Baking

"While my sister was visiting me, we had dinner at Asher Restaurant in nearby Roswell," writes Terry Taylor of Suwanee, Georgia. "She loved the meal — the rhubarb crisp with buttermilk ice cream in particular. I'd love to surprise her by making this dessert the next time she's in town."

This cake is good sprinkled with powdered sugar or topped with vanilla frosting.

These are made with an Italian sourdough starter known as a biga, which has to be prepared one day ahead. Note that before baking the breadsticks, you can give them amusing shapes by forming one end of each dough rope into a squiggle, a loop, or whatever strikes your fancy.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Corn kernels and chili powder lend a southwestern accent to these muffins. They would also be nice alongside a bowl of chili.