Snack

Based on the classic pâté à choux or cream puff pastry from my culinary school days, this elegant and easy appetizer can be made ahead. It can be prepared dairy-free, too, but egg substitutes won't work as the eggs are necessary to help create the structure of these bite-size treats.

You’d think that a recipe for bread and butter and salt would be unnecessary. But I truly believe that one of life’s greatest eating pleasures consists of a loaf of wonderful crusty bread, sweet butter or olive oil, and salt. Those three components, eaten with your hands and shared among friends, truly is a sustaining combination. The country loaf from Tartine is pictured.

These green-and-red-studded biscotti look vaguely Christmassy but are good any time of year. Feel free to swap in other nuts or dried fruit—this combo is particularly pretty but you could use golden raisins, almonds, or hazelnuts as well. To make the biscotti even more decadent, dip in melted chocolate.

These scones appear atop our deli case every morning, although not for long—we always sell out within a couple of hours. Unlike many scones, they’re not too sweet. Pair with a cup of coffee and the newspaper and you have the formula for a perfect Sunday morning. If you’re serving a crowd, this recipe can be doubled. You’ll need an extra-large bowl for your mixer, or you can make them by hand.

This recipe is all about the eggs, so use the best you can find; farm-direct pastured eggs are ideal (though even commercial eggs are delicious deviled this way). Deviled eggs tend to disappear the second you serve them, so it’s always good to make more than you think you might need. This recipe can easily be doubled. If you’re bringing these to an event, it’s best to prepare the components ahead of time and assemble the eggs on site. It’s much easier to transport that way.

At the Market we sell platters of these as appetizers, but they’re also a great way to make a little bit of chicken stretch into a light entrée. They’re always a crowd-pleaser, so make more than you think you’ll need. The skewers are wonderful paired with grilled or steamed veggies and a mound of coconut-infused rice. Leftovers are great on a sandwich, too. For this recipe, you’ll need thirty 6-inch or 8-inch wooden skewers (a few extras never hurt) that have been soaked in water for 2 hours.

The recipe for this homey cake comes from my mom, who made it for us to sell at my restaurant and then in the early days of the Market. I think that cast-iron skillets are one of the most versatile and indispensible cooking vessels you can have, and this cake is proof of that!

This dough is quite versatile and works for savory empanadas just as well as for sweet tarts and turnovers. It’s also incredibly easy to work with; not only does it resist sticking, but it’s almost impossible to overwork. (The secret is the cream cheese!) If you can, make a double batch of the dough and freeze for later use.

Our chef Eddy developed this recipe based on the salsa he grew up with in Mexico City. It’s a favorite among our customers, especially at the height of summer when the tomatoes and peppers come from our own mini-farm. I love to spoon it over fried eggs after a late night of drinking, but it’s also perfect for picnicking or just snacking. For a milder salsa, remove the seeds from the jalapeño before roasting it.

This is one of my favorite ways to showcase the fresh and delicate flavors of spring: sweet peas, tender green garlic, and mint. Serve with crostini or fresh spring veggies as a dip (pictured), or spread it on sandwiches. You can also use fava beans in place of the peas, or use a combination. Truffle pecorino would also work well in this recipe.

Good hummus is hard to find; I find that most lack the acid needed to balance the nutty richness of tahini and olive oil, making it fall flat on your tongue. A little extra lemon juice completely transforms hummus to something much brighter in flavor. That’s why the best hummus is homemade—besides, nothing could be simpler or more satisfying. I firmly believe that my mother’s hummus is the benchmark for all other hummus out there. She personally taught our chef Eddy how to make it, and he in turn has trained all of our crew to make exceptionally delicious hummus. I keep a blend of ground toasted cumin and coriander in my spice set; it’s a great addition to Middle Eastern and Mexican dishes. I usually toast 2 tablespoons each of the whole spices in a sauté pan on low heat until aromatic and lightly toasted, about 2 minutes. Once cooled, I grind in a coffee grinder reserved for spices; a mortar and pestle also works.

Chef Nancy Oakes used fresh duck livers from Sonoma County Poultry when she made these elegant crostini during the 1997 Workshop, but chicken livers work, too. She hand-chopped the warm sautéed livers with butter and a lot of sweet sautéed onion, plus just enough earthy truffle oil to make them worthy of a black-tie occasion.

This is another great example of turning the flavors you like from a raditional dessert into a more modern form. Imagine the elements of tiramisù—ladyfingers, ricotta pastry cream, cinnamon, and coffee liqueur—and figure out the components of a cupcake that will best match up with those flavors. Then, voilà!, you have a new kind of cupcake. We assemble this cupcake without alcohol, but feel free to substitute Kahlúa or another coffee liqueur for the espresso (or in addition to the espresso) to give this dessert an extra punch.

This is a traditional yellow cake. Pair it with Vanilla Icing (page 136), and that’s about as basic as you can get, but you’ll be surprised at what a buttery vanilla flavor it packs. For that reason, the Vanilla Cake/Icing combo is a favorite among both kids and adults. This cake is also a classic match for the Chocolate Icing (page 148), as well as for bolder variations, such as in the following recipes in this chapter.

Sweet and salty, crunchy and soft, this bark has all the yin-and-yang attributes of a scrumptious dessert. The peanut brittle in this recipe is also great as a stand-alone or dipped in dark chocolate. With its salty sweetness, this bark makes the perfect snack for a World Series or Super Bowl party.

Whereas the Double Chocolate Truffles (page 172) are the easy crowd-pleasers, Wasabi–Black Sesame Truffles should be reserved for your more adventurous friends. When mixed with chocolate, the spiciness of the wasabi is subdued, but it brings out some bitterness in the dark chocolate and gives the ganache a subtle kick. The strength of the wasabi varies greatly among the different brands of wasabi powder. Start with 1 tablespoon and then feel free to add more to taste. Keep in mind that the flavor will intensify as the ganache ages. The black sesame seeds are an important component of the truffle, both for their texture and for their nutty sweetness, which helps balance the bitterness of the ganache. If you can’t find black sesame seeds, regular sesames are a reasonable substitute, but they are a little softer and have a less intense flavor, so toast them first: Spread them in one layer on a sheet pan and roast them in a 350˚F oven for 5 to 8 minutes. Check them after about 4 minutes and shake the pan gently to turn them. They should be a light to medium golden brown when they’re done.

This is one of the best cookie doughs to keep on hand in your freezer, especially if you have kids. Whether you are in need of a rainy day activity or a last-minute gift, pulling this dough out of the refrigerator or freezer, prerolled, gives you a solution at your fingertips. The only effort you will need to make depends on how you choose to decorate the cookies. Because this is such a simple cookie, imperfections in the dough will be hard to hide. For that reason, it is especially important to beat the butter and brown sugar until they are completely smooth. Any lumps of either ingredient will cause noticeable imperfections in the baked cookie and make the cookie more difficult to decorate.

This cookie is a simple variation of Chocolate Chip Cookies (page 24). By switching out the chocolate chips for white chocolate and coconut, you get something a little more exotic. Play around with this base cookie dough and change up the flavor with a variety of different mix-ins. This particular recipe goes well with tropical themes or summery occasions.

A colorful platter of crudités and dip is a sure crowd-pleaser for a party—or simply as a snack. As an alternative to lemon-thyme dip, serve the vegetables with the white-bean dip on page 51.

Many countries, including Greece and Russia, have variations on these crumbly, sandy, nut-rich cookies. Whatever their origin, the treats are nearly always rolled twice in confectioners’ sugar after baking, which is why there’s so little sugar in the dough.