Fruit Dessert

This recipe is infinitely adaptable—swap in whichever summer fruit you prefer, add coconut flakes or sunflower seeds to the topping, and amp up the filling with fresh ginger or herbs.

"Strawberries and Sambuca are such a wonderful combination," says author Gina Marie Miraglia Eriquez. "Add a little vanilla in there and you can't go wrong. And it's beautiful, too." We totally agree.

Tami Hardeman, blogger (Running with Tweezers) and creator of these delightful desserts, says of her recipe, "I have to be honest - it's really all about the compote filling that gets folded up into these little pockets. It's chock full of the Indian-inspired spices that I crave with baked fruit: ginger, cardamom, cinnamon. The recipe makes more of this fruit filling than you'll need - save the rest of it in a mason jar for stuffed french toast, some melted brie on toast or stirred into yogurt."

This classic pie combines sweet Red Anjou pears with the subtle tartness of dried apricots and the distinct crunch of pecans.

Rich in protein, the oats and nuts in this sweet, crunchy dessert will help keep blood sugar levels stable.

Not a big baker? This dessert is for you. The simple topping can be made in one bowl and results in an airy, tender biscuit no matter your skill level.

Had kasha or soba? You've tasted buckwheat. The flour has an earthy, mineral flavor that pairs especially well with tart fruits, like these cherries.

Here's another dessert that was inspired by a wine-tasting dinner. It's often hard to come up with a dessert that pairs well with wine, but this savory-sweet dessert does. At its center is a Seckel pear, a small, reddish pear with a slightly spicy flavor. It has a firm flesh that makes it perfect for poaching. In this dessert I poach the pears in pomegranate juice with some ground black pepper. A chunk of Cabrales cheese, a strong blue cheese from northern Spain, is sandwiched between the top and bottom halves of the pear, and a Szechuan Ice Cream is served with it, sitting on a diamond of baked almond cream.

Curry powder is a natural with mangoes, since they are both important foods in India. Grilling the mangoes softens them slightly and intensifies their sweetness. The curry powder helps to bring out their heady perfume. This is the perfect dessert for those times when you already have the outdoor grill fired up for cooking your main course.

At the mention of this British dessert, my mind races through the various references to fools, from the fool that accompanied King Lear on his journey across the howling heath, to the modern question "What kind of fool are you?" But the name of this delicate dessert actually comes from the French word fouler, meaning to press or crush, referring to the crushed fruits that are gently folded into thick cream. It is this simplicity that makes the dish shine. And as the British fool, I get to choose the berries and sing "here we go round the mulberry bush" as I dish up!

We tried all kinds of gingersnaps to make this easy crust. Our favorite? Anna's Ginger Thins.

Tarte Tatin—Josh's all-time favorite dessert!—is a classic French upside-down apple tart that is prepared from start to finish in just one pan. It starts with sugar that cooks in the pan until it's caramelized, and then the apples are added and cooked until they are meltingly tender. The apple filling is then topped with pastry and the pan goes into the oven. The tarte is then inverted (to the delight of everyone watching) and served. While pie dough is the typical crust used for this tart, we've swapped in store-bought puff pastry for an easier preparation.

When we were first dating, we would stay up in bed for hours trying to come up with new interpretations of classic desserts. Bird chile and passion fruit pavlova; Stilton mousse with walnut Florentine; apple, currant, and Brie pot pie. But some classics we knew not to amp up with "bold flavors" because they were sacred. Such is the tarte bourdaloue. This was one of the first desserts Matt and I were both taught to make in our classical pastry training; it is the pride of any French patisserie worth its (artisinal) salt, and you will treat it with some goddamn respect! Traditionally, it's a buttery tart crust filled with poached pear and luxurious almond cream. However, no matter how mind blowing the tarte bourdaloue is, almost no one in this country knows what it is. French Matt Says: You uncultured American swine! So, in an effort to make this winning flavor combo a bit more popular this side of the pond, we broke tradition and messed with it a little to turn it into a cupcake¿I mean, what's more American than cupcakes? Besides bald eagles, of course, but then again, you can't eat those (yet)!

Consider this sweet and crunchy dessert a free-form fruit crisp. Be warned: The nutty oat topping is addictive.

This is a winning-contestant recipe from Season Four of Fox's MasterChef.

When I started working at Payard Pâtisserie in New York City, I had already been a pastry chef in Boston for a few years. I couldn't wait to see what this French guy could teach me. On my first day, I was handed a stack of recipes—all in French—and immediately realized it would be a challenging year. I spoke and read basic French, but I was pretty hazy on much of the baking vocabulary, and there were many words I'd never even seen before. Pithivier was one of them. I didn't even know how to pronounce it. (It's pee-tee-vee-YAY .) "Watch and learn," Chef Payard told me. He sandwiched a mound of rum-scented almond cream between two large squares of homemade puff pastry and then quickly scalloped the edges of the pastry to look like a sunflower. Slash-slash-slash went his paring knife over the top pastry as he etched sun rays into the surface. The whole thing went into the oven and emerged golden brown with a glorious starburst pattern on top. It put every other pastry I had ever made previously to shame. At Flour, we give our own spin to the pithivier by omitting the rum and adding a thick layer of caramelized apple butter atop the almond cream. It's a spectacular dessert.

If I were making dessert for one of my favorite movie stars, George Clooney or Meryl Streep, I'd bake this galette because it is simple, rustic, and honest. If you want to serve it to a large group for a special gathering, the recipe doubles easily to make a 12-inch galette. Accompany with a dollop of whipped cream or vanilla ice cream and you have a totally scrumptious home-style dessert. --Marcy

Paper-thin crepes aren't so fussy. "They're almost simpler than pancakes," says pastry chef Garrelts.