Buttermilk

Take cornbread up a notch with this sweet-and-savory version studded with sautéed, thyme-scented apples.

Why not make cinnamon buns into a coffee cake that can be pulled apart when ready to serve. It's a dessert that is just meant to make it to the breakfast table the next morning (if there's any left).

The first cupcake Matt ever added to the Robicelli's repertoire was "The CPB": chocolate cake and peanut butter buttercream topped with roasted peanuts and rich chocolate ganache. Sounds awesome, right? Of course it's awesome—how the hell can you screw something like that up? Of course, we eventually tired of awesome and needed to go past that to "mind blowing." So we decided to roll the entire damn thing in crushed-up pretzels and pour more chocolate over the top. You're welcome.

My friend Keena lives less than a mile away and has a plum tree she can't keep up with. In early fall, she makes jam with as many plums as she can and sends me home with a big grocery bag full of them every time I see her. I'm not much of a canner, so I began sautéing them and using them as a topping for yogurt and porridge, and as a filling for these simple buckwheat crepes. While buckwheat groats have a pretty distinct flavor and can be a hard sell for many folks, buckwheat flour is commonly used and adored in both sweet and savory crepes. For this recipe, use oval-shaped Italian plums (or prune plums) if you can; they're nice and firm and lend themselves well to sautéing—or just plain snacking. Morning Notes: The crepe batter needs to rest for at least an hour, so plan accordingly or make the batter and refrigerate it overnight. If you go that route, the crepes cook best when the batter is at room temperature, so let it sit out for at least 30 minutes before cooking them.

This is one of those sleeper recipes that's more complex-tasting than it sounds. Each element is supereasy to prepare and can be made days in advance, but the finished dessert is a stunner.

The key to tender, delicious fried chicken is a good long soak in buttermilk. As it turns out, the same holds true for this roasted version of fried chicken. What you'll end up with is moist, delicious chicken on the inside, with a crunchy, crispy coating. That's exactly what I look for when I'm craving fried chicken.

With tongue in cheek, I call this chicken "unfried." That's because I am well known for fried chicken, which may be the crown jewel of southern cooking but is a dish I avoid these days. I like unfried chicken just as much. The chicken is soaked in tangy buttermilk and then coated with flavorful breading, just like fried chicken. The difference is that it's baked. This dish was on the menu at LYFE Kitchen. I first prepared it when Oprah's movie Beloved opened. One of the many lessons I learned from Oprah is to offer people a choice at meals, and one of those choices should be a healthy one. To this day I honor that lesson in my home and my restaurants.

These light and airy biscuits owe their texture to three leavenings: yeast, baking soda, and baking powder.

Brined birds taste better. Here's our all-purpose buttermilk-based recipe, along with four souped-up variations.

The key to a tender biscuit is to handle the dough as little as possible.

Fast-track this recipe by tripling the dry ingredients and storing them in a jar. At breakfast time, scoop out 2 1/4 cups. All the other measurements stay the same.

The slight tang of this dessert is complemented by the sweet and sour flavor of the vibrant topping. Because the panna cotta can be made so far in advance, it's an ideal choice for a party.

Brining the chickens tenderizes the meat and keeps it moist. The flavorful pan juices are used to make croutons and a robust dressing for the peppery watercress.

The addition of celery root is a great twist on the familiar flavors in this dish.

Top off this tangy lemon cake with a jammy apricot-and-lemon glaze for extra sweetness.

There's nothing as delightful as a towering stack of fluffy pancakes. Unless those pancakes happen to be reminiscent of your favorite mint chocolate chip ice cream. The green food coloring here is optional but adds nicely to the appeal.

These are no ordinary corn dogs. The fragrant buttermilk-cornmeal batter is laced with a hint of honey, spices, and delicious crumbles of bacon.

These spicy molasses cookies were a popular nineteenth-century New Orleans street food. For years, grocery stores throughout the United States have been selling them prepackaged, and often topped with white or pink icing.