Apple

Serve this warm over pancakes or waffles.

Try these for both dessert and breakfast. They're great with their pan juices or the Apple Custard Sauce.

This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less. Round out this menu with boiled green beans and corn muffins. Finish with chocolate pudding topped with whipped cream.

The traditional apple, walnut and chopped celery salad is updated with a yogurt and low-fat mayonnaise citrus dressing, pine nuts and Cajun seasoning.

Complement the chicken with Aromatic Yellow Rice and haricots verts or other green beans, and offer a crisp Riesling or cold Asian beer to drink. Finish the meal simply with a platter of tropical fruit.

By the time Crisco came out in 1911, apple pies had long been an American classic. But Crisco, the first hydrogenated vegetable shortening, gave cooks a boost. Here was a shelf-stable alternative to perishable butter and lard. While a lot of consumers were skeptical of Crisco, many early sales were generated by Orthodox Jews, who bought the shortening after a recipe booklet was published in Yiddish showing how Crisco could be used without breaking kosher dietary laws. Its success was assured when rationing made lard scarce during World War I.

In this pie, dried cherries, cherry preserves and fragrant spices accent crisp green apples.

Caffelatte is what Italians of all ages have for breakfast at home. For small children it is a cupful of warm milk lightly stained with coffee, the ratio of coffee to milk increasing with one's years. It is often accompanied by some store-bought biscuits, but not in my assistant Nadia's family. She lives on her father's farm outside Venice with her husband and small boy, and for her son Tommaso she bakes wholesome cakes with fresh fruit. He has some with his caffeelatte and takes another piece to school to eat for merenda, recess. I was particularly taken with the cake Nadia makes when there is no more summer fruit on the farm. She uses pears and apples and always adds a banana she buys in town. The proportions of one fruit to another may vary, and indeed Nadia says they always do, but nothing much can go wrong or affect the cake's plainspoken, engagingly fresh taste.

Active time: 20 min Start to finish: 1 1/2 hr

This recipe originally accompanied epi:recipeLink="101021"Pork Medallions with Mustard Cream Sauce</epi:recipeLink>.

An accompaniment to <epi:recipelink id="13198">Spiced Venison Steaks</epi:recipelink>

The sauce for these cheese-based latkes, which are great for breakfast, can be made two days ahead. Be sure to serve the pancakes (enough for four people) as soon as they are made.

This traditional spongecake is rippled with cinnamon-sprinkled apples.

The pastry for this tart is very light and crisp. For best results, handle it as little as possible and keep it cool. You will need a 12 1/2- by 1-inch fluted round tart pan with a removable bottom, available at cookware shops and by mail order from Bridge Kitchenware, tel. (800) 274-3435 or (212) 838-1901.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less. Makes use of the microwave oven.