Electric Mixer

Editor's note: This recipe is adapted from chef Paul Flynn of The Tannery in Dungarvan, Ireland. This dish is Flynn's contemporary take on a classic English dessert called Eton Mess. Traditionally, the recipe calls for whipped cream and crumbled meringues to be chilled together, then topped with fresh fruit. Flynn's twist is to freeze the meringue and cream base, making it a cooler contrast for the juicy berries. If time is short, feel free to substitute store-bought meringues rather than making them from scratch. Use eight 2-inch shells. Begin preparing this recipe one day ahead.

This voluptuous rum-spiked pie will surprise you with its complexity—a hint of curry powder adds an elusive undertone that makes it particularly delicious.

This over-the-top cake has impressive looks and moistness. Start the cherries ahead: They soak in brandy for a week and then in syrup for at least two days.

This dessert needs some last-minute assembly, so appoint a helper or line up the components to make it all go smoothly.

Meyer lemons lend a fragrant citrus note to the silky frozen cream, which needs about four hours' freezing time.

These have a finished, pastry-shop look but require astoundingly little effort. The stacks need to chill at least six hours, so get started early in the day — or the night before.

Look for malanga at Latin markets or online at melissas.com.

Florence Myers of Gainesville, Missouri, writes: "In the late 1950s and early 1960s I was a counselor at an all-girls summer camp in New Hampshire. When we went on long hikes in the mountains, the camp cook, Peggy Ward, would pack up plenty of her wonderful ginger cookies. I've passed that cookie recipe on to many people, including my granddaughter. She tells me that every time she makes the cookies people ask her for the recipe." Old-fashioned flavor in a super-easy cookie.

These cookies, a twist on traditional snowballs, are just the thing to enjoy with a spot of tea.

A tisane is a tea-like aromatic infusion; this one is a lovely partner to the cheesecake.

As the batter bakes, it separates into two distinctive layers — cake on top and custard on the bottom.

For this lighter-than-air Austrian soufflé, we've added tart lingonberry sauce, but any preserves or jam will work.

The spices in Indian chai tea flavor this creamy cheesecake.

This moist cake keeps beautifully for a day or two after you make it.

Truffle oil and minced black truffles make this appetizer anything but kid food.

Spekkuk Bumbu Editor's note: This recipe is adapted from James Oseland's book Cradle of Flavor: Home Cooking from the Spice Islands of Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. It was originally part of an article by Oseland on Indonesian cuisine. This butter-rich spice cake flavored with cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves is known as spekkoek (the Dutch spelling) or spekkuk. It's an inheritance from Holland's four-century rule in Indonesia. This recipe was given to me by Mami, my friend in Bandung, Indonesia, who's an expert in all things sweet. Because butter is a rare commodity in Indonesia, especially outside of big cities, many cooks often substitute margarine for it. Mami wouldn't dream of doing that. "Spekkuk is a special-occasion cake. It deserves a splurge," she says. She usually makes this cake when important guests come calling or for her berbuka puasa (literally, opening the fast) feasts during Ramadan. Essentially a pound cake baked in a tube, or bundt, pan, it has a golden, faintly crisp exterior and a shamelessly rich, velvety interior. There are few things more satisfying than eating a warm slice of spekkuk along with sweetened tea (the traditional accompaniment) or icy cold milk (my favorite accompaniment). If all of your ingredients are at room temperature, this cake is relatively easy to make—and immensely pleasurable, too. Once it starts baking, the spicy aroma will perfume not only your kitchen but also your entire home. Lapis legit (literally "layered stickiness") is a spekkuk constructed of up to 25 thin layers, each no thicker than an eighth of an inch—the more the layers, the more grand the cake. It is made by spreading thin successive layers of batter, one layer at a time, and baking each new layer until it is cooked through. A fresh layer is spread on top, and the process is repeated until all of the batter is used up. Each layer needs about five to ten minutes of baking time. Some cooks alternate plain, white, spice-less batter with the golden-brown batter containing spices for a variegated effect. Other cooks only make lapis legit with ten thicker layers, as opposed to 25. Whatever the case, though lapis legit is lovely to look at, it tastes no better than a single-layer spekkuk, as it's made with the very same batter.

Pumpkin, packed with vitamin A, proves it has a life after Thanksgiving.