Cocoa

This recipe calls for baking one giant cookie, a way to ensure even, consistent ice cream sandwiches.

Reminiscent of your favorite sundae sauce, but better! A sip of soda made from this deep, dark, intense brew is like chomping down on a chocolate bar.

When adding the caramel to the popcorn and peanuts, work quickly and thoroughly to coat the other ingredients before it hardens.

Ellsworth Kelly's enormous sculpture, Stele 1, was the anchor in the Rooftop Garden when we opened our café in 2009. A 1-inch-thick oblong steel plate weighing seven tons and rising eighteen feet into the air perched on one narrow end, the sculpture seemed to defy gravity. The deep rust-colored patina of the Corten steel was an incredible contrast against gray volcanic stone walls of the Rooftop Garden and the stunning art deco Pacific Bell building that towers over the east side of the museum. Of course, I thought the piece looked like an enormous slab of chocolate. Trying to figure out a dessert based on the sculpture, I played with various truffle recipes and cakes baked in oblong pans, but nothing was giving me the rich matte color and texture of the weathered steel. One day I was chatting with the museum's brilliant and witty social media guru, Ian Padgham, about Stele 1, and I asked him what the sculpture reminded him of. "A Fudgsicle, of course!" he said. And, so it was. I found some silicone ice-pop molds in the shape of the sculpture and developed a creamy, rich chocolatey base with a touch of natural cocoa powder to give the frozen fudge pops the reddish matte finish of Corten steel.

Makes enough for a standard doughnut recipe.

Served warm, these not-too-sweet brownies beg to go à la mode.

Jumbo shrimp. Airline food. Boneless ribs. Fuzzy logic. Some words just don't seem to belong together. I'm betting you'd say healthy brownie falls into that category. Au contraire! How do I know that isn't the case? Because there was a lot of "yumming" in my kitchen as a gaggle of brownie aficionados devoured these. Refined white sugar out; Grade B maple syrup in. See ya white flour; hello almond flour and brown rice flour. Fare-thee-well butter; come-on-down olive oil! Add dark chocolate, walnuts, and cinnamon, and the result is a decadent culinary oxymoron for the ages.

For these soda fountain–inspired marshmallows, we added chocolate-malt syrup to our classic marshmallow recipe. The result is a squishy, chewy take on a chocolate malted milkshake that won't melt (unless you roast them over a fire) if you decide to take them camping. See Make Your Own Marshmallows for more recipes and tips.

Sweeten movie night by whipping up a batch of these treats for your friends. Cherries and oat flour add fiber to make them extra filling.

Who doesn’t love chocolate cake? This one is moist, dense, rich, and naturally gluten-free.

Rich, chocolaty cocoa is poured over a scoop of peppermint ice cream for a kid-friendly twist on the Italian espresso- ice cream dessert.

These easy-to-assemble bar cookies free you to use whatever crunchy things you love. Can't get enough of those candy canes? Love pistachios and almonds? Crush 'em up and sprinkle 'em on.

The best—and easiest—brownies you'll ever make. This recipe belongs in your repertoire.

Homemade hot cocoa is in a category all by itself, and once you try this rich, vanilla-infused version developed by cookbook author Tracey Seaman, you’ll find just how much is missing from the store-bought variety. Use the highest-quality chocolate and vanilla you can find—Valrhona, Lindt, and Ghirardelli are all great options. And if you really love the delicate warm notes of vanilla, go ahead and use the full bean. Turn this decadent treat into an edible gift with decorative canisters, crocks, jars, or even cellophane bags, then trim your presents in festive ribbon and attach gift tags with the serving directions.

Pooh, my mother-in-law, makes the best easy family-style chocolate cake, which we persuade her to make whenever there's a birthday! Her secret is dissolving the cocoa in boiling water before adding it. If you prefer, you can divide this among two round cake pans and fill.

During the late nineteenth century, as part of their Protestant beliefs, the Templers arrived in Jerusalem from Europe and established the German colony, a picturesque little neighborhood southwest of the Old City that to this day feels unusually central European. This is the "civilized" part of town, where you go for a coffee and a slice of Sacher torte if you wish to escape the harsh Levantine reality. Germanic influences on the city's food are evident in Christian contexts—the famous Austrian hospice at the heart of the Old City serves superb strudels and proper schnitzels—but Czech, Austrian, Hungarian, and German Jews arriving in the city from the 1930s have also managed to stamp their mark, opening cafés and bakeries serving many Austro-Hungarian classics. Duvshanyot, round iced cookies, made with honey and spices, typically for Rosh Hashanah, are possibly a result of this heritage; they are similar to Pfeffernüsse. These are very loosely inspired by duvshanyot, or Pfeffernüsse. They are actually more closely related to an Italian spice cookie and are hugely popular on the sweet counter at Ottolenghi over Easter and Christmas. The recipe was adapted from the excellent The International Cookie Cookbook by Nancy Baggett.

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.

These can be prepared a number of different ways. Pick one flavoring, then roll them in the coatings of your choice.

Sometimes we spread jam between the layers; other times we simply dust the cake with powdered sugar.