The perfect strawberry shortcake for Memorial Day (and all berry season long) -- thanks to an odd secret ingredient.

I love monkey bread, and the warm and happy family-time feeling of gathering around something and tearing it apart. But I want my holiday breakfast to have a hint of sugarplum-y whimsy- enter gingerbread. This is my attempt to marry two delicious dishes into one fantastic breakfast. I hope you like it! Oh, and I wanted to test this by doing steps 1-8 the night before, refrigerating the pan of dough, and then doing the second rise in the morning, but I ran out of time. So if you want to make this for breakfast, you could give that a try, or wake up at 5 AM- your call :)

What's not to love about fruit bars? They're carb-y enough to comfort, fruity enough to qualify as at least semi-healthy, sugary enough to feed your sweet tooth, and best of all, they're a snap to throw together for brunch on Sunday morning or for dessert after a long day at the office. In fact, they're so easy to make that you can probably put your kids to work for most of this recipe.

In my new quest to have my cake and eat it too, I "healthified" the traditional sugar-, fat- and white flour- laden fruit bar recipe by replacing much of the required oil with applesauce and cutting back some of the sugar. The result? Each serving contains only 133 calories and 3 grams of fat, plus a respectable amount of vitamin C, iron and fiber. As is the case with many of my recipes, this one is modular so please tailor it to fit your own tastes, dietary preferences and seasonality [See ideas for variations below]. Recipes should be springboards to creativity – not rules to be followed blindly. You can replace the raspberries with virtually any fruit, for example, and use any kind of flour you have on hand; I actually used sorghum flour, so you can even make these gluten-free. Let me know what you come up with!

This is a simple dough that comes together in a few minutes in a stand mixer—then chills in the fridge for a bit. The key here is to roll the dough as thin as you can, then cut it with whatever tool you prefer. I use a little wooden tool called a jagger that I recovered from my grandmother’s kitchen tools. It creates a slightly ruffled edge, which I love. Serve your graham crackers with nut butter, or (need I even say it?) stack with chocolate and charred homemade marshmallows for your very own s’mores.

Slices of this chocolate bundt cake spent the better part of the past week in the car with me. Each piece, wrapped in parchment, tucked between the Ak-Mak crackers and a jar of almond butter. It is a fine travel cake. One that can handle a day or two in the car - blizzards, bumps in the road, hairpin turns, and all. Topped with not much more than a sweep of icing, it's unfussy, and ready to go straight from the pan. I make it with a blend of whole wheat and all-purpose flours, lots of yogurt, and the darkest brown sugar I can get my hands on. And it was just the thing to unwrap on a picnic table underneath a grove of sky-scraping redwood trees.

This is, admittedly, not a proper sandwich in that it is not two slices of hearty white or whole wheat with a spread or stack of deli meats and cheese. But if we get down to technicalities, it is in fact two pieces of bread with stuffing.
The idea for this sweet popover sprang out of my strongly observed ritual of eating chocolate, honey, Maldon salt, and fruit out of a tiny teacup every night after I've tucked myself into bed. Usually I am quite satisfied with my post-dinner treat, but oftentimes I wish the chocolate had presented itself in less flat and square fashion.
Mousse is the one of my favorite incarnations of chocolate: billowy, airy, light as a cloud. The procedure is simple, with the results being anything but plain: a custard is made by whisking hot heavy cream into a mixture of egg yolks and sugar, then cooking it over gentle heat just until it thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. Stirring is the only real rule you must stick to, as, no pun intended, the custard will curdle and scramble most unappealingly and stick to the bottom of the saucepan. Melted chocolate is then added to the base. Now, this recipe calls for 60% cocoa content chocolate; do not use a higher content as it will affect the consistency of the custard in a terrible way.
Once the custard is cooled, whipped cream and egg whites beaten to soft peaks are folded in and almond extract added for flavoring. The mousse is impossibly frothy and just rich enough.
While you could eat chocolate mousse in a cup, or straight from the bowl, it goes wonderfully in freshly made cocoa popovers, whose batter comes together quick as a wink and makes for irresistible presentation, acting as an edible serving dish for the mousse. I allow them to cool a bit to let the steam out, then remove some of the crumb to make room for the filling. Fresh raspberries, a drizzle of honey, a sprinkling of Maldon salt, and of course, the popover top, complete this dessert sandwich.

