Fruit Dessert

A creamy fruit filling goes between split Cardamom Biscuits for a beautiful dessert.

No custard stands in the way of the peach flavor in this simple-to-make ice cream, so only the sweetest fresh peaches will do.

Any extras are great cold for breakfast. As an alternative to the vanilla ice cream, top with sour cream or lowfat yogurt for a lighter interpretation.

Active time: 15 min Start to finish: 1 hr

Fool is a classic English dessert made by combining fruit puree with whipped cream. Here it is spooned into small crisp tartlet shells and garnished with a strawberry. Any leftover fool would make a nice treat with afternoon tea.

Here's a classic spring dessert from Commander's Palace.

Cornmeal gives this cake a coarse texture that is a delightful foil for the smooth filling and whipped cream frosting.

Here's a colorful and delicious addition to a brunch menu. It also makes a lovely light dessert on its own.

The secret to the light and flaky crust is cream cheese. For an extra-special presentation, cut out decorative shapes from the dough scraps, and arrange them on the pie after glazing it; brush cutouts with glaze and bake.

Use fresh peaches when available - six peaches should do it.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Strawberries and whipped cream are sandwiched between orange-scented butter cookies in this pretty dessert.

A cardamom- and orange-scented syrup is spooned over warm pears and scoops of vanilla ice cream in this lovely dessert. Refrigerate leftover poaching syrup to serve over ice cream later in the week.

"One thing I cannot get out of my head" said Ben Moskovitz, owner of Star Bakery in Oak Park, Michigan. "Was the food better growing up in Czechoslovakia or were the people hungrier there? My mother made a honey cake for the holiday, and it was so delicious. Honey was too expensive for us, so my mother burned the sugar to make it brown. Here I use pure honey, but I still think my mother's cake was better and I know I am wrong. The taste of hers is still in my mouth." Mr. Moskovitz's European honey cake follows, with a few of my American additions. Other European Jewish bakers interviewed for this book also bake with white rye flour and cake flour when we would use all-purpose flour. I have included both choices.

I hated this salad when I was growing up: It was pink, had too many ingredients in it, and my very Southern family loved it — three good reasons to abstain. During Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, my mother would always go back for seconds, chiming, "You don't know what you're missing." But I knew, all right — an unappealing mishmash of canned fruit and mayonnaise. No thanks. However, as I've grown older my family's "Southern classics" don't embarrass me as much. I've actually eaten this salad many times as an adult, and though I'm not saying it's my favorite, sometimes I need seconds to be sure.