Electric Mixer

Delicate cookies and purchased ice cream produce a grown-up version of a playground favorite.

Sweet Butter Pastries This recipe is based on the version of the Breton classic found in Anne Willan's L'Ecole de Cuisine La Varenne. The butter-rich dough gives a result akin to Danish pastry but more rustic.

Candida Sportiello writes: "As owner and chef of Il Giardino restaurant, on the tiny island of Ventotene off the coast of Naples, I've been cooking professionally for twenty-five years — but I've been cooking for pleasure for a good fifty years. As is the Italian way, most of my favorite recipes were handed down from my mother and grandmother, so they date from the early 1900s." This rich dessert is called a semifreddo ("half frozen") in Italian.

Makes 12 to 16 servings.

This beautiful tart features a pastry the Italians call pasta frolla — the texture of the dough is more like cookie dough than traditional French-style pastry. The lattice crust is surprisingly easy to make because it doesn't require weaving the strips. Active time: 1 1/2 hr Start to finish: 5 hr

The torte and compote are each great on their own, if you have time to make only one of them. A kosher-for-Passover sorbet would be nice with this dessert.

These are favorites in Mexico and Russia.

This dessert has a baked chocolate-cookie crust and a chilled light-and-fluffy filling of pureed fresh raspberries folded into whipped mascarpone cheese.

Cape Cod's cranberry bogs — which supply the crowning glory of countless holiday desserts — provided the inspiration for this festive and luscious cheesecake. Chocolate wafer cookies (used in the crust) are sometimes located in the ice cream section, displayed above the freezer case.

"My sister, who lives near Chicago, takes me into the city for dinner at Erwin restaurant whenever I visit her," says Marion J. Matczynski of Parma Heights, Ohio. "One time I tried the peanut mousse cake; it was to die for."

Active time: 45 min Start to finish: 2 hr

Coconut milk, which gives a velvety texture to this pound cake, can be found in the Asian foods section of the supermarket.

This recipe makes more phyllo crisps (the building-block wafers of the napoleons) than you'll need—they can replace any that break along the way and are delicious on their own.

Here's a party-size ice cream sandwich that everyone will love. We use two 9-inch-diameter cake pans so that the cookies keep their round shape when baking. And there's no need for last-minute fuss; this can be made up to three days ahead.

Make a cake the easy way: Spruce up a mix with sour cream, chocolate, brown sugar frosting and a crunchy pecan brittle.

Similar to zuppa inglese (an Italian trifle), this impressive dessert layers an amaretti-and-cream filling and orange segments between syrup-soaked sponge cake. Many of the components can be made ahead; start with the filling so that it can chill overnight.