Baking

Wisconsin cheddar stars in these flavorful and easy-to-make biscuits.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

For best results, choose ripe yellow bananas that do not have brown speckles on their skins. This dessert is great served either slightly warm or at room temperature.

Chef Lionel Lévy uses black olives in this unusual clafoutis but still serves it as a dessert, along with a mâche salad drizzled with lemon-honey vinaigrette. We like that combination in place of an after-dinner cheese course, but we also think it makes an excellent (and surprising) first course.

Barm brack is a dark and fruity yeast-raised cake (barm means "yeast"; brack means "speckled"). Tea brack is the much more common baking powder version.

Executive chef Bridget Batson of Hawthorne Lane serves this dessert with homemade caramel sauce (you can use purchased if you like). If you're running short of time, omit the homemade ice cream and mix chopped peanut brittle into your favorite vanilla ice cream.

Soufflés are a British favorite. This recipe combines pieces of toffee in a creamy soufflé, with chocolate sauce on the side.

Prepare the custards the day before you plan to serve them.

Active time: 30 min Start to finish: 2 1/2 hr

Easy and elegant. A store-bought pie crust is filled with brownie mix that has been given a lift with peppermint extract. Offer mint chip ice cream alongside, if you like.

Healthy bonus: Vitamin C and beta-carotene from the squash