Nutmeg

This tart with a lattice top is a real showstopper. Your guests’ eyes will light up when it’s brought to the table. Known as a torta rustica in Italy, versions are served around Easter in celebration of the season. The filling is traditionally spinach, though I’ve incorporated other greens for more contrast in flavors. Other versions can have sausage, eggplant, and peppers as the filling.

Riso nero—black rice—is the dramatic name for a nursery dish offered to children as a light supper or as a sweet after a bit of broth or soup. It is most often just made with rice poached in milk that has been scented with cinnamon and mixed with a few shards of chocolate, the latter giving the dish its name as it melts and turns the rice a deep, dark color. Surely there are lovely similarities between it and pasta in nero della consolazione (page 118). Here I offer its comfort in a more adult version. The same prescriptions apply, though, as this is best presented after a light, reviving soup or, better, after no soup at all, so one can justify slipping one’s fork into the spiced, chocolate depths of a second or third piece of the sweet little pie.

When we were opening Lucques, we had very little money for the renovation. The space had a decent kitchen but lacked a great oven. Fritz León, one of our purveyors, was hanging out with us one long day of construction and happened to mention a “huge, fantastic” deck oven that one of his other clients downtown was selling for (and this was the key) “cheap.” What more could I ask for? I bought it on the spot. I began to doubt myself when we went to pick it up and found it was so huge and heavy that we had to take it apart just to get it through the kitchen door. It was a monster, and when we finally did get it installed it seemed as if the old dinosaur had a mind of its own. Each deck ran at a specific, apparently predetermined temperature, no matter what setting we mere mortals put it at. The lower deck was at a constant 350°F, the middle at 400°F, and the top at a raging 500°F plus. It wasn’t long before the top deck was christened “the Terminator,” and now I can’t imagine life at Lucques without it. It was even instrumental in the evolution of our pain d’épice, developed by former pastry chef Kimberly Sklar. For a crispy exterior, she sliced the classic Alsatian spice bread and toasted it on the floor of the Terminator before slathering it with butter and kumquat marmalade. At home, you can simulate the “Terminator effect” in a hot cast-iron pan.

Sometimes, in the middle of fall, usually just before Thanksgiving, it hits me: A desperate craving for pumpkin pie. One year, after a few days of my whining and hinting, pastry chef Roxana Jullapat came up with this delicious cake to shut me up. As comforting as that classic American pie but even better, Roxana’s pumpkin cake was super moist and infused with the spicy flavors of fall. And, knowing my love of all things crunchy, nutty, and salty, Roxana topped the cake with a generous layer of crispy pecan streusel. Though pumpkins have an esteemed place in our childhood memories, they actually aren’t very good to cook with—they’re often watery and usually lacking in flavor and sweetness—so we make our “pumpkin” cake with Kabocha or butternut squash instead. “Winter squash cake” just doesn’t have the same ring to it.

Think of this pie as Pumpkin Pie’s cousin. The creamy potato puree (best when made from locally grown sweet potatoes) makes for a dense, sweet pie. Like pumpkin pie, this southern staple has a deep, rich orange color that, topped with a dollop of Whipped Cream (page 193) or cinnamon ice cream, makes for a beautiful centerpiece to your holiday dessert table.

Around here, National Pie Day (January 23) is like Christmas, Hanukkah, and Thanksgiving rolled up into one! Every year on this holy pie day, I like to do something special. In 2009 I decided National Pie Day would be the perfect opportunity to roll out a line of sugar-free pies. Incorporating Splenda into the sugarfree pies allows you to undulge in a sweet treat while limiting your sugar intake. Sugarfree apple pies have been flying off the shelves ever since—a great way to savor apple pie minus the guilt.

These cookies get their flavor from freshly ground whole spices. Be sure to make the cookies at least a day before serving; they will soften a bit and the flavors of the cookie and the filling will have a chance to meld. You can also omit the filling and serve these cookies on their own.

In her book The Best of Amish Cooking, Phyllis Pellman Good writes that shoofly pies may have been common in the past because “this hybrid cake within a pie shell” fared better than more delicate pies in the old-style bake ovens. With the advent of modern ovens, temperatures could be controlled, allowing for the development of the lighter pies that are standard today. Shoofly pies keep nicely in a pie cupboard. They also freeze well. This recipe uses 1/2 cup each of molasses and corn syrup for a sweeter flavor; you can simply use just a full cup of molasses, leaving out the corn syrup, for a stronger flavor if you like. This version also makes for a pie with a very wet bottom—the bottom of the crust disappears into the filling. If you’d like it drier, cut the water in the filling back to 3/4 cup.

Gingerbread is the most recognizable Christmastime flavor; the scent of its signature spices baking in the oven fills a home with holiday cheer. These cupcakes are made with the same mixture of spices—nutmeg, clove, cinnamon, and ginger—as the tiny gingerbread-cookie boys and girls they are topped with. The recipe for the cookie dough will yield more cutouts than you need to decorate twenty-two cupcakes; serve extra cookies alongside.

These glazed cupcakes are adapted from a recipe by Martha’s late mother, Martha Kostyra, who was an avid baker. She especially enjoyed making spice cakes. The orange glaze is also hers, but the cupcakes would be equally delicious topped with cream-cheese frosting (page 303) or brown-butter icing (page 314). Don’t skip the crucial step of sifting the dry ingredients three times, as it helps to fully distribute the spices for the best flavor.

These cupcakes are made with a combination of ingredients commonly found in a beloved autumn pie—pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves—and enhanced with brown butter and fresh sage. To cut sage into chiffonade, or very fine strips, stack the leaves, then roll up tightly before slicing thinly crosswise with a sharp knife.

Applesauce in the batter makes these cupcakes incomparably moist. Pecans add a bit of texture, but they can be omitted. The cream-cheese frosting gets a twist with the addition of brown sugar.

Use this dough to make gingerbread boys and girls—or other shapes, such as giant dinosaurs—for topping cupcakes (adjust baking time as necessary). The crisp cookies are flavored with a blend of spice—ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg—and sweetened with a combination of molasses and brown sugar. Follow the recipe below to make your own designs, or cut and bake as directed in specific cupcake recipes.

Serve this tart at a Halloween party, and watch as unsuspecting guests get lured into its chocolate web. The lightly spiced chocolate crust is coated with melted chocolate, then filled with creamy pumpkin purée. More melted semisweet chocolate is piped in a spiderweb pattern to add a frightful finish; the web also serves as an excellent guide for slicing.

The layered finish that tops this apple pie is created by shingling the leaves. Pastry cutouts in any shape can be arranged in this manner; here, a flurry of leaves accentuates the pie’s autumnal nature.

The idea for this dish comes from a chef at culinary school who liked to bread salmon with shredded russet potatoes. Sweet potatoes add a whole new dimension to this delicate crust—a perfect counterpoint for the smoky sauce.