Nut Free

A signature holiday pie—pumpkin—is reinterpreted as a dinner-party dessert for any time of year. If you don’t have the exact pans called for, just be sure that the pastry shells are slightly larger than the flans.

Despite its chic appearance, this dessert is really an uncomplicated icebox pie at heart. And it’s gluten-free, to boot. The pie requires only four ingredients—butter, chocolate, cream, and shredded coconut. The press-in crust comes together in seconds in a food processor. After it’s baked, the shell is filled with velvety ganache, which sets to a lovely, smooth sheen.

Lemon tarts are perennially popular, and this brûléed one has garnered most-favored-dessert status among Martha Stewart Living readers since it was first published in the magazine back in 1992. With its caramelized top, vibrant filling, and buttery crust, the eye- and palate-pleasing tart is sure to garner more rave reviews for many years to come. You can also make it in an 8-inch round tart pan.

It’s fun to tinker with a familiar formula to create an altogether different dessert. In this twist on pumpkin pie, acorn squash is sweetened with honey and spiced with cinnamon and ginger for the filling, while cornmeal lends texture and flavor to the crust. The checkerboard pattern on the piecrust’s edge is simple to do—just snip the dough along the rim at even intervals and bend every other section back toward the center. Don’t skip the step of chilling the pie shell before baking—it’s crucial to helping the edge retain its shape.

Clafoutis, a rich, creamy custard dessert from the French countryside, is made from a quickly blended batter that is usually poured over fruit and baked. Cherries are the traditional choice, but other stone fruits, such as sliced apricots and plums, as well as berries and figs, are good options. Here, clafoutis makes an unexpected—and utterly delectable—filling for individual tarts.

Old-fashioned yet quietly innovative, this custard tart is satisfyingly rich and creamy. It’s also unsparing with the dominant spice, nutmeg—and all the better as a result.

A crisp pâte sucrée shell and fresh strawberry sauce set off an inverted serving of panna cotta (Italian for “cooked cream”). Just a bit of balsamic vinegar in the sauce brings out the flavor of the fruit. If the strawberries are very sweet, you won’t need as much sugar—use an amount at the lower end of the range in step five.

Crème brûlée—a French restaurant favorite whose name means “burned cream”—is delicious all on its own, but even more so when baked in a crisp tart shell. A kitchen torch is used to caramelize the sugar on the surface of the custard, producing spectacular color and crackle. If you don’t have a kitchen torch, use the broiler: chill the tarts for half an hour, then broil them for about a minute. For the best results, prepare the tarts no more than one day in advance, and wait to brûlée them until just before serving. This way, the shells will remain firm and crumbly, and the topping will retain its trademark sheen.

What’s more appealing than a batch of fresh-baked, half-moon-shaped pies filled with rich homemade apple butter? Nothing, except maybe a batch of hand pies filled with an assortment of colorful, tasty fruit butters (try peach, plum, apricot, or pear). If you are making your own apple butter, choose eating apples, such as Mutsu, Gala, or Golden Delicious.

Small puff-pastry squares make great vessels for summer fruits steeped in honey and fresh lime juice. The technique for making the shells is similar to that used to create the French pastries known as vol-au-vents (or “flying in the wind,” so called for their ethereal texture). Vol-au-vents are traditionally filled with savory fillings and served as a first course. Here, plums and strawberries fill the pastries for the last course; feel free to substitute other fresh berries or stone fruits, and to garnish each with a tiny dollop of whipped cream, if you wish.

Consider this a sweet blending of culinary tastes and traditions. As in many Italian desserts, the fruit is minimally sweetened, and seasoned simply with fresh citrus zests. Apples are sautéed until golden, then tumbled onto a round of rich pastry dough to create a crostata. The whole thing is finished with a crumb topping with subtle hints of two classic Thanksgiving pie spices, cinnamon and allspice, and served with another all-American favorite, vanilla ice cream.

Prunes, or dried plums (as they are sometimes called), become downright irresistible when drenched in a flavorful concoction of red wine, sugar, cinnamon, and freshly squeezed orange juice. Here, the poached fruit gets baked atop puff pastry for an easy, elegant dessert.

Scrumptious yet easy to assemble, hand pies are baked in their own containers, so they travel well to picnics, bake sales, and potluck dinners. You don’t need a fork to eat one, or even a plate. Each is dainty enough to hold in your hand, and guaranteed to disappear in a few bites. But beyond the appeal of their size and portability lie the delicious components—in this case, a tender crust and tangy filling made from sun-dried strawberries and chunky preserves. You can also use fresh berries, if you prefer: Pair one tablespoon diced small strawberry, and one tablespoon of the jam for each pie; omit step 2.

Crisp, flaky sheets of phyllo topped with sugar-coated Pluots celebrate simplicity and summer at once. Pluots, a cross between plums and apricots, are available at farmers’ markets and many supermarkets; feel free to substitute any other stone fruit. Have a clean, damp kitchen towel ready to cover the unused sheets of phyllo dough and keep them from drying out while you work.

This late-summer last course offers the opportunity to experience the pleasure of perfect peaches, enhanced only slightly by flaky pastry shells and an easy wine glaze. The peach flavor remains largely unadulterated—just dressed up a bit for dinner. Guests will thank you for your generosity in sharing such a singular taste of the season.

This springtime stunner is gorgeous to behold—and very enjoyable to eat. Thinly sliced strawberries are laid in a concentric pattern atop a large round of pastry dough. Although the galette needs no embellishment, basil-infused cream lends a sophisticated touch to each slice.

A mixture of sweet Bartlett pears and sour cherries fills sheets of flaky puff pastry. Traces of ground black pepper and five-spice powder (a blend of cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, star anise, and Szechuan pepper used in Chinese cooking) provide exotic notes.

Rhubarb paired with raspberries may not be as common a pie filling as rhubarb and strawberries, but the combination is just as delicious (or even more so, depending on who you ask). Here, the two are simply tossed with cornstarch and sugar, then centered on small rounds of pâte brisée to create individual galettes.