I may not be the biggest cereal fan around these parts, but I still fit the two major criteria which, in my opinion, make you a cereal fanatic:
1. For you, a box of cereal contains about 3 servings.
2. You often eat cereal for lunch or dinner, not because you're too lazy to cook, but because you want to squeeze another bowl into your day.
That second category was easy enough to pull off in college, when I often ate cereal for dinner. Who was going to judge me? The kid who made a tater tot-hot sauce sandwich? I think not.
As a so-called adult, and a so-called adult who lives with another (arguably) adult person, this is more difficult. I cook real dinners. I make fish, lasagna, stews. If I offered up two bowls of Cheerios for dinner I'd be met with the sound of Thai food delivery at the door.
So how to increase my cereal intake without surreptitiously downing a few bowls before bed? Put it in my baked goods, that's how.
There are obvious choices: Rice Krispie treats, or, my personal favorite, the s'more bar recipe on the back of the Golden Grahams box. As of last week there was a new contender: Ranger Cookies. And now there are these—individually sized corn flake and oat crumbles. They are best described as a streusel-crumble-muffin hybrid. My favorite part? They hide a layer of fruit preserves. (I used strawberry, but you can choose your poison).
These babies are rich—sweet, oaty, crumbly, and buttery—and just the thing to eat with a cup of strong coffee.

These brightly coloured moreish meringues and almond biscuit sandwiches will make the perfect gift for foodies. 

Lighter and airier than their street food cousins, these zeppole are a must for St. Joseph's Day celebrations in Italian American communities. Traditional zeppole are filled with vanilla or chocolate pastry cream or cannoli filling. To make vanilla pastry cream, omit cocoa powder. Serve topped with a cherry or amarena (sour cherry), if desired. The instructions here are for miniature zeppole. If larger zeppole are desired, you can achieve this by piping a larger circle.

Filled with a variety of berries, these buckwheat pancakes may be unconventional but they sure are a scrumptious alternative to the traditional ones.

This is one of the most delicious pancake recipes around. It's tried and tested. It's wonderful with a simple dusting of sugar and a good squeeze of lemon, or be extra decadent and pair it with a luxurious chocolate sauce.

I've never been able to make a successful batch of biscuits. My botched attempts have reached the double digits. I finally just assumed me and biscuits weren't meant to be.
But I reconsidered this notion after coming across a recipe in Andrew Carmellini's American Flavor entitled The World's Best Biscuits—End of Story. Any biscuits with a name like that were certainly worth their weight in flour, buttermilk, and shortening.
After so many batches of leaden hockey puck biscuits, it was going to take a pretty incredible recipe to break my track record and to Carmellini's credit, his biscuits were just that good.
There are two steps in this World's Best Biscuits recipe that sets these fluffy little gems aside from others—a honey butter glaze that has the power to make anything insanely delicious and a dough that rolled, folded, and beaten down a total of seven times for optimal flakiness and breathtaking height. The biscuits were tall when they went into the oven and even taller and more beautiful when they came out, not to mention perfectly tender with just the right touch of sweetness.
So, are they the world's best? I'm going to have to say yes. Better than any biscuits I've made (obviously) and even better than the best biscuits that I've had outside of my kitchen.

Who doesn't love Monkey Bread? Think of this gooey pull-apart sweet as part cinnamon bun and part Dunkin' Munchkin'. Recipes for Monkey Bread first started popping up in women's magazines in the 1950s, and although there's much speculation about the origins of its intriguing name, I haven't found one yet that I actually believe. No matter. Like Will Shakespeare said, "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet." Even if Monkey Bread were called Hippo Bread, it would still taste just as seratonin-inducing and comforting. What's not comforting is the fact that most Monkey Breads are made using....shudder!... refrigerated, store-bought biscuit mix and more butter than a Paula Dean buffet.

