Stand Mixer

I'd often sneak into my mom's car and ride stowaway-style in the back seat when she left home to "make groceries" at the A&P or Schwegmann's. No sooner had she turned off the ignition than I'd pop my head up and scare the bejesus out of her! In the market, we'd get coffee beans ground fresh from this giant red coffee grinder—I swear it was at least 3 feet tall. My mom gave the coffee man (usually the bagger at the checkout aisle) explicit instructions on the coarseness of the bean grind for her chicory-laced coffee. After he had bagged our beans, I'd stick my nose up the metal spout and inhale the heady aroma that always made me dizzy and happy. In a typical New Orleans home, a pitcher of coffee can almost always be found in the fridge, whether left over from the morning or brewed specifically to make iced coffee later in the day. This coffee and chicory cupped cake is made with a stiff, eggless cake batter that gets topped with a cocoa crumble and then covered with coffee. Baked in actual coffee cups, the cake soufflés up and makes its own built-in lava sauce on the bottom. It's fantastic eaten within an hour or two of baking while the cake is still warm, soft, and molten.

I love the buttery taste and crumbly texture of this dough.

The key to this deeply flavored cheesecake? Reduced maple syrup. The sweet-tart compote is a delicious—and pretty—accompaniment.

This gorgeous dessert features crisp peppermint meringues layered with tender chocolate cake and rich chocolate frosting.

You and your guests will be utterly charmed when you see how easily mashed potatoes can be transformed into a gaggle of ghosts. Simply form them into pointy mounds and then personify—no, make that "ghostify"—them with seed "eyes." Don't be surprised if these become a new family must-have for Halloweens to come.

The inspiration here is the fantastically rich dish called Zwiebelkuchen (onion cake), a southern German specialty that arrived in America with European settlers and quickly became a staple in Pennsylvania Dutch homes, where it is known as Zwiwwelkuche. Slow-cooked onions are combined with eggs and sour cream and spooned into a yeasted dough. The pastry is then partially folded over the filling.

Be sure to make the dough in a stand mixer (not a processor), which will prevent you from overworking it.

Any leftovers would be great for breakfast.

These hearty rolls are packed with good-for-you stuff: whole wheat flour, old-fashioned oats, and wheat bran.

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.

Get professional-looking rolls without using fancy molds.

Simple butter cookies with a hint of lemon are colored orange and cut like jack-o'-lanterns. Use the tip of a knife to cut the shapes freehand and your jack-o'-lanterns will have lots of personality. They take on added luster—literally!—when you crush and melt hard candies in the spaces for the eyes, nose, and grinning mouth. The stained glass effect is beautiful and surprisingly effective given the simplicity of the process. Use lemon drops for a yellow gleam and to ramp up the flavor, or, if you prefer, try butterscotch candies for an orange glow. Let your kids work off some energy crushing the candies while you prepare the dough.

This bread is Mickey's pride and joy. It is made by hand and has a crust on top like no other. Breadworks sells about twenty loaves every day. Try it for French toast.

This kuchen would be terrific made with all types of stone fruit, so feel free to substitute any of your summertime favorites for the plums.

These are outstanding buns, substantial yet tender. The soft sides of the top-split hot dog buns are made for grilling or toasting.

This rich, delicate cake forms the basis for many filled, frosted, and glazed cakes. A good plain gênoise is hard to beat—it has an elegance that derives from its simplicity, and I even like them unadorned. Many recipes for gênoise add butter as an enrichment. Unfortunately, sometimes the extra manipulation the incorporation of the butter necessitates causes these light batters to fall. So I prefer to add a few extra egg yolks instead—they not only help enrich the cake, they also provide greater stability to the foam, ultimately making the batter easier to prepare. This recipe originally accompanied the Strawberry Roulade .

The fine, moist crumb of this cake makes it perfect for any type of filling or frosting.