Food Processor

Purées have become the foundation of my cookie and cake recipes. Roasting and breaking down fruits to incorporate into your batters is an ideal way to take your baked creations to the next level—and you’ll notice the difference immediately. This simple addition provides hearty flavor, moisture, and can be tailored to your taste with minimal fuss. The recipe that follows applies to any of the fruits (pears, peaches, even pumpkin) included in this book. Simply roast your chosen fruit (see page 27 for more information on roasting fruit) and proceed.

America’s Funniest Pets is, as you know, the greatest reality show on television. And there’s no finer accompaniment to a TV night than this incredibly simple, unimaginably delicious pie. If it’s possible to make an evening spent watching a dog run around with a bucket on its head more awesome, this pie will get you there. When you try this recipe, take any liberty you can think of to personalize it. You could use any of the cookies in this book for the crust and enjoy fantastic results.

If there’s ever a time to search out a high-end cocoa powder, it’s before you dig in and make a batch of chocolate frosting. Invest in some French Valrhona, if at all possible. It has a remarkably rich and excellent flavor. Quick tip: For a more milk chocolaty frosting, replace 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa with soy milk powder. For a deep, rich chocolate sauce, add 2 tablespoons agave nectar to the mix and store at room temperature instead of refrigerating.

When you tame the slight acidity of raspberries with the natural sweetness of beets, you come up with a flavor profile like none other. In addition to serving this sauce with Chocolate-Beet Cake (page 29), you could use it as the start of a trifle. Try one with crumbled Chocolate Meringues (page 209) and fresh berries and unsweetened whipped cream, maybe with a layer of Strawberry Sorbet (page 236). You could also serve this sauce with yogurt and granola.

This nutty powder is a great garnish. I use powders like this whenever I want to add flavor to a dessert without adding heaviness. My buddy and fellow pastry chef Sam Mason developed this as peanut butter powder when he was working at the restaurant wd-50 in New York. He shared the technique with me, and I’ve adapted it to make a praline powder perfumed with citrus.

Sure you can spoon this sauce over ice cream, but you can also make it to serve with waffles or pancakes. Or even as a dip for toasted Brioche (page 194).

This brightly flavored jelly would make a delicious layer in a birthday cake. Pour it into the cake pan you’re using for the cake and let it set.

This is one of the first desserts I learned from François Payard. It’s complex in flavor yet simple in ingredients and technique. Put it in the freezer for a while until it’s so cold that it’s slushy, and serve it with assorted tropical fruits.

Dessert wines are usually too sweet for me, so I introduce the natural acids of fresh fruit or berries for balance, as in this granité. Serve this over berries or add it to a margarita.

Tomatoes are technically a fruit, and that’s how I treat them. This sorbet, which should be made at the height of tomato season with the ripest fruits, showcases that characteristic sweet-acid tomato flavor in its coldest form. A scoop of this sorbet can be the start of a not-so-traditional Bloody Mary, and it could also find its way into a bowl of gazpacho. Try pairing it with the Raspberry-Rose Water Soup (page 62), too.

My issue with fruit ice creams is not being able to taste the fruit, so to keep that flavor foremost, I cook the ice cream base on its own and then add fresh fruit. Less fat—no eggs in the ice cream base—allows the berry flavor to stand out.

When I was a young cook, every restaurant I worked in used a tuile to present ice cream. The tuiles kept the ice cream from sliding around on the plate; but while they were pretty, they didn’t impart any flavor. So I started making crumbles and streusels to set underneath ice creams. They have the added bonus of reinforcing flavors and adding texture. I lay quenelles of ice cream on a pile of these intense chocolate crumbs, but you could easily sprinkle the crumble over a scoop of ice cream.

So much of recipe development is taking an ingredient and manipulating its texture without diluting the flavor. This is a good example. I have always liked the texture of puffed-rice cakes but not the flavor, which seems bland to me. So I’ve developed a cracker that highlights the nutty flavor of rice.

This is an all-round great tart dough. It’s my adaptation of a dough I learned from Thomas Haas when he was the executive pastry chef at Daniel. The pastry’s not too sweet, so it’s versatile. You can use it for everything from berry tarts to quiche. Put the flour in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes before you start making this pastry. Chilled flour will make the flakiest dough.

This adaptation of Pâte Brisée (page 180) uses milk rather than water to make a richer pastry.

Industrial technology is making its way more and more into the pastry kitchen and allowing us to create new textures. Here, the “doughnuts” are made with a creamy ganache. The alginate and lactate work to maintain the shape of the doughnuts, and the Methocel prevents the ganache from running while they fry. The result is a warm creamy ganache encased in a super-crisp panko coating. Having a scale is essential for this recipe.

Ever since I ate my first Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup, I’ve been a fan of chocolate and peanut butter, and I have a lot of fun taking that flavor combination to new levels. This dessert has many textures and flavor dimensions and is a winner in more ways than one. I entered this recipe in a Peanut Advisory Board competition, and it came away with first prize. This is one of my most complicated desserts. Make sure to read through the entire recipe before beginning. Freeze any leftovers: they will be fine for about one month, and you can eat them like frozen Snickers bars.

I’m a doughnut fanatic. I love eating them, and I love making them, but I’m always looking for a way to counter their tendency to be oversweet. Here, tangy cheese and the acid from kumquats and lemons are the answer.

Pumpkins and pine nuts are in the same boat in that both are easily influenced by other ingredients. I felt they needed each other in this dessert, which I created particularly for this book. In addition to flavor, the pine nuts provide structure in the cake and texture in the streusel.

These ingredients all strike floral notes and to my mind are a natural combination. Raspberries contribute sweetness; champagne, acidity; rose water, depth of flavor; and the apricots, texture.