My first cookbook, The Urban Vegan, included a recipe for Deconstructed Monkey Bread. I created it because, although I love all the flavors of Monkey Bread [cinnamon, sugar, sticky caramel], I don't always have time to wait around for the yeast to rise, and frankly, sometimes, I just can't always be bothered. But yesterday's untimely snowstorm inspired some extreme kitchen lingering. So I set out to further "healthify" and veganize a traditional yeasted Monkey Bread recipe that I spotted in Cooking Light.  While this baked, my loft smelled much more fragrant than a candle shop. I'm sure the neighbors were jealous.

These pancakes are light and fluffy and great for a weekend brunch. Try adding a large handful of fresh blueberries to the batter before cooking.

Roly-poly pudding is a steamed or baked roll of suet dough filled with jam. This 19th-century suet-pastry recipe was also known as shirt-sleeve pudding after the article of old clothing in which the steamed version was cooked. Cut in thick slices to expose a spiral of jam, it is usually served with custard. At school, before the health police moved in, it was a weekly treat and often went by the nickname of dead man's leg. The baked version has the advantage of a golden crust; the steamed version is often moist and tends to keep its shape better as it is tightly bandaged in muslin at it cooks.

Kolaches, those sweet little stuffed pastries of Czech origin are one of those regionally unique treats that's not too easy to find outside of a certain area of Texas.
To satisfy her craving for these little yeasted buns, Lisa Fain, author of The Homesick Texan Cookbook, took it upon herself to recreate them in her tiny New York. She equates the challenge to tackling bagel-baking in Texas—ambitious with a touch of foolhardiness.
It took Fain a few attempts to get her kolaches up to her exacting standards but these are pretty darn close to the ones that she was missing.
For the uninitiated, kolaches are lightly sweet, squishy little buns that are most commonly filled with dried fruit, cream cheese, or sausage. The sweet ones are finished with a sprinkling of cinnamon spiked streusel. Fain reminisces stopping for the best kolaches in West, Texas, a hamlet that lies halfway between Dallas and Austin, but if a Texas road trip isn't in the cards just yet, this homemade version is almost as satisfying.

Use your favorite jam in these crumbly, nutty-flavored treats.

I first learned about this sinfully sweet dessert many years ago from my mother-in-law. When I used to visit Marc in Montreal when we were first dating (long distance), his mom Pauline made us lots of wonderful dinners and with dinner there was always something for dessert. Pouding Chomeur, also known as "unemployment pudding" or "floating island" is a traditional Quebecois dessert which is made with cheap ingredients, hence the name "chomeur" which means "unemployed" in french. It bakes up as a vanilla white cake with a sticky brown sugar sauce underneath. I've veganized Pauline's recipe and I am posting it here to share. There are a myriad of chomeur recipes out there with different proportions of ingredients. This particular recipe I find has a higher cake to sauce ratio but I'm assuming you can double the sauce recipe if you prefer. I haven't actually tried that so I don't know what the result will be. You can always make extra sauce on the side and pour on each slice as you serve.

For a traditional nursery treat try Lotte Duncan's simple recipe for a warming semolina pudding, ideal for cold weather eating

Lately, I've been totally obsessed with coconut. I eat dried coconut flakes as a snack, use coconut oil in granola, and macaroons have totally stolen my heart. Best part—coconut is kosher for Passover, and coconut macaroons are a cinch to make in the kitchen, so much so that you will never touch those stale Manishewitz things again.

The trick: Mix shredded coconut with coconut flakes to get just the right texture. The cookies get that perfect ratio of crispy to chewy. And if you want uber-decadent, feel free to drizzle a bit of melted chocolate over your macaroons.

