European

I love olives. If they had no calories, I would eat them by the bucket. Again, though, they are another ingredient that when eaten in moderation provides good fats our bodies do need. Here, I’ve used them to make pizza, another of my favorite foods. This throw-together meal will take significantly less time than waiting for takeout. And it’s especially great because you can stock the ingredients in your kitchen for that night when you just don’t have time to cook.

Rarely do I shock myself with how great a made-over dish can taste. I’m pretty realistic. Apple pie is pretty much an impossibility if I want it to taste like traditional pie and be lower in fat and calories because of all of the butter. There really is no substitute for butter in a traditional pie crust. I thought this dish would be an impossibility as well. But when we pulled the chicken out of the oven the first time, everyone in my test kitchen was shocked at how fattening it tasted. We knew it would be good, but we had no idea it would actually be great, especially given how much quicker it is than the traditional version! Just be sure you don’t overcook the chicken. If you do, not only will the chicken be dry, the breading will fall off.

When I was a kid, we always vacationed at the Jersey shore. Every summer we’d go to a fantastic little Italian restaurant. Not only did they have the most incredible rolls and meatballs, they had a fettuccine dish that was out of this world. Now I realize it was probably just pasta with tons of butter and tons of melted cheese. I loved it so much, but it probably contributed significantly to my weight gain. When I threw this breakfast together one morning as I was running out the door, the gooey cheese surrounding the fluffy eggs reminded me of that fave from my past. But the good news is that this version won’t cause nearly the damage.

If you don’t have a pastry bag, you can still enjoy these delicious and crunchy cookies in their traditional shape: Chill the cookie dough for about 1 hour, then divide it into fourths. Roll each piece out with the palms of your hands to a rope about 1/2 inch thick. Cut the rope into 4-inch lengths and lay them on the prepared baking sheets, shaping them into crescents and leaving about 3/4 inch between them. Lightly drag the tines of a fork over the crescents to create ridges. Bake and cool them as described below

These little “white kisses” are very light and not too sweet. The key to success is to refrigerate them for the right amount of time. After about an hour in the refrigerator, the whipped cream will have softened the center of the meringues, but not the outsides, so you’ll have a crunchy-chewy kiss. If you leave them much longer, the meringues will turn sticky.

Tartufi made with homemade chocolate ice cream are delicious. You can make your life simpler by substituting store-bought ice cream and proceeding to form and coat the tartufi as described below.

If you don’t have a baking sheet large enough to hold the two loaves of dough side by side with a little room between them, use two sheets. Position the oven racks in the lower and upper thirds of the oven before preheating it, and rotate the pans from shelf to shelf and front to back about halfway through baking.

Granita is nothing more than a flavored liquid (in this case lemon) sweetened with sugar and frozen until crystallized. Understanding this makes it very easy to make any flavor granita that you desire. You can also use orange juice for granita; simply freeze it as is. Should you choose to flavor your granita with alcohol, don’t add it to the syrup—it will inhibit the freezing process. Instead, pour it over the granita just before you serve it. It will get slushy, but a good slush on a hot summer day might be just the right thing.

A simple way to make spumoni in the shape you remember is to use tall 10-ounce paper cups, like the ones you get when you order a soda. You can make the layering process simpler by spooning in a level layer of vanilla ice cream, then chocolate ice cream, then flavored whipped cream. If you’d prefer to serve one large spumoni instead of individual ones, prepare the spumoni in a 6-cup soufflé dish, layering it into the dishes as described below. Let the frozen large spumoni stand at room temperature 10 to 15 minutes before inverting it onto a serving plate. Cut it into wedges to serve.

If you don’t have the means to make espresso at home, use American-style coffee. (This is also a very good way to use leftover brewed American coffee.) To make up for the lack of coffee punch that you’ll find in an espresso granita, sample your coffee and stir in instant coffee or espresso to taste. Keep in mind that the technique used to make coffee granita can be applied to juices, teas, herbs, or any flavored and sweetened liquid of your choice. Liquids that contain alcohol don’t work well for granita, since alcohol does not freeze at the temperatures that household freezers reach.

The part of the sponge cake that is left behind after the rounds are cut for the delizie makes a nice snack. Although these are traditionally served robed in plain white, you could crumble the leftover cake into crumbs and sprinkle them over the fondant before it has a chance to harden.

You may have seen struffoli jazzed up with pine nuts, candied fruit, or slivered almonds. Sometimes they are piled into one big mound, sometimes shaped into several smaller mounds, or, especially around the holidays, formed into a wreath. Once you have the basics down, you can go off in any direction.