Snack

Think of these as the best part of French onion soup minus the broth. Better yet, they're in a form that's much easier to eat than the soggy wet bread, weighed down with cheese, that usually tops crocks of onion soup. Don't be surprised if these disappear before you get a chance to sample one yourself!

Serve these nuts as candy, use them to garnish a cake, or fold into homemade ice cream.

Quesadillas, cheese-filled tortillas cooked until crisp and melted, are a simple quick pick-me-up. They are a standby for hungry kids after school. Served with rice, beans, and salsa, they make a complete lunch or dinner.

You can put this dough together in just a few minutes. These scones are surprisingly light and are delicious as an after-school snack or with afternoon tea.

My friend Lulu from Bandol often serves these—usually the variation with anchovies. Hot from the oven, they are perfection with chilled rosé wine.

Any soft mild white cheese will work here. Fresh goat cheese shaped into logs or rounds, feta, even a stiff yogurt cheese like labneh would work. This cheese makes a nice spread for croutons or a tasty garnish for a salad.

In Italian, biscotti means “twice-cooked.” Biscotti are baked first in long loaves, then sliced into thick cookies, and baked again until lightly toasted. The cookies are crisp and dry, and store well; and I like the fact that they are not extremely sweet. Various ingredients such as nuts, chocolate, spices, liquor, and dried fruits are added for flavor. I make biscotti flavored with lightly toasted almonds and aniseed. They go equally well with a cup of coffee or tea or a glass of wine. The biscotti recipe I use most often has no butter. Eggs and sugar are beaten together until they increase in volume, turn light in color, and form a ribbon when you lift up the whisk or beaters. This means the mixture will fall back onto itself slowly and thickly in a ribbon-like pattern. When the eggs are warm it will take about 3 or 4 minutes to beat the eggs to this point; when they are cold, it can take up to 10 minutes. If you have forgotten to take the eggs out of the refrigerator in advance, warm them for a few minutes in their shells in a bowl of almost-hot water. Air trapped in the beaten egg mixture lightens the texture of biscotti. Be careful to stir in the flour only until it is just incorporated, and then gently fold in the other ingredients so as not to deflate the eggs. Form the dough into long loaves on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. The dough will be very wet and sticky. Wet your hands before touching it to keep them from sticking. Use a spoon and your hands to smooth the logs. Bake them until golden and set. When removed from the oven, the loaves are quite delicate until cooled. Carefully pull the whole sheet of paper with the loaves right onto a cooling rack. When cool, slice the loaves with a long serrated bread knife (on a diagonal, for longer cookies). Spread the cookies out on the baking sheet and bake again until golden and toasted. They will keep for up to a month in an airtight container.

A vast array of cookie recipes spring from one basic formula: butter and sugar are beaten together, eggs are stirred in for moisture, and flour is mixed in at the end. The consistency of the resulting cookie dough can range from one firm enough to roll out and cut, to a dough soft enough to drop from a spoon right onto a baking sheet, to a very wet dough moistened only with egg whites that has to be piped and thinly spread with a knife onto a baking sheet. (A charming cookie called a langue de chat, or cat’s tongue, is made from this last kind of dough.) Beating butter and sugar together until fluffy and light-colored is called creaming. Sugar is added, and the beating continues until the mixture is light and fluffy again. The creaming process aerates the butter: air bubbles are literally forced into the butter mixture. These air bubbles expand during the baking, making the cookies light and tender. Butter can be creamed by hand or with a mixer. If using a mixer, the butter and sugar can be added at the same time. Mix at medium-high speed for 2 or 3 minutes (if using a stand mixer, use the paddle attachment). Stop the machine once or twice to scrape down the sides to ensure that all the sugar gets incorporated into the butter evenly. In a pinch, cold butter can be used: just put it in the mixing bowl by itself and beat until soft before adding the sugar. The butter has to be soft to cream properly. Once the butter and sugar are creamed together, add the eggs and mix well. If using a mixer, scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. It is important that the eggs be at room temperature, too. If they are added cold, the butter will seize up, deflating the air bubbles, and the dough will resist thorough mixing. Add liquid flavorings and sweeteners such as vanilla extract, liquors, molasses, and honey along with the eggs. Flour is the last ingredient to be added. Be sure to measure the flour the same way every time. This will make your baking more consistent. I recommend this method: Stir the flour up to fluff it. Use a dry measuring cup, the flat-topped kind that fills to the brim, and either scoop up the flour with it or spoon the flour into it; then draw a spatula or knife across the top of the cup to level the flour. Don’t tap the cup or the flour will compact. Add the flour to the butter and eggs and stir it in until just mixed. You want all the flour to be completely mixed in, but too much stirring will activate the gluten in the flour and make the cookies tough. Mix salt, ground spices, and baking powder or baking soda into the flour before it is added to the cookie dough. Chunky flavorings such as chopped nuts, chocolate, or dried fruit should be stirred in gently after the flour has been mixed in. Dough for drop cookies can be baked right away or chilled and baked later. Cookies that are to be shaped or rolled out often require chilling first to firm up the dough. Many cookie doughs can be rolled into logs, chilled, and then sliced into neat cookies to bake. Shape the logs into ovals, squares, or rectangles for different shapes. The logs can be frozen for up to 2 months and the sliced cookies require no defrosting before baking. Slice off as many cookies as needed and return the rest to the freezer for later. To bake cookies properly it is worth investing in one or two heavy baking sheets. They help the cookies to bake evenly, particularly by keeping them from browning too much on the bottom. An oven thermometer is helpful for determining your oven’s actual temperature. I like to line baking sheets with parchment paper or a silicone mat, both of which keep cookies from sticking and make cleanup much easier. The parchment paper can be reused from batch to batch. Bake the cookies in the center of a preheated oven. Adjust your oven racks if necessary. Every oven has a hot spot where the cookies will bake more quickly. To compensate for this, rotate the baking sheets halfway through the baking. Turn the ...

