Chocolate

This recipe is part of the Epicurious Online Cooking School, in partnership with the Culinary Institute of America. To watch it being made, and to learn how to make other dessert classics, check out the videos.

This recipe is part of the Epicurious Online Cooking School, in partnership with the Culinary Institute of America. To watch it being made, and to learn how to make other Mexican classics, check out the video classes.

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!

Strawberries are full of vitamin C, which does double duty: It helps you burn more fat during exercise and helps build skin-firming collagen, resulting in a slimmer, prettier you!

To get a super-light mousse, you'll need to properly fold together the whipped cream, egg whites, and melted chocolate.

When frozen, bananas become so creamy they can almost pass for sorbet or even ice cream. Coat them with chocolate and sprinkle them with homemade peanut brittle—there will be plenty left over for snacking—and you've got a refreshingly cold treat that feels almost as virtuous as a serving of fruit. Editor's Note: This recipe is part of Gourmet's Modern Menu for Summer Fair Favorites. Menu also includes Fried Onion Dippers with Balsamic Ketchup and Turkey Meatball Garlic Bread Heroes.

Chocolate has the incredible ability to stand alone quite nicely while playing along with loads of other prominent ingredients—without being a bully. And that is why a brownie sundae can be so frustrating: How can you settle on one ice cream flavor or a single sauce?
We figured Father's Day is the right time to have a brownie sundae your way. Dads have soft spots for cuteness, so serving up a brownie raft supporting mini-scoops of three different ice creams adrift in three different sauces will tickle him to no end. Feel free to use whatever ice cream flavors are the family favorites. Editor's Note: This recipe is part of Gourmet's Modern Menu for A Father's Day Feast. Menu also includes Pretzel Bites with Quick Cheddar Dip and Grilled Rib Pork Chops with Sweet and Tangy Peach Relish.

This is the easiest hot fudge sauce ever. You'll be glad to know that it firms up to that chewy fudge consistency on contact with ice cream, just as you expect hot fudge sauce to do!

This recipe is so versatile you can use any type of chocolate, nut or dried fruit. Don’t expect leftovers!

These chocolate-covered mint leaves have a fresh, wild flavor that sets them apart from other chocolate-covered treats. Serve as an after-dinner refreshment with tea or coffee.

This sophisticated mashup of the campfire classic uses Nutella to bind the graham cracker crust and coffee to deepen the chocolate flavor in the rich ganache filling.

The keys to a light, airy semifreddo that melts in your mouth? Just enough sugar to sweeten it and keep it soft in the freezer. Also, "gently folding and not overmixing," says Laiskonis. Go over the top by serving it with cinnamon whipped cream and chile-chocolate sauce (or use store- bought chocolate sauce).

Chilling Time: 2 hours or overnight
Shelf Life: 1 week This recipe was inspired by the malted ice cream at Herrell's in Massachusetts. They were doing smush-ins long before anyone else, and it was there that Anne first tried malted vanilla ice cream with Heath bar pieces mixed in. It was love at first bite!

Backyard garden strawberries are often smaller than store-bought, so be the judge of how many strawberries you need for the skewers. Or even simpler, grill strawberries on a grill rack until a bit charred and warmed through and spoon atop frozen yogurt or ice cream.

These cinnamon-sugar dusted fritters are traditionally dunked in a cup of creamy hot chocolate—and who are we to argue with tradition?

Pastry chef Jennifer Jones of Topolobampo in Chicago shared this recipe as part of a Cinco de Mayo feature on Mexican desserts. Coffee liqueur adds incredible depth to Frontera Grill's legendary chocolate pecan pie, but if you prefer to skip the booze in the whipped cream, use an equivalent amount of pure vanilla extract or espresso instead. Jones prefers to serve this pie when it's warm and gooey, but warns that it's a little tricky to cut that way. Her solution is to cool the pie completely, cut it into slices, and then pop it back in the oven until it's just heated through.

Pastry chef Jennifer Jones of Topolobampo in Chicago shared this recipe as part of a Cinco de Mayo feature on Mexican desserts. If you prefer to make one large flan, as Jones often does, use a standard pie plate in lieu of the ramekins. The process is the same, but the family-style flan will likely require 10 to 15 additional minutes in the oven. Test as you would for individual custards, inserting a knife halfway between the edge and the center—when the knife comes out clean it's time to take the flan out of the oven.