Cocoa

Chocolate and pears make an excellent combination. Here, bittersweet chocolate and sweet pears meld together to form the perfect balance. For this recipe, you can either take a rustic approach and toss the pears haphazardly into the pan or opt for a more elegant look by arranging the pears in concentric circles. Look for a good dark chocolate, which is not the same as unsweetened chocolate. Also, there are two kinds of unsweetened cocoa on the market; be sure to use unsweetened Dutch-processed cocoa, not natural cocoa. When combined with baking soda, natural cocoa can impart a bitter taste to baked goods and cause them to rise too much.

If you're making these sweets for your kids, remember that chocolate (raw chocolate in particular) can be somewhat stimulating. To avoid turning bedtime into party time, it's safer to make these a daytime snack. For truffles with a completely smooth texture, a high-speed blender is preferable. Any other blender most likely won't puree the shredded coconut, so the truffles might be a little grainy (though still completely yummy).

The alias for this cake might be "Extreme Chocolate." It is particularly rich and fudgy, calling for both bittersweet chocolate and cocoa powder and topped with a glaze that is equally indulgent.

Goldies, my organic twist on a Twinkie, have become one of my most notorious treats. I like to bake these with an easy chocolate cake (which just happens to be vegan) as a base, as it's the perfect partner to the sweet, creamy filling and dark, almost Bittersweet Chocolate Ganache . For a chic finish, I brush them with gold metallic dust. To give the Goldies their unique look, you will need specialty baking pans. These pans are commonly sold as éclair pans, but since éclairs went out of style two decades ago, you may have better luck ordering them (and the wrappers if you want) online through cooking-supply stores such as kitchenkrafts.com, sugarcraft.com, or cakedeco.com.

Praline, a southern candy, forms the top of this showstopping cake.

It's not a real party without chocolate! Savor this sweet treat and you'll get 20 percent of your daily calcium.

Baking the cake in one 12-inch round pan creates a dessert with presence. Assorted edible flowers make an easy, great-looking garnish.

These wee sandwich cakes, also known as Moon Pies, got their start in Pennsylvania Dutch country. They are known as whoopee pies because children exclaim, "Whoopee!" when the cakes are ready. Whole Foods sells Tiny Trapeze brand marshmallow cream, made with "no junkie stuff," as the container states.

Somewhere between custard and cake lies the clafoutis, a simple French country dessert traditionally made with cherries. In this dark chocolate and raspberry version, your blender does most of the work.

The spice rub for this steak evokes the complex flavor of a rich Mexican mole sauce, but with almost no investment of time. It's great for a weeknight dinner party.

In this simple, fresh-tasting dish, a crisp coconut coating keeps the fish moist and gives it real island flair. Chef Roxanne Russell grates and dries her own fresh coconut to get long, beautiful strands, but any grated dried coconut will do.

A dacquoise is a French dessert made by layering nut-flavored meringues with whipped cream. In this version, cocoa nib meringues are layered with chocolate chiffon cake, mascarpone whipped cream, and blood orange marmalade, then covered in a rich chocolate glaze.

Grapefruit and chocolate make a surprisingly delicious pairing. Star anise adds an underlying spiciness to the tender cookies.

Spumoni trumps all others as the ideal frozen treat: It's richer than gelato, lighter than ice cream, and smoother than frozen custard. The inspiration for this classic flavor combination came from L & B Spumoni Gardens, in Brooklyn, a favorite spot for this tricolor treat.