Pudding

"I have never had a better dessert than the sticky toffee pudding at Beginish Restaurant in Dingle, Ireland," writes Judith Gilbard of Forest Hills, New York. "I hadn’t heard of the restaurant before this visit, so I was pleased to stumble across such a find. Do you think the owners, John and Pat Moore, would share their recipe?" At the restaurant, this dessert is served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

"The last time we went to Las Vegas," writes Timothy Arndt of Austin, Texas, "I took my girlfriend out to dinner at Olives in the Bellagio, and we were both impressed with the food and the gorgeous setting. Best of all was dessert — we shared a creamy and exotic coconut rice pudding with tropical fruit." Use any leftover macaroon crumble over ice cream or fresh fruit.

(Baked Banana Pudding) Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

This dessert is creamy, chocolaty, and only two hundred calories per serving.

This rich and comforting pudding is served at the floating restaurant Fregatten Sct. Georg III in Tivoli Gardens.

An easy and scrumptious twist on the classic rice pudding from Habitation Lagrange in Martinique.

Here's a low-fat, no-egg version of panna cotta, a smooth custard from the Piedmont region of Italy. It's soothing and luscious, and requires no baking time.

"My husband isn't usually a bread pudding fan," writes Priscilla Moynihan of Vancouver, Washington, "but he loved the dried-cherry version I had at the Southpark Seafood Grill in Portland, Oregon. In fact, after he helped me finish it, we ordered another one." The restaurant prepares this dessert with house-made brioche. We simplified the recipe by using purchased challah.

Blancmange is a jellied molded pudding (similar to panna cotta) that is made with almonds and milk and served cold, often with a fruit sauce. Though it dates back to medieval times, blancmange became part of Jefferson's dessert repertoire after he encountered it during his years in Paris. Following his lead as an innovator, we made this version with pistachios instead of almonds, which gives the pudding a beautiful pale green hue and terrific flavor. Active time: 1 hr Start to finish: 7 1/4 hr (includes chilling)

A cross between spoon bread and tamale pie, this flavorful, colorful side dish is a huge crowd-pleaser. Assemble it at least one hour and up to one day before baking.

An effortless way to elevate basic bread pudding is to substitute croissants for day-old bread. To keep down the cost of this luxurious-tasting dessert, check the better bakeries in your area — many sell day-old croissants at half-price.

In Italy, the panna cotta (molded cooked-cream dessert) at each restaurant was different: Some included hazelnuts; some were made with eggs and some without. Taking a few liberties of our own - most notably adding sour cream - we created the following superb rendition.

This was a recipe that came from my mother, Rae Horowitz. She told me it was from my Grandma Sade Lyon's recipe and she learned to make it from her.

It's the extra chocolate that enriches and elevates this dessert from the simple to the sublime. And it takes about 2 minutes longer to prepare than pudding from a boxed mix. What a difference 2 minutes makes.