Electric Mixer

"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.

"A friend gave me this great cookie recipe from the Netherlands," writes Marie Rizzio of Traverse City, Michigan. "The dough can be made ahead and frozen."

Whether you use store-bought applesauce or make your own, this lovely, moist cake will make it hard to stop after one piece. It's very important to beat the eggs and sugar until they are thick, as this, along with the baking powder, is what gets the cake to rise nicely. This cake makes a great gift — it can be made ahead, cooled, glazed, then frozen.

This recipe originally accompanied epi:recipeLink="101026"Cod with Miso Glaze and Wasabi Mashed Potatoes</epi:recipeLink>.<br><br> Here's an inventive use for the horseradish that most people know as a sushi condiment.

"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.

Lemon peel gives these real lemon tang and makes them an ideal accompaniment to the epi:recipeLink="101752"Lemon Sorbet with Blackberry Sauce</epi:recipeLink>.

This is one of the many types of apple cake popular throughout central Europe. I have seen apple cakes, a traditional Rosh Hashannah dessert, served on Sabbath and holiday tables from Israel to Australia.

Arrange the soft, spicy cookies on a platter with apples and Vermont cheddar cheese; also serve hot cider or hot buttered rum.

Alternating layers of strawberry and white chocolate mousses form stripes in this creamy frozen dessert.

The name, literally translated as "cats' tongues," refers to the shape of these cookies.

To many people living in the middle of the country, celebration cakes must be chocolate cakes — especially German chocolate cakes. This one embellishes the tradition, using unsweetened chocolate instead of sweet chocolate, a luscious caramel-coconut filling between the layers and lots of creamy chocolate frosting. (By the way, German chocolate cakes have nothing to do with the immigrants who settled in the heartland; the name actually comes from the fact that the cakes were first made with Baker's brand German's sweet baking chocolate.)

Serve this dense, moist cake with a big bowl of lightly sweetened strawberries.

The mushroom and herb topping is similar in texture to bread stuffing. After baking, the fish has a moist center and a delicately crisp top. Partner it with a chilled Viognier.