Electric Mixer

Sprinkling this creamy custard with powdered sugar and then placing the dessert under the broiler gives it a delicate crust. Serve with crisp gingersnap cookies.

(Teules de Taronja) These crisp cookies are shaped like the terra-cotta roof tiles, teules (tejas in Castilian Spanish), that top village houses—old and new—throughout Spain. Almonds are a common ingredient in Catalan cookies, but we took another cue from the Moors and added candied orange.

The recipe below was based on the apricot soufflés served by Sally Darr at her former New York City restaurant, La Tulipe. This recipe calls for five large egg whites. When separating your eggs, serve the yolks for the accompanying crème anglaise.

More confections than cookies, really, meringues accompany ice cream well and add a festive dimension to the table. They are best baked on a cool, dry day.

There's a rich cream cheese base in this simple yet sophisticated dessert.

For the spider web that decorates this cake, melted semisweet chocolate chips work best. Don't be tempted to substitute another type of chocolate.

This stunning sweet from Spago Beverly Hills can be assembled ahead of time, then baked at the last minute. Note that the dessert needs to be frozen at various points, so plan accordingly. When preparing the meringue disks, use a six-ounce tuna fish can as a template.

This pull-out-all-stops dessert layers a white chocolate pistachio cake with strawberries and a do-ahead pistachio butter-cream. For the finishing touches, whipped cream is piped up the sides, and a marzipan top is crowned with fresh strawberries.

The mincemeat adds great flavor and texture to an ever-popular dessert.