Fruit Dessert

Pastry chef Valerie Hill offers this appealing treat at the Morrison-Clark Historic Inn & Restaurant in Washington, D.C. Allowing the yogurt to drain produces the thick and creamy yogurt cheese.

The unique filling has a flavor and soft texture reminiscent of orange marmalade.

Store-bought vanilla frozen yogurt acts as the luscious foil for oranges, pineapple, mango and bananas in a fat-free brown sugar-cinnamon sauce.

This dessert can be transformed to fit occasions other than Valentine's Day. Try experimenting with round, square, or triangular meringue shapes. And even though you'll only need 4 meringue layers, the recipe calls for 6—thus allowing for the possibility of breakage…or snacks! We loved the look of passion-fruit seeds and sparkling, ruby-red pomegranate seeds (along with a bit of juice) as a garnish, but you could substitute fresh raspberries or sliced strawberries.

This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

This recipe originally accompanied Chocolate Shortcakes with Vanilla Ice Cream, Strawberries and Fudge Sauce.

There's extra crunch in the topping from lots of sliced almonds. Vanilla ice cream is good with this.

Golden Delicious apples are used for this autumnal dessert, but Rome Beauties work well, too.

When cleaning any fresh berries, place in a strainer, rinse very lightly with the sink spray hose, shake the strainer to drain water and gently pat dry with paper towels.

We discovered that store-bought mango sorbet and ice cream were so good we could do little to improve upon them. But most store-bought raspberry sorbet lacked the color, tang, and true berry flavor of homemade.

For an elegant touch, serve the cobbler in oversize goblets and top with ice cream.

This cobbler is wonderful after the chipotle-honey glazed pork (frankly, it's wonderful after anything).

For a shiny finish, brush the warm tart with melted apricot preserves.

This innovative and refreshing dish is just right for warm weather parties. Use only one variety of melons or an assortment, but be sure they are the ripest available. Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less, but requires additional unattended time.

Terrific with a scoop of vanilla frozen yogurt.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.