Baking

This cobbler is wonderful after the chipotle-honey glazed pork (frankly, it's wonderful after anything).

This is the best clafouti I have ever tasted, for it is short on flour, long on custard, and the butter gives it an added depth of flavor. Remove the pits if you like. If you leave the pits in the cherries, be sure to warn your guests so they don't crack their teeth!

This traditional spongecake is rippled with cinnamon-sprinkled apples.

"I have such special memories of my grandmother Mimi in the kitchen cooking and baking, all dressed up. My favorite cookies were her pecan crescents," says Barbara Hartwig of Sherwood, Wisconsin. "I am most fortunate to have her original recipe card. We still use it every year."

The pastry for this tart is very light and crisp. For best results, handle it as little as possible and keep it cool. You will need a 12 1/2- by 1-inch fluted round tart pan with a removable bottom, available at cookware shops and by mail order from Bridge Kitchenware, tel. (800) 274-3435 or (212) 838-1901.

Vanilla ice cream is just the right accompaniment to these cookies; orange segments would be a fresh, pretty garnish.

A French flourless nut cake, topped with poached pears, is lovely for Hanukkah.

Our food editors loved shavings of Stilton cheese on these tarts. We understand that nobody has much room for dessert after a big meal, much less one with cheese, but these tarts are actually quite light and refreshing: The Stilton lends depth and provides a savory counterpoint to the sweet grapes and crust.

Crunchy candy-coated cranberries make festive garnish for this inventive dessert. Begin preparing the custards a day before serving.

A favorite recipe of Duncan Hines from Still Cookin' After All These Years.

Washington pears and California raisins complement each other deliciously. This is perfect with vanilla ice cream.

Buttermilk and walnuts make the difference in this delectable layer cake.

If you are using salted pistachios, omit the 1/4 teaspoon salt in the ingredient list.

Piparelli Abstinence during Lent means that for the forty days preceding Easter, Catholics all over Sicily are supposed to eat cucina magra (literally, lean food). This means no meat, no fat, no eggs. Theoretically. Modern Catholics get to choose what they give up for Lent, and this is called fare un fioretto, or making a sacrifice. There is little indication that pastries and sweets are even near the top of the "to give up" list, other than the presence of quaresimali, the general term for the category of austere cookies that appear in pastry shops during the spring. Piparelli are the Lenten cookies that the people of Messina like best. At the Pasticceria Vinci Domenico in Messina, piparelli are such a favorite that they're now made year-round.

This classically simple milliard is similar to a clafouti - both desserts are a cross between a cake and a custard and are about as thick as a thin cake layer.

More pastry chefs are using spices typically associated with savories in their sweets. Here, Chinese five-spice powder, a blend of warm spices and aromatic flavorings, adds allure to a fruit filling.