Flour

Saturday-night dessert. From Willow Stream The Spa at The Fairmont Scottsdale Princess Resort in Arizona. This is the best spa cookie we tried — and we devoured ovenfuls of cookies to find our winner. These Anzacs are rich in coconut but low in fat.

These hearty, highly addictive pancakes are an ideal start to an active day. For easier outdoor cooking, mix the dry ingredients before you leave.

This fennel-and-scallion-enriched version of tyropita (Greek cheese pie) uses feta and cottage cheese to create a filling that's mildly tangy yet mellow.

One of Morocco's major grains, barley brings a malt-like flavor to this surprisingly light bread. Nigella seeds add a pleasant crunch and just the faintest hint of onion. To order the barley flour and nigella seeds, visit kalustyans.com.

This quick-to-make cornbread is a delicious — and unusual — side for the Steamed Clams with Pasta. Improv: No pancetta? Regular bacon works, too.

Pouding Chômeur
This dessert shows the English influence on Quebec cooking. "Unemployed man's pudding" is made from ingredients that are inexpensive and abundant in the area. You'll find it on the menu at diners and cafßs all over Montreal.

In this easy dish, a little bit of almondy custard dresses up fresh fruit, making it special for company while preserving its pure goodness.

This recipe's a family favorite from my Auntie Delores. It's actually a version of bibingka, a Pilipino dessert. I call it coconut cake, because I don't know how to translate "bibingka" into French, and Laurent and I mostly speak French. At home we simply cut it into squares. For a fancy restaurant-style presentation, you can cut it into various shapes using cookie cutters. If you want to cut out shapes, lining the cake pan with parchment paper will make it easier to unmold the cake. Packages of coconut are usually 14 ounces, but an ounce or two more or less won't make a difference.

There are many ways to stuff these iconic New Orleans sandwiches, but doing it with fried oysters is arguably the best. This preparation highlights the bivalves at their zenith, with all their briny juiciness retained inside a supercrisp cornmeal shell. The key to a really great sandwich is a smear of mayo, just a little lettuce, and loads of these delicious fried oysters.

Neither overtly salty nor sweet, and with a pleasantly grainy texture, these biscuits won a loyal following among staff dogs — as well as humans.

For convenience, make the cornbread one day before preparing the stuffing.

Make or buy a favorite pumpkin pie for dessert. What to drink: A fruit-forward Zinfandel or Malbec.