Electric Mixer

The meringue bits will stay crisp in this ice cream for about 2 days. The ice cream is still delicious, however, when the meringue is softened and the texture more uniform. The ice-cream mixture (before meringue is added) will easily fit into a standard 1-quart ice-cream maker.

This recipe is used to prepare Grilled Tuna and Roasted Peppers Sandwiches on Thyme Focaccia and Presciutto, Mozzarella, and Olive Sandwiches on Parmesan Focaccia . If you need only one focaccia, freeze the other for later use. Focaccia keeps, frozen, 2 weeks.

Also great layered with some sweetened mixed berries or other fruit and presented in parfait glasses.

"When I was growing up, my mother would bake at least 20 different kinds of cookies each Christmas, but this is one of our favorites," writes Helen McKnight of Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan. "My father gave the cookie its name, which he said meant 'pecan fingers' in some foreign language. The name stuck, and I still smile when I make them."

Active time: 30 min Start to finish: 2 1/2 hr

"Imagine my surprise when, while waiting at a beauty salon, I opened an October 1994 issue of gourmet and noticed 'Gwen Bradford’s Ranger Cookies," begins Bonnie Donalson of San Diego, California. "'Impostor!' I cried. With all due respect to Ms. Bradford, as I am sure her cookies are delicious, it's hardly worth the trouble of baking cookies if you leave out the chocolate chips. I have a friend who literally fights with her husband over my ranger cookies. Others start hinting in October for their traditional bag of Christmas rangers."

These bran muffins bake up moist and chewy. They're so good that my in-laws, Reed and Nancy, make a batch every couple of days for snacking. This is another recipe that shows how buttermilk works to tenderize and lighten many baked goods. Bran retains much of its natural oil and can quickly turn rancid, so always store it in the refrigerator or freezer. I like to use unprocessed sugar crystals (don't confuse this with brown sugar) to complement the bran's whole grain taste. Each muffin has over 2 grams of fiber.

Start making this at least one day ahead.

Both the sugar and the vanilla enhance the flavor of the whipped cream.

These layered desserts are a pure flight of fancy. Inspired by the Italian dish lasagna, they use a traditional Peruvian fruit and cheese combo and add the very French technique of brûléeing sugar to create a brittle caramel. Villaran tops them with a caramel crown for a dramatic presentation, but they are just as delicious with nothing more than a drizzle of strawberry sauce.

Tangy crème fraîche and a very grown-up rum-pineapple topping take cheesecake to an entirely new level. For best results, use Philadelphia-brand cream cheese.