Food Processor

This elegant dish would make a lovely entrée for a special-occasion dinner.

A quick almond crust gets filled with ice cream and topped with cardamom-scented whipped cream and berries.

Baby pineapples that have been hollowed out make beautiful serving shells for this granita. These pineapples are available at specialty produce markets.

Originally this dish consisted of topfenpalatschinken (Hungarian cheese crêpes) baked in a rich custard. This variation skips the time-consuming process of making blintzes. Double the recipe and bake in a 13-by-9-inch baking pan.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less, but requires additional unattended time.

Fast-rising yeast makes this bread a snap to prepare. A dry red wine, like Chianti, is ideal with this Italian-accented menu.

Orange juice and pomegranate juice enhance the light sorbet. The compote would also be good over store-bought strawberry sorbet or ice cream.

The trick to this gorgeous dessert is to use imported white chocolate and to melt it carefully, since white chocolate is extremely heat sensitive. Let the terrine mixture get only warm enough to melt the white chocolate and butter.

Lemon marmalade provides the instant filling for these buttery treats.

I use these prebaked tart shells (also called galettes) for a wide variety of fillings, both sweet and savory. Because you bake them directly on baking sheets, you don't need a cupboard full of tart pans to make any size tart you want. You don't need to weight the tarts as they bake to prevent the sides from caving in, and they always turn out very crisp and delicate throughout because there is nothing to get in the way of the oven's heat flow.

Though this pastry is very good when made with regular butter, it really shines when you use the richest butter possible, such as Plugrá or Land O Lakes Ultra Creamy Butter. This recipe is an accompaniment for Apple and Calvados Tart. Active time: 15 min Start to finish: 1 1/4 hr

Cakes resembling Yule logs are very popular at Christmastime in Canada and the United States. Though you'll see them in bakery windows elaborately decorated with marzipan woodland animals and meringue mushrooms, we went with a simpler but more elegant look. Active time: 1 1/4 hr Start to finish: 3 1/2 hr (includes making buttercream and brittle)