Flour

If you don't have a 2 3/4-inch-diameter cookie cutter, the same size tin can (with top and bottom removed) works just as well.

Begin making the lime-ginger curd one day before baking the cake. The assembled dessert can be chilled overnight before serving.

Serve with: Steamed carrots and scalloped potatoes. Dessert: A bakery strawberry tart.

Traditional Scottish shortbread is baked in molds. In this modern version, the dough is simply pressed into a pan, baked, and cut into squares. Grated lemon peel cuts the buttery richness, and semolina flour adds texture.

Active time: 30 min Start to finish: 30 min

This version of blini—a tribute to the Russian communities throughout the New York metropolitan area—is fast because it does not require yeast. If buckwheat flour is unavailable, whole-wheat flour makes a good substitute.

The milk chocolate frosting provides a subtle and delicious contrast to the dark chocolate cake. Either imported or domestic milk chocolate works well.

Tender Iowa corn was the inspiration for these terrific biscuits. They are best eaten the day they are baked; extras can be warmed up the next morning for breakfast or brunch. Be sure to serve them with plenty of butter.

Moist, with subtle heat from the chipotles.

Sometimes seen with a lemon filling, this is one of the oldest "fancy" layer cakes and a great southern tradition. The fresh coconut makes you realize why this cake has always been special.

This cake, bursting with berries, is perfect for a picnic. Dress it up for company with unsweetened whipped cream and a simple vanilla custard sauce.

(Brutti-boni) Brutti ma buoni (which means "ugly but pretty") are cookies found in many regions of Italy, usually made from finely ground almonds in a meringue base. But the Mattei bakery, in Prato, makes them in typical Tuscan style, which is quite different. The egg whites are only beaten lightly, and the nuts are coarsely ground. They are known in the Tuscan dialect as brutti-boni.

"On a recent trip to the Napa Valley, my husband and I had lunch with friends in the Cask Room at Merryvale Vineyards in St. Helena," writes Karen G. Shughart of Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. "The meal was prepared by Knickerbocker's Catering. Desserts must be their specialty, because the apricot tart with cornmeal crust was fabulous." Serve this tart with or without the sweet Apricot Sauce. Cornmeal adds texture and flavor to the crust.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

(Swedish Rye Bread) A popular offering on the smorgasbords of Minnesota and Wisconsin, this bread has a clean-tasting combination of spice and sweetness that is characteristic of so much Scandinavian cooking.