Berry

Goat cheese may be a good option for those who can’t tolerate cow’s milk, and when combined with tart raspberries on toasted bread, it’s hard for anyone to resist.

Macerating is a simple way to turn fresh fruit into a syrupy sauce. Sugar draws out the fruit’s juices; lemon juice preserves color and adds flavor.

A simple buttermilk biscuit serves as the basis for fruit shortcake. As with many easy recipes, your success rate at making biscuits will most likely grow exponentially with each attempt. There’s nothing tricky about it; just be sure to work quickly and not to overwork the dough at all, which will cause the biscuits to become heavy and flat. In this recipe, a traditional strawberry shortcake is enhanced by a rhubarb compote to serve along with the macerated berries. You can use one fruit and not the other (by doubling the amount of either topping). Or substitute an equal amount of another fruit for the rhubarb, or macerate any other type of berry. An apricot compote would be lovely with macerated blackberries, for example, or nectarines with raspberries. The whipped cream, however, is not optional; it’s a fundamental part of the appeal of fruit shortcake. The biscuits, meanwhile, can be served on their own for breakfast, topped with a pat of butter and your favorite jam. (If you are planning to serve them with savory dishes like eggs and bacon, however, omit the sugar and vanilla bean.)

Everyone loves doughnuts, so it didn’t surprise me when these bombolini, Italian for “little doughnuts,” turned out to be the most popular dessert at the Osteria. You’re likely to find some version of sweet fried dough in every Italian region. That said, ours is made with a brioche-style dough that’s fried to order and served with a berry marmellata, or compote, and lemon curd—not at all Italian, but reminiscent of jelly doughnut combinations that Americans know and love. For the marmellata, we use mountain huckleberries from Oregon; you can use blueberries, blackberries, or boysenberries, or a combination—as you like.

It’s impossible to walk into any bakery in Italy without seeing a lattice-covered jam-filled tart called a crostata, so when I penciled out a short list of the desserts I would want to make at Mozza, it was only natural that crostata was on that list. For the longest time, I just couldn’t decide how I wanted to serve it. An unadorned crostata seemed fine for a bakery, but it looked too naked on the plate to serve alone at the Pizzeria. At the same time, I was struggling with how to incorporate another Italian favorite, panna cotta, into our repertoire. Somehow, in the course of all of my experimenting, I got the idea to substitute the creaminess of gelato, the most obvious accompaniment to a fruit tart, with the creaminess of panna cotta, and I put the crostata and panna cotta together. It worked, solving both problems at the same time. We drizzle the panna cotta with saba, Sardinian grape must. What we created was a dessert built of all Italian elements that, though you would never see them together in Italy, somehow work. I’m proud of that. The recipe makes twelve crostate, four more than you will serve with the panna cotta. I based the yield on the number of crostate the dough would make—and I figured you could find someone to eat the extras. You will need twelve 1/2-cup miniature brioche molds to make the panna cotta, though you could use 2-ounce ramekins—your panna cotta will taste just as good, it just won’t look as pretty. The crostata dough is the same as the Pasta Frolla (page 276) with toasted sesame seeds added. Dahlia and I got the idea when she was working on a sesame-seed biscotti. We didn’t like the biscotti enough to include them in our repertoire, but we really liked the subtle flavor and crunch that the seeds added to the dough.

A sparkling coating of clear glaze enhances the beauty of fresh fruit. Because this glaze is fragile, the fruit must be eaten the same day it is prepared. Use only fruit that is perfectly ripe and unblemished, and make sure that the fruit is very dry before glazing, since humidity breaks down the glaze. A display of glazed fruit makes a stunning centerpiece for a buffet table or dinner party.

Sparkling and clear, these fruit jellies are fun to make.

Dipping strawberries in chocolate is so easy and the results are so delicious. The flavor combination can’t be beat.

Raspberry and chocolate are a marvelous flavor combination. When you bite into one of these truffles, a burst of raspberry flavor is your reward.

You can prepare the blueberry sauce and the lemony yogurt up to 2 days ahead, and refrigerate both in airtight containers. To serve, simply spoon the layers into juice glasses and garnish.

The batter for this cake is much like that for a biscuit; the chilled butter is cut in rather than creamed to produce a tender crumb. This recipe was developed by Emily Donahue for Rosey’s Coffee and Tea in Hanover, New Hampshire.

You can substitute dried cranberries or raisins for the dried cherries in this recipe.

These preserves can be canned and stored for up to 1 year; multiply the recipe, if you like.

Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days, or freeze for up to 1 month.

Like the original, our julep features bourbon infused with mint. But this drink’s signature sweetness is tempered by the tartness of blackberries, which also tint it a gorgeous shade of purple. Another twist: Our cocktail is blended with—rather than served over—ice, creating a slushy texture.