Soufflé

Light and fluffy, these impressive desserts look, smell, and taste extraordinary — meringue gives them a cloudlike texture, while quince adds a delicious fragrance and beautiful pink hue. And they're very manageable for a small dinner party if you make your crêpes and prepare the quince ahead (see cooks' note, below). Bring them both to room temperature when you sit down to dinner; when it's time for dessert, you'll only need to beat your egg whites and assemble the soufflés for baking.

Persian in origin, this soufflé is wonderfully airy, and the eggplant is infused with garlic and lemon. Think of it as a warm, puffy baba ghanouj.

Watch out, pumpkin pie! This dessert is delicious even without a caloric crust. It's a light and flavorful soufflé consisting mostly of egg whites, a great source of high-quality protein. To further up the health quotient, naturally rich but low-calorie unsweetened soy milk is used in place of whole milk.

This recipe isn't easy, but if you're looking for the wow factor, here it is. Coming at the end of the meal, the dish reprises the flavor of the stuffed dates because each bite packs enormous punch as the sweet, savory, and acidic flavors come rushing forward.

Like the Dried Pear Soufflé, this dessert relies on dried fruit rather than a lot of fat for richness. The glazed cherries add color; dried cherries may be substituted if you like. Any fresh fruit in season can be used to garnish the dessert.

Editor's note: This recipe is excerpted from Maguy Le Coze and Eric Ripert's book the Le Bernardin Cookbook. To read more about Ripert, click here. Eric: We used to have a captain who would sell this cake to our female clientele by saying it was like the heart of a man: hard on the outside and meltingly soft on the inside.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

This recipe works best with Valrhona, Callebaut, or Lindt chocolate. The rich, slightly dense soufflés are made even more decadent when topped with the creamy caramel.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.