Simple Cooking

Once the palmiers are in the oven, watch them closely, as they may go from a perfect dark golden brown to burned in seconds.

The lined baking sheets can be marked with flour-dipped cookie cutters to help guide you in piping the dough into uniform shapes. (See how-to on page 652.)

These turnovers are a variation on the classic pain au chocolat. For maximum flavor, look for the highest-quality chocolate possible, such as Callebaut, Valrhona, or Scharffen Berger.

This recipe makes two kinds of mousse: bittersweet chocolate and milk chocolate.

Purchase high-quality pistachios, and pick through the nuts for the greenest ones. After roasting, rub the nuts between your palms to eliminate as much of the brown skin as possible.

This cake is best when served the day it is made. You can bake the cake in the morning and finish it later in the day. It can stand in a cool place for about 3 hours before serving. Marrons glacés (whole candied chestnuts) are available in specialty food stores.

Coating the muffin tins with butter and sugar gives these little chocolate cakes sparkle and a bit of crunch.

The most time-consuming step is making the coconut curls; in a pinch, you can use store-bought shaved coconut.

For Valentine’s Day, bake the layers in two 9-inch heart-shaped cake pans.

Draining the rhubarb keeps the cake from becoming soggy.

The fluffy exterior of this cake conceals a delicious pink filling, made simply by combining some of the frosting with raspberry jam.