These traditional baked coconut squares are served by street vendors all over Mexico. They take no time at all to prepare and are great for picnics and for packing in lunch boxes—if they last long enough! My favorite part of this dessert is the crunchy golden edges. When I make it at home, they disappear first.

When you see how easy it is to make this salsa from scratch, you will never want to buy a jar again. And forget bagged chips! It takes almost no effort to make your own at home. In my version of this classic recipe, the cheese is seared (asado) rather than deep-fried, resulting in a lighter alternative that really brings out the sweet flavor of the panela cheese. If you don’t want to go out of your way to purchase the panela cheese, substitute a moist mozzarella.

There are several varieties of avocado, each with a slightly different flavor. For this recipe, I use Hass, the most common type sold in supermarkets in the U.S. Choose ripe avocados (slightly firm but yielding to gentle pressure), and be sure to remove any brown spots before you start. If you don’t have time to prepare the garlic-oregano crostini, this creamy and luxurious spread is great on any savory cracker.

I was visiting my father one afternoon when unexpected guests stopped by for a game of futbol. He turned to me and said, “Quick, make me an appetizer, chef!” There was nothing remotely exciting in the fridge and the pantry appeared to be just as hopeless, until I noticed a jar of jalapeño-stuffed olives. Stuffed with cheese, breaded, and panfried, these little guys disappeared before anything else I made was given a second glance. They are great with an ice-cold cerveza and store-bought tartar sauce for dipping.

If your only impression of a zeppole was formed at a street fair, where they are served hot out of the oil and dusted with powdered sugar, prepare to have your socks knocked off. With these you get your doughnut and coffee all in one delectable bite.

I’ve given an American Southern staple an Italian spin with the addition of Parmesan. The cornmeal makes these biscuits sturdy enough to pack on a picnic, and you can stuff them with smoked salmon (my fave), sliced turkey or ham, or even grilled veggies. Hot out of the oven, they are pretty terrific with just a bit of lemon butter.

Cornmeal, or polenta, is a staple ingredient in the Italian pantry and is used for both savory and sweet dishes. This not-too-sweet cake combines cranberries and orange, which remind me of the holidays—which is when I most often make this. It’s one of those versatile cakes you can serve for breakfast, with tea in the afternoon, or at the end of a big meal topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. I like to make a few extra to give as hostess gifts.

When I was little my grandfather used to spread fresh ricotta on a slice of bread for me and top it with a thick layer of sugar. I loved it then and I still love these flavors together. This is a somewhat healthier version of that childhood treat. The bread now plays a starring rather than supporting role in the form of sweet, crunchy croutons paired with ripe berries and creamy cheese—sooo good. Serve it for breakfast if you are feeling decadent.

Piadini look a lot like pizzas, but because the crust is made without yeast and does not need to rise, they are much quicker and easier to make. Piadini are also cooked on the grill rather than baked in the oven, which gives them a nice, smoky flavor and crunchy crust. While you can top a piadina with anything you like, including tomato sauce and mozzarella, this sauceless combination is very typical of northern Italy, where piadini are especially popular.