Electric Mixer

Instead of frosting, this tender cake is topped with coconut whipped cream. A red hibiscus sauce adds vibrant color—and a tangy flavor.

A soft chewy bread roll about the size of a golf ball infused with cheesy flavor, pão de queijo is Brazil's favorite savory snack and an excellent recipe to add to your repertoire.

A press-in crust makes this party-worthy dessert easy to put together. For a pretty presentation, don't cover the lime curd completely with berries. The contrast between the dark berries and the bright lime curd is striking.

All-American strawberry shortcake goes modern with a hit of balsamic vinegar and a dash of black pepper. Making the biscuits square instead of round is quicker and easier than using a biscuit cutter. Plus, you won’t have to reroll the dough, which can make the biscuits tough.

Natural no-stir peanut butter is a special boon for those who like to bake with peanut butter. It's made without trans fats, yet stays smooth and doesn't separate, as most natural peanut butters do.

Floating islands are similar to snow eggs but are baked in the oven in a bain-marie (water bath). The dessert can be made in individual portions, as here, or in a large soufflé mold. The bottom of each mold is coated with a caramel finished with butter to keep it a bit softer. The filled molds are then cooked, surrounded by water, in a roasting pan. Some of the caramel adheres to the bottom of the dishes when the floating islands are unmolded, but some of it drips down over the desserts to mix with the custard sauce. The rum-custard sauce is made with fewer egg yolks than traditionally called for in a custard cream. The milk, cornstarch, and sugar mixture is brought to a rolling boil and poured directly on top of the yolks. Because of the small proportion of egg yolks to milk, the temperature of the mixture rises to 180 degrees, ensuring that the lecithin in the egg yolks wil thicken. The sauce doesn't need further cooking and is strained to eliminate any curdled pieces. Here the custard sauce is flavored with rum, but it could be flavored with cognac, bourbon or vanilla instead. Floating islands can be cooked a day or so ahead and kept, covered, in the refrigerator so the tops don't get rubbery. Covering also keeps the dessert moist, preventing the sugar from hardening around the edge of the molds, and thus making the floating islands easier to unmold.

This Christmas cake will make your friends gasp: three white cake layers covered with a light snowfall of flaked coconut. This recipe came from my Great-Aunt Molly, who always used fresh coconut milk in her cake. If I'm feeling unusually energetic, I do the same (see Tip). Otherwise, I substitute coconut cream, which is a lot easier to manage. My cousin Vera Mitchell Garlough used to make this cake with her mother and sister. Vera wrote: "Mama used the standard boiled frosting from her Searchlight Cookbook, 1931 printing. The method called for boiling sugar and water until it made a thread when dripped from a spoon, then adding the very hot syrup very slowly to stiffly beaten egg whites, beating all the time. Then, we did not have the luxury of an electric mixer in our home so sister Barbara and I, while young girls, learned to make this frosting as a team. She poured while I beat, then she beat while I poured—using an old wire whisk. Somehow, it became stiff and always turned out right and we never scalded ourselves with the hot syrup. In later years, when she bought a double boiler, Mama used this standard recipe, which I use today."

When the cranberries in this buckle bake, they split open just enough to absorb the cake batter while retaining a firm outer shell and a slightly tart bite. Half are folded into the batter and half are distributed on top with the Vanilla Crumb, creating a red-jeweled delight. This recipe is great for a holiday breakfast or brunch.

This is the quintessential coconut cream pie—it has lots of coconut flavor and a very creamy texture. This is best served on the day it is made so the crust is still crisp, but you can make the pastry cream a day ahead, whisk in the whipped cream a couple of hours before serving, and then put it together at the last minute. Swirl the whipped cream decoratively on top, if you like.

Biscochitos are the best thing to get with your coffee when you eat breakfast at a Mexican bakery. Mi Tierra makes my favorite version of these rich Mexican cookies. Sorry, there is no substitute for the lard—it's the secret ingredient!

Although legend has it that the red velvet cake originated in the early 1900s at New York City's Waldorf Astoria Hotel, it's been a Southern favorite for as long as I can remember. (A friend of mine recently reported seeing a version of it at a Starbucks in Mississippi.) Years ago, I made an armadillo-shaped red velvet cake for a wedding couple, complete with gray cream cheese icing for the animal's shell and scales. The idea may have come from the popular 1989 movie Steel Magnolias, which featured a red velvet armadillo groom's cake, a popular Southern tradition that continues to this day. The inspiration for my red velvet cupcakes came from my high-school boyfriend's grandmother. My mother was quite ill during those years, so I spent a lot of time with Bob Yarborough's family. His Birmingham, Alabama–born grandmother cooked and baked frequently, and I never forgot her red velvet cake. I wrote the instructions in my high-school recipe notebook and used it as a guide for developing these cupcakes. The mint extract and crushed mint candies add bit of holiday flair, but easily can be left out at other times of the year.

Potato latkes are really just potato kugel in pancake form.

Mary made a version of this cake for Baking with Julia, the television series with Julia Child. (The recipe was included in the cookbook based on the series.) It's based on our Chocolate Chiffon Cake, which we spread with filling and then roll, making this the most delectable "jelly" roll you have ever tasted. When the Spago staff sampled the cake, they all came back for second helpings—and they're a tough audience.

Traditionally, an aioli should be made with lots of garlic and extra virgin olive oil. If you find the flavor too strong, you can use half olive oil and half vegetable oil (and a little less garlic if you must).

Without the grated onion, matzo meal latkes are a little on the bland side. However, you can always take a different, more Sephardic, approach: omit the onion; sprinkle the cooked latkes with a mixture of confectioners' sugar, cinnamon, and finely chopped nuts; and serve them with honey.

In this East Coast-style breakfast treat, a tender sour cream coffee cake is topped with a thick layer of cinnamon-scented streusel.