Kumquat

This is the basic procedure for making any fruit chutney. Non-citrus fruits such as peaches, plums, apricots, and mangoes will need to be peeled. Use any citrus fruit combination for this recipe, although you may need to adjust the sweetness for more tart varieties like grapefruit. I chose kumquats and Meyer lemons because I like their contrasting shapes and colors, and both are naturally quite sweet.

Not all gelatin desserts are squidgy, old-fashioned jelled rings studded with oversweetened canned fruits. Take this thoroughly modern dessert, for example. You’ll see why it won top honors from a national food magazine that called it one of the “Top Ten Desserts of All Time.”

During a baking demonstration, I once inadvertently blurted out, “I don’t like sweet things,” at which point the room erupted with laughter. I didn’t quite see what was so funny until someone pointed out that I was making desserts. Well, yes. I was. But it’s true—I don’t really like oversweet desserts. I adore caramel and toffee more than anyone, but I like them paired with something to balance the sweetness. Sticky toffee pudding is the Holy Grail for toffee lovers. My version is topped with slices of kumquats as a puckery counterpoint to the gooey-rich sweet toffee.

This is a spin on the cream cheese and jam sandwich. We thought the tartness of the goat cheese would marry well with the sweetness of the marmalade, with the rosemary accent to wake you up in the gentlest, nicest of ways and the multigrain bread sending you off on your day feeling you’ve eaten a meal. The marmalade could certainly be made with oranges or grapefruit—the rosemary would complement them as well.

I think aromatic kumquats walk a line between oranges and lemons, and they aren’t bitter at all when you cook them properly. You could chop these up and bake them in a sponge cake, or fold them into a mousse that could use a shot of acidity. Fill them with soft cheese or mousse and put them out after dinner as petits fours. Or just serve with ice cream.

As I’m a great fan of a true margarita, I thought it would be fun to take the components apart and rearrange them into a dessert. This makes a lot, but leftovers will keep for a month in the freezer. I learned a version of this sponge cake, which is called biscuit mirliton, at the Hôtel de Paris in Monte Carlo. I love it for its airy/ cakey texture, which is like no other sponge. Perfumed with citrus zest, it is a great complement to the tangy semifreddo. The key to the sponge is baking just before serving. You’ll need eight to nine 1-ounce aluminum timbale molds for the cake and twenty 2 x 2-inch ring molds for the semifreddo (see Note, page 120).

This sweet-tart compote is made up of cooked kumquat and lemon slices and fresh blood orange segments. This recipe is an accompaniment for the Meyer Lemon Shortcakes with Meyer Curd and Mixed Citrus "Marmelade".

This simple salad, with its lemony dressing and bitter greens, is a nice match for the fried latkes.

You’ll need a 7 3/4-inch-diameter trifle dish that is at least 4 3/4 inches deep. The recipe makes an extra gingerbread cake; have it for breakfast the next morning. If you prefer to make 12 individual trifles, use all three gingerbread cakes and cut each in half horizontally. Using a pretty glass as a guide, cut out 4 cake rounds from each cut cake layer. Alternate 2 cake rounds with 2 to 3 layers of the mascarpone cream, a few candied kumquats, and some poached cranberries in each glass.

Eben Freeman, bartender of Tailor Restaurant in New York City, developed this version of a classic Brazilian cocktail made with cachaca (sugarcane rum). Freeman's adaptations include substituting kumquats for the usual limes and sweetening the drink with turbinado sugar, whose rough crystals help break up the kumquats. He also adds a soy-caramel sauce—which gives the drink a salty-sweet depth—but it can be omitted. If you do opt to make the sauce, note that you'll end up with more than you need for the drink, but it keeps in the refrigerator for up to a month.

Spring rolls are the quintessential Asian appetizer, but I have adapted the concept to dessert. When cooked, these rolls are like cylindrical molten cakes with warm chocolate oozing out of an impossibly thin and crisp "pastry" shell. The kumquats not only cut through the richness with their distinct citrus tartness, but also are a symbol of good fortune, as kum is a homonym for "gold" in Chinese. CHEF'S TIP: Make sure you use thin spring roll wrappers, which can be found in Asian markets, not egg roll wrappers.

Kumquats and cranberries turn out to be a perfect match, since their flavors are similar in intensity: The former contributes a pleasant citrusy bitterness to the latter's signature tartness.

Kumquats, small, oval citrus fruit with an edible peel, start turning up in markets this month. They're candied here for a gorgeous cheesecake topping.

Tender cake, creamy filling, crunchy nuts, and tangy–sweet kumquats add up to one glam holiday dessert.

Fresh kumquats and golden raisins make the familiar cranberry sauce new.

These are also great tossed into a salad of bitter greens, over a scoop of vanilla ice cream, or as a garnish for crème caramel or panna cotta.

If using chicken halves, ask the butcher to bone them for you.