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In these sweet tartlets, sliced bananas are sprinkled with brown sugar and caramelized under the broiler. Make the chocolate custard a day ahead to allow it to chill and thicken.

You can form the patties a day ahead, leaving only a quick frying job for the morning.

Kumquats lend their bright citrus snap to a no-cooking-required relish.

To prepare these without an ice cream maker, pour the sherbet base directly into pop molds. If you don't want to use the molds and you have churned the mixture in an ice cream maker, the sherbet can be transferred to a resealable container, then simply scooped into bowls. Begin making this dessert one day ahead.

Serve Champagne with this starter.

Active time: 15 min Start to finish: 15 min

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

The cake layers are brushed with Strega, an Italian liqueur flavored with herbs and flowers. Removing the torte from the freezer an hour before serving allows the whipped-cream frosting to soften, while the filling remains frozen.

These bean fritters appear in several West African countries; they are called akara in Nigeria and Sierra Leone and akla or koosé in Ghana. Although eaten as a snack or side dish, bean fritters are also consumed as breakfast food with hot sauce as an accompaniment (it's more like a thick relish than a sauce). We think the fritters are great as an hors d'oeuvre. Although we use vegetable oil for frying in our recipe, red palm oil is the preferred frying medium in Africa. And traditionally the black-eyed peas are skinned, but we think you get more bean flavor if you leave the skins on (and save a lot of time as well).

"My daughter and son-in-law spend their summers on Stuart Island, one of the San Juan Islands off the coast of Washington," says Ann Ayres of Santa Barbara, California. "On my way back from a visit, I planned to stop in Victoria, British Columbia. My daughter suggested that I try Paprika Bistro. The beet soup I ordered there was delicious."

The traditional French "Christmas log" is accompanied by meringue mushrooms; the ones here—formed out of marzipan (a paste made from almonds, sugar and egg whites)—are much easier to do. Look for marzipan at specialty foods stores and in the baking products section of supermarkets.

Adding fleur de sel at the end transforms this tart into a delicious cross between a cheese course and dessert.

A simple recipe for an impressive main course. Serve the lamb with the Saffron Couscous and baby carrots. Pour a Cabernet Sauvignon.

While apple pie has an all-American reputation, both the fruit and the dessert are of European origin. However, several centuries of apple cultivation and dessert baking have given us de facto ownership, and the pie has become a must on many Thanksgiving tables. Cheese was produced by many of the German dairies in and around Philadelphia. The pie has no bottom crust and is baked in an oval dish, so it resembles a cobbler.