Vegetable

These cupcakes are made with a combination of ingredients commonly found in a beloved autumn pie—pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves—and enhanced with brown butter and fresh sage. To cut sage into chiffonade, or very fine strips, stack the leaves, then roll up tightly before slicing thinly crosswise with a sharp knife.

This recipe was developed as a more healthy option to serve at a baby’s or young child’s birthday party. Sweetened only with a combination of maple syrup and molasses, the moist carrot cupcakes are sure to entice children and adults alike (which is helpful, since parents and other older guests often outnumber little ones at early birthday celebrations). Paired with a tangy, mildly sweet frosting—just cream cheese and maple syrup—the cupcakes are also a better choice than most for anyone watching his or her refined sugar intake. Mini cupcakes get only a dab of frosting and a candied carrot chip, while standard cupcakes are dotted with a generous amount of frosting.

Bake an unexpected alternative batch of treats using abundant seasonal zucchini from the farmstand or local market. Like their carrot counterparts, these are finished with cream-cheese frosting. For a more wholesome snack, forgo the frosting and lightly dust cupcakes with confectioners’ sugar instead.

A well-loved American layer cake is scaled down to cupcake form. Golden raisins give these cakes added texture, but you can omit them. You can also add one cup walnuts or pecans; toast them as directed on page 323, let cool, then finely chop before stirring into the batter at the end, after the flour mixture. Unfrosted carrot cupcakes make delicious snacks.

Inspired by the robust cooking of Alsace, a region in northeastern France bordering Germany, this flaky pie features a rich filling of potatoes, Comté (or Gruyère) cheese, leeks, and garlic-infused cream. Rather than adding the cream to the filling at the beginning, it is poured through the vents on top of the pie only after the pastry has turned golden brown, and then the pie is baked ten minutes more. This allows the crust to crisp properly and keeps the potatoes from soaking up all the cream before the pie has finished baking.

The lattice top is taken to a new level with this yellow-and-green basket-weave design made from strips of summer squashes. The tart offers as good a reason as any to head to a farmers’ market—or, if you’re lucky, your own garden—for zucchini and yellow squash. Use a mandoline or other adjustable-blade slicer to slice the squashes lengthwise.

It’s not so important which vegetables you use in these colorful, nutritious tarts—rather, that there is a seasonal bounty. Here, eggplant, red onion, zucchini, yellow squash, cherry tomatoes, kale, and red bell peppers fill cornmeal crusts, but you could easily use green beans, corn, or mushrooms. The crust is light and crisp, with less butter than many pastry doughs. To make free-form versions, spoon filling onto center of each dough round, and fold the edges inward. Serve each tartlet with a dollop of fresh ricotta cheese, if desired. Add a green salad to balance out a healthy lunch.

Combined with garlic, fresh chile, walnuts, olives, and Parmesan, the humble scallion is the basis for a delightfully earthy, toss-together topping for puff-pastry squares. As the tartlets bake, the scallions caramelize, turning golden, sweet, and intensely flavorful. Instead of individual tartlets, you can form the dough and filling into two large tarts: Roll out and cut pastry into two eight-inch squares, divide filling evenly between crusts, and bake thirty minutes.

A savory short crust flavored with manchego envelops Spanish-inspired hand pies filled with oven-roasted cauliflower, toasted hazelnut paste, chopped rosemary, and more of the grated cheese. Serve them as an appetizer, with slices of membrillo (Spanish quince paste often served alongside cheese, for tapas) and a glass of fine sherry.

Thin slices of roasted red, golden, and striped beets overlap atop a combination of ricotta and goat cheeses to produce a stunning shingled tart. The beets are sprinkled with grated fontina before baking. Use beets in a variety of colors if you can find them.

Chopped fresh rosemary, grated parsnip, and cheese flavor the crust of these sensational little tarts. More cheese is sprinkled over the apple-and-onion filling. The tarts are perfect for an autumn picnic, harvest party, or other outdoor occasion.

It’s hard to improve upon a standard, but this recipe for chicken potpie does just that. Each individual serving is topped with a ruffle-edged round of herb-flecked dough. The filling contains all the usual, well-loved components, but the creamy sauce is brightened with lemon zest.

Pies and tarts filled with Swiss chard, pine nuts, and raisins are common in southern France and Italy, where they may be served for dessert, sprinkled with confectioners’ sugar or toasted almonds. Goat cheese and anchovies make this galette decidedly savory, while the crust departs from the standard with wholesome oats and whole-wheat flour.

This pie combines the ease of a galette—no need to attach a top crust or crimp any edges—with the convenience of oven-to-table serving. Before the tender dough is fitted in the pie plate, it is cut into flaps around the edge for neat, even folding over the filling. When the pie emerges from the oven, the tomatoes will be near bursting, their juices mingling with the cheeses, zucchini, and basil. It just might remind you of another delicious savory pie: pizza.

Puff pastry replaces phyllo dough to produce handheld individual servings of spanakøpita, a Greek spinach-and-feta pie. As such, the turnovers are quicker to assemble (no buttering and stacking of sheets necessary) yet still bake to a crisp, golden, flaky finish. You can prepare and freeze the turnovers two months in advance, then bake them straight from the freezer. Because feta cheese is on the salty side, taste the filling before seasoning it.