Berry

Prep time: About 45 minutes
Slow cooker time: About 4 hours
Oven time: 20 to 25 minutes (can occur during the slow-cooking process)
Finishing time: About 20 minutes With this juicy, flavorful dessert (slightly spicy from the peppercorns), you get the best of all worlds: the fruit cooks slowly and develops complex flavors in the slow cooker, the lemony drop biscuits turn golden in the oven, and the juices reduce on the stovetop into a thick sauce that blankets the fruit. I loved this recipe so much that I "tested" it six times! As for my children, they coined it "rhubarb dessert" and now crave rhubarb as a result. This cobbler is especially good with vanilla ice cream.
For ease, zest the lemons before squeezing them for the juice. You can make the biscuits in advance, though the dessert is most delicious when the biscuits are served warm from the oven. Purchase the reddest rhubarb you can to yield a dessert with the most vivid color. Make sure to use the amount of fruit called for—it might seem like a large quantity, but the strawberries and rhubarb cook down a lot. If you'd like to serve the dessert family style, pour it into a 9- x 12-inch baking dish.

Using frozen berries in desserts is a clever way to add flavor and vibrant color in colder months. Choose a mild honey, such as clover or orange blossom, to let the fruits shine.

Tasty, and healthy, too: Coconut water is high in potassium and other electrolytes. And Flaxseeds are a good source of beneficial omega-3s.

The icebox has gone the way of the horse and buggy, but it didn't disappear before lending its name to the original concept of the slice-and-bake cookie. A roll of this flavorful dough—chock-full of pistachios, cranberries, and oats—in the freezer or fridge is like money in the bank. Impromptu party? Friends drop by unexpectedly? No problem! Just cut off the slices you need, bake them up, and the aroma alone will drive people crazy before they even get a chance to take a bite. You can gussy them up with a drizzle of chocolate, a dusting of shiny sanding sugar, or just leave them be. We expect you'll use this recipe as a template for a year-round supply of creative dough logs: Sour cherries and pecans, golden raisins and walnuts, chopped dates and pine nuts, or just plain chocolate chips. The possibilities are endless. Editor's Note: This recipe is part of Gourmet's Modern Menu for Holiday Cookie Craze. Menu also includes Coconut Macaroon Sandwiches with Lime Curd and Salted Brown Butter Cookies .

Who knew Cabernet and cranberries would make such a dynamic duo? Add dried figs (plumped in the Cabernet ahead of time), and you end up with a winey, fruity fig bar, minus the cookie. This sauce is so fine, you'll be spooning leftovers on ice cream or slathering it on toast in place of jam. It's worth buying extra cranberries and freezing them so you can make more to last you through the winter. Editor's Note: This recipe is part of our Gourmet Modern Menu for Thanksgiving for 2 or 20. Menu also includes: Citrus-Sage Roast Turkey with Gravy (whole turkey or breast ); Roasted Butternut Squash Ribbons with Arugula, Pancetta, and Hazelnut Salad; Mashed Potato and Cauliflower Gratin; Challah, Sausage, and Dried Cherry Stuffing; and for dessert, Apple Crostata with Spiced Caramel Sauce .

Is one made with cocktails in hand. Float a cranberry or two on top to snaz them up.

Vinegar is the key ingredient in the tart, refreshing beverages known as shrubs.

With tender acorn squash, salty pancetta, a pungent and tart vinaigrette, and bitter chicory, this hearty salad is layered in flavor and texture. It will take you through all of winter, and would fit perfectly on most holiday buffets. You can use other winter squashes, including butternut, and bacon or prosciutto can easily stand in for the pancetta.

The cherry-cranberry combination achieves the perfect balance of flavors alongside a roasted turkey or ham—or drizzled on vanilla ice cream. If cherry cider is hard to find, substitute a sweet-tart fruit juice such as cranberry or pomegranate.

This buttermilk cake begins with a fluffy, vanilla-infused batter that’s topped with tart, sweet berries and covered in sugar, and then baked until golden brown.

Forget the boring “welcome to the neighborhood” pound cake of yesteryear! This dessert gets an aromatic lift from lavender syrup and fresh blueberries. The syrup can be made with either dried or fresh lavender flowers: dried will tint the syrup a pale purple, and fresh will infuse it with a more powerful floral taste.

Just before serving this light and simple buttermilk cake, drizzle the warm, syrupy berries on top. Serve for casual get-togethers or a birthday party, paired with a dessert wine.

Take full advantage of summer’s bounty with this luscious pie that needs only 40 minutes of active prep time. Choose the ripest seasonal berries from the farmers’ market to create the gooey filling—the tartness of blackberries will perfectly mix with the sweetness of sugar and tapioca.

This amazingly easy recipe is a perfect, slightly sweet ending to a decadent meal or an afternoon treat on a lazy Sunday. After blending the ingredients, all you need to do is let the mixture sit in the freezer.

This dessert is so stunning your guests will wonder if it’s art or food. Orange-hued mango sorbet, deep purple blackberries, and cloudlike vanilla ice cream fit together in a mosaic of luscious, vibrant flavors. Indulge your creative side and layer the ingredients decoratively, filling any cracks with blackberry purée. When everything is assembled, freeze the sweet terrine anywhere from three hours to five days.

This deconstructed praline version of fondue wows time and again thanks to its simplicity and unexpected flavor. While it’s great any time of year, it’s especially suited to the summertime, when you want to keep cooking to a minimum and you have an abundance of berries, melons, peaches, and grapes at peak flavor. This setup is ideal for parties, as it encourages interaction; there’ll be no wallflowers when you set this out.

These slightly sweet and perfectly tart scones are quick and easy for breakfast, brunch, or an afternoon snack. Meyer lemons, a cross between a lemon and an orange, are sweeter and less acidic than regular lemons. They’re gaining in popularity and more widely available, but if you can’t find any, just use a standard lemon. Likewise, dried blueberries can often be found at specialty food stores and good supermarkets, but dried cranberries are easier to find and make an excellent substitute.

The combination of stone fruits, berries, and melon, dressed in a simple but zingy ginger syrup, makes for a seasonal dish that’s elegant enough for a party and easy enough for a creative topping to your morning bowl of quinoa or oatmeal.

This cheesecake from California’s Wente Vineyards is ethereal and easy. An Italian grandmother might scold you for not using ricotta, but good-quality mascarpone will yield a smoother, richer, and denser cheesecake. Feel free to experiment with different kinds of biscotti such as chocolate, but really, what makes this cheesecake are the balsamic strawberries, which are sweet and tart—the perfect counterpart to the cheesecake’s richness.

In this classic take on strawberry shortcake, tender buttermilk biscuits are piled high with fresh berries and lush, vanilla-scented whipped cream. We like the biscuits fresh out of the oven, but they can be baked a few hours in advance; return them to the oven for five minutes, and they’ll be as good as new.