken very seriously and, like her friend, she has written prolifically on the subject. I have four of her books, one on jams and preserves, one on pickling and pates, another on cooking with fruit, and the one from which I very loosely adapted this recipe, Mes Tartes Sucrees et Salees (My Tarts, Sweet and Savory) (Payot, 1998). In fact my recipe is a combination of several of Ferber’s. The tart is a baked ganache (a simple mixture of chocolate and cream), scented with orange zest and rum, then topped with chopped walnuts, in a sweet walnut pastry crust. A final drizzle of chocolate makes a simple decoration. Although they aren’t very French, I think pecans would also work very well here.
Tarte au Citron à la Niçoise
Niçoise Lemon Tart
The trademark of this tart is its very dark, almost blackened, top, which comes from being baked in a wood-burning oven. If your tart does not bake as dark as it should, a second or two under the broiler will improve its appearance.
Tarte Tatin
This traditional French tart is easy to prepare if you use a non-stick pan.
Torta di Nocciole alla Veronese
(Hazelnut Cake from Verona)
This rich and virtually flourless cake is popular in the hazelnut growing areas outside Verona. Although the original does not demand it, the Torta di Nocciole would be wonderful with a little lightly whipped, unsweetened cream.
Torta di Ricotta Romana:
Roman Ricotta Tart
This most typical Italian dessert is often served as an Easter specialty in southern Italy. The flavorings vary slightly according to the region and toasted slivered almonds, chopped chocolate and grated lemon and orange zest are sometimes included.
Torta Verde
This is a typical Ligurian vegetable pie. It may be served as part of an elaborate selection of antipasti, or as a first or main course, depending on the meal. This is loosely based on a recipe in Colman Andrews' Flavors of the Riviera. If you don't have chard, use young, tender spinach.
Tortelli di Mandorle e Pignoli alla Romana
(Almond and Pine Nut Tartlets from Rome)
Roman pastry shops abound with pastries, cakes, cookies, and confections made with almonds. Some of the world's best almonds come from nearby Sicily and they are widely used throughout Italy. This recipe is based on one for a larger tart that I tasted in Rome years ago. These are like rich little macaroons baked in a sweet crust, and they are perfect with a cup of espresso.
Trionfo di Gola al Cioccolato
(Sicilian Chocolate and Pistachio “Triumph of Gluttony” Cake)
This is my interpretation of an old Sicilian convent cake (many Sicilian desserts originated or were perfected in the pastry kitchens of convents) that substitutes chocolate for the traditional custard cream filling. Try to find the greenest pistachios possible for the cake—its appearance will be better and more appetizing if you do. You may want to bake the cake the day before so that it is completely cooled and ready to go.
Vanillekipferl (Viennese Vanilla Crescents)
These are as delicate and delicious as any fancier and more complicated pastry in the Viennese baking repertoire. They are best when freshly baked - the freshness and vividness of the butter flavor starts to fade after a day.
Visitandines de Lorraine
Little “Visitation” Cakes from Lorraine
The visitation referred to in this case was the one made by the Virgin Mary to her cousin Elizabeth, before Elizabeth gave birth to John the Baptist. The cakes don’t derive from an ancient Hebrew recipe, but were originated in the convent of a community of French nuns called the Sisters of the Visitation, colloquially known in French as the “Visitandines.”
West Tenth Street Brownies
This recipe got its name because I found it in Greenwich Village a few blocks from where I live. As I walked east on Tenth Street, I saw a yellowed index card lying on the sidewalk. When I picked it up and saw written in a spidery hand in blue fountain pen ink a recipe for "The Best Brownie's [sic] in the World."
Wiener Mandelcremetorte
(Viennese Almond and Cream Layer Cake)
This exquisitely delicate cake is one of the stars of the Viennese baking repertoire. Viennese bakers love to use ground nuts to enrich cake batters, and this one is doubly rich from the presence of almond paste along with ground nuts. A note about almond paste: For best flavor, always purchase almond paste that comes in a can as opposed to a cellophane wrapper. Canned almond paste always has a fresher, more vivid flavor and moister texture.
Zwetschenkuechen: Plum Tart
This plum tart is seen all over Switzerland in the early fall.
