Stand Mixer
Salted Rye Cookies
This fairly straightforward and versatile dough can be made as drop cookies instead of icebox-style sliced logs: Chill the dough, then scoop it into rounded-tablespoon-size balls, roll in the salt-sugar mixture, arrange at least 1 1/2 inches (4 cm) apart on the baking sheet, and flatten slightly. In addition, you can substitute just about any kind of flour for the rye.
By Liana Krissoff
Snack Cake Crème
Editor's note: Use this recipe to make Lara Ferroni's Vanilla Snack cakes .
Like most commercial snack cake crème, this recipe contains no cream. Unlike a surprising amount of commercial snack cakes, however, this recipe does not contain beef suet. Health food? No. But a whole lot less gross than what you might find in many store-bought brands.
By Lara Ferroni
Vanilla Snack Cakes
Despite some tall tales, Hostess Twinkies do not last forever. The box of Twinkies that my friends gave me as a gag gift were, in fact, hard as a rock in less than a year. These cream-filled chiffon cake snacks, made with real, unprocessed dairy and eggs and whole-grain flours, won't last nearly as long as preservative-laden Twinkies, but you will almost certainly gobble them up in no time at all.
By Lara Ferroni
Spiced Bundt Cake with Apple Caramel Sauce
Adding cream of tartar to the caramel prevents the sugar from crystallizing. Drizzle the sauce over the cake; save the rest for passing alongside.
By Cynthia Wong
Brown Butter Apple Tart
An easy cookie crust and a fragrant, custardy filling laced with rings of apple set this fall dessert apart from the competition.
By Cynthia Wong
Quick Double-Chocolate Sheet Cake
Pooh, my mother-in-law, makes the best easy family-style chocolate cake, which we persuade her to make whenever there's a birthday! Her secret is dissolving the cocoa in boiling water before adding it. If you prefer, you can divide this among two round cake pans and fill.
By Ghillie James
Pita
This recipe is part of the Epicurious Online Cooking School, in being made, and to learn how to make other Mediterranean classics, check out the video classes.
By David Kamen
Shrimp Empanadas (Empanadillas de Camaron)
This recipe is part of the Epicurious Online Cooking School, in partnership with the Culinary Institute of America. To watch it being made, and to learn how to make other Mediterranean classics, check out the video classes.
By David Kamen
Strawberry-Pistachio Buckle
This coffee-cake like strawberry cake is piled high with a lemony pistachio streusel.
By James Freeman , Caitlin Freeman, and Tara Duggan
Plum and Polenta Cake
This is a family favorite, created by Gianni's aunt Angela. It's a great cake to make when summer fruit is abundant. It is delicious when made with the plums called for in this recipe, but you may also want to consider using figsone of my favorite fruitsor pitted sweet cherries. You can substitute about 6 quartered figs or 1/2 cup of cherries in place of the plums.
By Stanley Tucci , Joan Tucci , Stan Tucci , Gianni Scappin, and Mimi Shanley Taft
Spice Cookies
During the late nineteenth century, as part of their Protestant beliefs, the Templers arrived in Jerusalem from Europe and established the German colony, a picturesque little neighborhood southwest of the Old City that to this day feels unusually central European. This is the "civilized" part of town, where you go for a coffee and a slice of Sacher torte if you wish to escape the harsh Levantine reality.
Germanic influences on the city's food are evident in Christian contexts—the famous Austrian hospice at the heart of the Old City serves superb strudels and proper schnitzels—but Czech, Austrian, Hungarian, and German Jews arriving in the city from the 1930s have also managed to stamp their mark, opening cafés and bakeries serving many Austro-Hungarian classics. Duvshanyot, round iced cookies, made with honey and spices, typically for Rosh Hashanah, are possibly a result of this heritage; they are similar to Pfeffernüsse.
These are very loosely inspired by duvshanyot, or Pfeffernüsse. They are actually more closely related to an Italian spice cookie and are hugely popular on the sweet counter at Ottolenghi over Easter and Christmas. The recipe was adapted from the excellent The International Cookie Cookbook by Nancy Baggett.
By Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi
Banana-Chocolate Chip Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting
This cake is perfect for beginners—it's moist, forgiving, and easy. Jif creamy peanut butter is our favorite for the decadent frosting.
By Janet McCracken and Alison Roman
Mint Chip Ice Cream Cake
This big, fun cake features layers of sponge cake and mint chocolate chip ice cream blanketed with pale-green whipped cream. It's perfect for a kid's birthday party. We like Baskin-Robbins Mint Chip for its thin chocolate shavings. Make sure to clear space in your freezer.
By Janet McCracken and Alison Roman
Pecan Praline Semifreddo with Bourbon Caramel
Editor's note: This recipe is part of a special Thanksgiving menu created by chefs Allison Vines-Rushing and Slade Rushing of MiLa restaurant in New Orleans.
Pecan pralines are one of the most celebrated candies of the South. They are made with pecans, sugar, and cream, which results in a unique crystallized and cloudy caramel that melts in your mouth. The European praline, however, is made simply with sugar and nuts, which results in a shiny hard-crack bitter-and-sweet candy. This Italian-style semifreddo (half frozen) uses the latter, which holds up well when frozen. However, we still use cream, but in a soft, fluffy base that cradles the crispy praline.
By Allison Vines-Rushing and Slade Rushing
Pizza Dough
By John Taboada
Lime Whipped Cream
By Susan Feniger
The Pink Cake
This is a Baker & Spice original and it's our most popular cake—loved by men and women alike! The buttercream frosting is tinted pink by a raspberry puree (not food coloring)—be sure to save your extra whites from baking the cake to make the frosting. The cake itself is a rich, moist chocolate cake. If you want a go-to recipe for all your chocolate cake cravings, this is the one.
By Julie Richardson
Jam Cake with Caramel Chocolate Ganache
Filled with spices, buttermilk, and jam, this moist cake has been in the baking repertoire of my husband's family for over a century. Although this particular recipe hails from Bowling Green, Kentucky, I found many other recipes for jam cake that originated further south. At first glance, I mistakenly thought the jam was merely a filling between the cake layers but to my happy surprise, the jam is actually an ingredient in the batter, creating a lovely berry hue to the cake and an even better berry taste. This down-home cake traditionally calls for a sweet caramel frosting, but I opted for a decadent caramel chocolate ganache. Make the ganache before you make the cake as it needs about 3 hours to firm up at room temperature (and is so much better when not refrigerated).
By Julie Richardson
Raspberry Buttercream
By Julie Richardson
Lemon Buttermilk Cake
This recipe is part of the Epicurious Online Cooking School, in partnership with the Culinary Institute of America. To watch it being made, and to learn how to make other dessert classics, check out the videos.
By Dianne Rossomando