Cocoa

These crumbly cookies are extremely easy to make, and they improve with time. We recommend baking them a couple of days ahead — if you can resist the temptation to eat them immediately.

These crisp cookies get their delicate appearance from confectioners' sugar dusted over a lacy doily. For an intense chocolate flavor, use a dark, Dutch-process cocoa, such as Droste or Valrhona.

These squares practically explode in the mouth with silky, fudgy chocolate and cool mint ganache.

This is a miniature version of a New York favorite: A cakey cookie with sweet half-moons of vanilla and chocolate icing.

There's a layer of chocolate between the cookie-like crust and the rich filling of this sophisticated spin on the traditional pecan pie.

Elaine O'Toole of Phoenix, Arizona, writes: "This recipe for chocolate cake is a family favorite at our celebrations all year, but especially during the holidays. It's so rich that my sons eat small squares of it as if they were brownies. And since it can be made ahead, it's a great dessert to take to a party."

This cake is the little black dress of fiber — velvety and sophisticated. Medjool dates lend it an unbelievably unctuous texture. When measuring spelt flour, be sure to spoon it into the measuring cup and level it off to prevent packing it down; this will keep the cake light.

Most of the alcohol in this cake cooks off, but a distinct whiskey flavor remains.

Testers refused to believe that chef Terry Conlan's ultra-creamy cheesecake was low in fat — but we triple-checked the numbers, and they're gloriously correct. Calories are still a bit high, but light butter and fat-free cream cheese drop the fat count to only 20 percent of the recipe's calories (less than half that of a regular slice), and goodies like caramel sauce and chocolate chips maximize the taste.

TREND: Deconstructed desserts (breaking down a dish into its essential components, then serving the parts as a whole) WHO: Gale Gand, pastry chef at Tru in Chicago and host of Sweet Dreams on the Food Network WHAT: The elements of Black Forest Cake — chocolate cake and pudding, cherries, whipped cream, and kirsch — are reimagined as sensuous, separate bites and sips.

TREND: Exotically flavored chocolate WHO: Katrina Markoff, CEO of Vosges Haut-Chocolat in Chicago WHAT: Markoff, one of the first to infuse chocolate with unexpected ingredients, named this Asian-tinged creation after one of her most popular truffles. Its Japanese flavors — ginger, wasabi, and black sesame seeds — are the building blocks for an inspired cake.

Layers of chocolate mousse made with gianduja, the luscious Italian hazelnut-flavored milk chocolate, and chocolate genoise top a base of hazelnut crunch. Do-aheads: cake layer, 1 day; assembled cake, 2 days.

The thickness and bitterness of your drink will depend on your chocolate's level of cacao, which varies among brands. We got great results with Ghirardelli, which produced a full-bodied cocoa (our preference for dunking the ginger doughnuts). We also used Lindt to good effect, but needed to add more cornstarch for extra thickening. Chocolate with more than 60 percent cacao will be too bitter.

Be sure to use bittersweet chocolate with no more than 60 percent cacao for this recipe.

It's best to have a napkin handy when eating these crunchy chocolate cookies — the confectioners-sugar coating can get messy. After Catherine Rieger of Martinez, California, found the recipe in The Babbo Cookbook, the cookies became a staple in her home.

Like all the names of the desserts at Sugar, this one is a play on a literary work (André Gide's The Immoralist). The campfire favorite is made at once more refined and more scrumptious: Meltingly soft, homemade marshmallows are caramelized atop tender, crumbly chocolate sablé cookies. You will need to use a stand mixer to prepare the fresh marshmallows, and a kitchen blowtorch to caramelize them.

The ganache needs to freeze overnight, so start preparing it at least one day before serving.