Electric Mixer

My mother learned to cook this bread during the Depression, when nothing was wasted — especially overripe bananas. We clamored for this treat so often that she frequently bought extra bananas and let them get almost black. I've discovered that overripe bananas can be peeled, mashed, and frozen, then defrosted whenever I want to bake up this memory.

Each recipe makes about three dozen cookies, depending on the size of the cookie cutters used. The gingerbread cookies are crisp and lightly spiced, while the sugar cookies have lively lemon and tangerine flavors. Both are perfect for a variety of imaginative decorations.

Made with reduced-fat cream cheese and light sour cream, this cheesecake is irresistible — just like its namesake cocktail.

This cake, thought to have first appeared in the 1920s, has had such names as pineapple glacé and pineapple skillet cake.

These easy refrigerator cookies are great to have on hand. Chill or freeze the dough, then just slice some off and bake when you want cookies.

You'll need two dozen lemon leaves or camellia leaves to make the chocolate decoration. If you don't have unsprayed leaves from your own or a friend's garden, get them from a florist.

This tart has an unusual cake-like texture.

These cookies are also good on their own.

These cakes are actually better made ahead. They become richer and fudgier one to two days after baking.

This dessert is simple and delicious, especially when made with very ripe strawberries and thick Devonshire cream. Active time: 30 min Start to finish: 3 hr

For variety, sprinkle berries, nuts or chocolate chips over the pancakes before turning them over on the griddle.

This recipe, adapted from The Viennese Pastry Cookbook: From Vienna with Love, by Lilly Joss Reich, requires a Rehrucken mold—a loaf pan with a rounded, ridged bottom.

You will find this every day at dessert time at Mrs. Wilkes'. "For a delicious change, we sometimes substitute our pound cake for the vanilla wafers," informs Marcia. This is a special favorite of the Girl Scouts who troop over from the Juliette Gordon Low House, birthplace of the founder of the Girl Scouts of America.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Rose Ann Pescheff of Watertown, Connecticut, writes: "My husband and I went to a friend's birthday dinner at Carmen Anthony Steakhouse in nearby Waterbury. The entire meal was good, but the bread pudding was outstanding — the perfect finishing touch. Since bread pudding is one of my husband's favorite desserts, I'd like to make it for him at home." The liqueur-flavored sauce turns this rich dessert into something wonderfully decadent.

Dense, moist and delectable, this homey cake has a lovely balance of flavors.

We find that different generations have different ideas about what a typical New York cheesecake is. To us, a New York cheesecake is high, firm, and dense, with a slightly lemony flavor. The Lindy's cheesecake in our January 1991 issue, adapted here for a simpler crust, is all of that. It's also a cake that keeps for up to two weeks and lends itself easily to flavor variations.