Pistachio

These brightly colored cupcakes are very simple to make—a food processor handles all the mixing. You’ll find slivered pistachios at specialty stores or online retailers; you may substitute chopped pistachios instead.

More than other types of chocolate, milk chocolate melts in the mouth like butter, with a luscious taste and texture. It partners well with all varieties of nuts. Here, pistachios are mixed into the cookie crust, ground into a paste and spread over the partially baked crust, and sprinkled on top as a garnish. Slicing the tart reveals a “racing stripe” formed by the paste between the dark crust and filling.

Few desserts are as vibrantly seasonal and—contrary to its eye-catching appearance—as downright simple as this. Sliced apricots arranged in alternating rows lie on a bed of rich pistachio paste atop puff pastry. Chopped pistachios are scattered on top.

Adding panache to everyday ground turkey is a bit of a challenge. Here, pistachios, orange zest, and a creamy chèvre sauce step up to the plate and bring the balls home on the first run. Serve the sausage balls with the sauce for dipping as hors d’oeuvres with cocktails. Or, cook up spaghettini, set the sausage balls on top, and nap with the sauce. The chèvre sauce can also be used to blanket sautéed chicken breasts, or to drizzle, cooled, over fresh pear slices for dessert, accompanied with a crisp, not-too-dry Gewürztraminer or Riesling.

Green pistachios and red cranberries combine to make a cookie perfect for Christmas. Cornmeal gives these biscotti an extra crumbly and sandy texture, while the dried cranberries add a chewy element.

The six ingredients called for here come together in a delightful cookie. Pistachios and lemon juice make a great flavor combination, and the egg white gives a soft texture.

Stash a few of these hearty cookies into a backpack on your next hiking trip. They are packed with wholesome dried fruits and nuts. For variety, try other combinations of dried fruit and nuts: Bananas, mangoes, and macadamias lend a tropical note; hazelnuts and pecans go well with figs, pears, and cranberries.

Blondies are usually baked in a square or rectangular pan and cut into bars. Here we’ve used a springform pan to bake a round that’s then cut into wedges. The familiar flavor is made even more irresistible with the spice of candied ginger, the sweetness of dried pears, and the crunch of pistachios.

Cocoa powder and chocolate lend rich, fudgy flavor to these twice-baked treats. They are thicker than most biscotti, and perfect for dunking in milk or coffee.

Cardamom-flavored cookies are a traditional specialty of the Scandinavian countries. This crisp cracker-like variety is made more crunchy with a topping of finely chopped pistachios and shredded coconut.

Bite-size pistachio cookies, sandwiched around a soft, chocolate filling, are dipped in bittersweet chocolate and garnished with a sprinkle of bright-green, slivered pistachios. They are extravagant enough for a special dinner party.

Tuile (pronounced “tweel”) means “tile” in French. Once the cookies cool, their shape takes on the appearance of a curved roof tile.

The financier gives you a failproof moist cake that will stand through the rigors of pâtisserie de cuisine. It is simple to make, which is a good thing for us at Joe Beef, with our limited space and no real pastry chef, and for the home cook. Keep in mind that baking is a science, and although we include volume measures here, weighing the ingredients is recommended. We use ornate wax paper tartlet molds. If you don’t have them or can’t find them, you can just fill muffin cups half full and you’ll get the same result. Serve the cakes with ice cream and sweet wine.

These green-and-red-studded biscotti look vaguely Christmassy but are good any time of year. Feel free to swap in other nuts or dried fruit—this combo is particularly pretty but you could use golden raisins, almonds, or hazelnuts as well. To make the biscotti even more decadent, dip in melted chocolate.

Brussels sprouts are rarely eaten raw, but they are amazing served this way. This salad is great served solo or as an accompaniment for pork chops, roast chicken, or even game meat. The fresh horseradish garnish is optional, but it lends a wonderful kick!

Pistachios and lamb are often paired in Greek cooking. Tomatoes, artichokes, and parsley—other common ingredients—combine to create a flavorful accompaniment.

Although the origins of spritz cookies are fuzzy—some say they come from Scandinavia, while others cite Germany—I'm inclined to believe it's the latter, because spritzen means to squirt in German, which is how these cookies are formed: The dough is squirted from a cookie press. You can make any shape you want, but we love these old-fashioned washboard strips. If the idea of yet another piece of kitchen equipment deters you, rest assured these cookies are so delicious, you'll be baking them more than once a year. A cookie press is not expensive and with all the different shapes you can make from the dough, it will more than pay for itself in fun and entertainment over the years for the child in all of us.

Not only is this giant layer cake a stunner, it is absolutely delicious with its creamy guava filling and fluffy buttercream frosting. We had a guava tree in my mom’s garden, and when the fruit was in season, we ate our share of guava cakes, guava tarts, guava water, and pretty much guava anything. This is my homage to my mom’s guava tree.

If you ask me, baklava is a two-person job, and even at that it’s a difficult one. I curse and fret during the production, but in reality there is no way to make such a huge quantity of dessert in such a reliable manner. And this is among the most wonderful, foolproof, impressive, and delicious desserts on the planet. A lasagne pan is about the right size; if you need to buy a pan, look for one that measures about 16 × 10 × 2 inches. You will also need a 1-inch brush (paintbrushes, bought at the hardware store, are cheaper than and identical to so-called pastry brushes). Two possible variations (there are dozens, but these are the simplest): Substitute hazelnuts, almonds, or unsalted pistachios (the best, but the most expensive) for the walnuts, and add about 2 tablespoons orange-flower water or rose water to the syrup after cooking it. With thanks to Virginia Christy and her brother Sem.