Apricot

This wonderfully moist cake comes together quickly in the food processor, with some apricots puréed and some folded into the batter, infusing their summery flavor throughout.

This flavorful sweet bread is packed with dried fruit and nuts and has a very moist crumb. The recipe makes one large loaf or three small loaves that you can give for holiday gifts.

Sweet-tart apples, pungent blue cheese and crunchy pistachios make an irresistible combination in this fall salad.

This chicken takes about 10 minutes to pull together and then about a half hour of mostly hands-off time in the oven. In theory, you could time things so the chicken is ready as soon as the kids go to sleep. But if you can't for the life of you figure out a way to steal the few minutes needed for prep while the kids are awake, then just take care of step 1: Preheat the oven.

During the developing and testing process for this book, this dish became Hubby's new favorite. Totally unexpected—I was sure he'd steal a line from the kids and say, "Thank you anyway, but this is not my taste." (We taught them to say that instead of "Ooo, yick!") It's just not the usual stuff and spices he goes for, but apparently the combination was soooo his taste. And mine, too. It's one of those winner recipes that will make you dance around your kitchen. You may hug me now.

You've been blessed with the year's best stone fruit. Don't complicate things! Just roast it with a sprinkling of our crunchy topping.

Step aside pancakes; butter and maple syrup is a combination worthy of the ripest grilled summer fruits. Can't find apricots? Try this recipe with peaches or plums for a fantastic ice cream topping.

A pandowdy is a homey American dessert of cooked fruit covered with a piecrust or biscuit crust that is often cut up halfway through baking and pushed into the fruit. We leave the crust whole here for a quicker and easier version.

Warm spices and sweet dried fruit are a perfect pair for rich turkey meat.

If you don't want to heat up your house with the oven, you can bake any muffins on the grill but the lightly smoky flavor that the grill imparts is especially nice with corn-based ones. Because keeping the grill at a steady temperature can be tricky, the baking time can vary, so keep an eye on the muffins. For the best muffins, be sure that the entire pan is not set over direct heat (otherwise, the bottoms will burn).

Serve these skewers with grilled pita and yogurt mixed with a little Maras pepper, olive oil, and chopped mint.

Beating the butter and sugar until light and fluffy is essential to this cake's moist, tender crumb.

This yogurt mousse is an exercise in nostalgia for me, evocative of two different memories. The first is recent: cold lassi spiked with cardamom, a favorite drink at Indian restaurants. The musky flavor of cardamom just plays well with the tangy, refreshing taste of yogurt. And so does honey, which brings me to my second memory. My mother often served me and my siblings big bowls of plain yogurt with honey swirled in—it was a favorite summer lunch. I remember how the honey laced the yogurt in thick ropes of sweetness. This is a plain yet comforting dish, the two flavors marrying perfectly. I bring these three tastes together here in this dish, and finish it all off with fresh summer apricots. Top the finished mousse with apricot slices, or get fancy and pipe the chilled, set mousse into apricot halves and garnish with mint.

The secret to homemade brittle? Work fast—it hardens quickly.

As summer progresses and apricots go out of season, try these desserts with ripe plums instead.

Don't use your best Champagne for this dessert—any affordable bottle of cava or Prosecco will do. The key ingredient in this machine-free sorbet is the apricots: Choose the ripest, most fragrant ones you can find.

Parve Ellen: These filled pastries, tri-cornered to mimic Haman's hat and served during Purim celebrations, were a source of conflict in the Kassoff family growing up. Mom didn't give in to her children's entreaties not to buy any filled with prunes or poppy seeds, so a grabfest would occur amongst my brothers and me to see who could get to the apricot-filled ones first.

Apricots have roughly 60 percent more immunity-enhancing beta-carotene—which can help you fend off colds and flu—than their closest fruit competitor, cantaloupe. Consider a slice sniffle prevention!