Chewy Caramel Popcorn and Pretzel Bars (Adapted from Everyday Food)

Maryann here from sunny Port St. Lucie, Florida. I made this cheesecake last week and my husband said it was one of the best he has ever had. If you knew my husband, coming from him, this was earth shattering.

I have to admit that when I see a dessert recipe that doesn't call for sugar, eggs or flour, I am more than a bit dubious; these Chewy Chocolate Macaroons from Clean Start by Terry Walters call for none of the above. But reading down the list of ingredients—coconut, both shaved and milk, maple syrup, almond extract, and chocolate—well, I had a feeling that these macaroons were going to work out just fine.

After melting down the chocolate and mixing all of the ingredients together, you form little balls of coconut that bake until just dry on the surface. Infinitely lighter and more delicate than their eggy counterparts, these vegan, gluten-free macaroons were airy, crisp on the outside and chewy within and flavored with a subtly sweet mix of almond and maple. I much preferred this lightened up version to the dense original, and that's saying a lot for a dessert made without any sort of dairy or gluten.

Chef Cathal Armstrong of Restaurant Eve in Alexandria, Virginia, shared this recipe as part of a St. Patrick's Day feast he created exclusively for Epicurious. Although this dessert originated in Bakewell, England, chefs and cooks around England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales have created their own adaptations. Chef Armstrong's version, which is based on his mother's, is halfway between the classic Bakewell tart and the classic Bakewell pudding. This recipe calls for a quick puff pastry, but in a pinch you can use the store-bought frozen variety. Leftover puff pastry can be used to make Cheese Straws or Palmiers.

This recipe is perfect for popcorn you've just popped yourself, either with a hot-air popper, the stovetop, or an electric one that uses oil. You can even pop the microwavable kind (make sure it's plain and unsalted) then dress it up to make the process even easier. Adding peanuts makes it sort of Cracker Jack-like, but this recipe uses honey instead of molasses and adds peanut butter for a double peanut whammy.

If creme brulee had been the fad thirty years ago that it is today, my grandmother would have ordered it and I am sure she would have said, "it's just baked custard." Of course, she would have been right. This old-fashioned classic has been rediscovered recently, and you would be hard pressed to find an upscale restaurant these days that doesn't offer it in some form or another. This version is as easy as they get and as tasty as they come.

It may seem odd that we’re sharing this – a recipe for salted caramels, but what many of you don’t know, is that my wife makes a batch of these to give out at every event we attend. Now we like to think we draw a crowd because of our app, but it could be the caramels… call us chicken, but it’s going to be a long time before we stop giving these away at our booth… why tempt fate. This is a ‘Barefoot Contessa’ recipe that rocks. Try and it and tell us what you think. Oh and if you’re new to Cohuman, try our app too.

Dates are one of the many dried fruits that are delicious in both sweet and savory foods, and are also nutritious and full of fiber. In these simple layered bars, a soft date mixture is sandwiched between a crumbly, cinnamon-flavored oat-based crust. These bars are not only great for a simple brunch, but would travel well to someone else's get together, or even the office if you feel generous.

Make these the night before and serve them at room temperature in the morning with plenty of strong black coffee to compliment the steadying sweetness of the soft dates.

It's a glorious afternoon in St. Thomas, and we're having friends over for an Italian dinner tonight. The menu is simple Tuscan fare (and my favorites): roasted red peppers on ciabatta for starters; salad of mixed greens with lavender goat cheese, almonds, and dried fruit with a balsamic vinaigrette; trofei (tight rolled pasta) with truffle sauce (salsa tartufata) straight from Siena; and panna cotta with berries (frutti di bosca); all accompanied by prosecco, soave, or red wine (not my choice, so I don't know the kind of red it is). After searching for panna cotta (and checking the calorie level of the kind made with full cream - almost 500 calories per serving, thanks but no thanks) I found a recipe for "skinny" panna cotta - and of course immediately doctored it to suit my taste plus to make it easier. (Yes, I'm sure the real vanilla bean makes it much tastier, but at $8 per bean, this public school teacher opted for real vanilla extract.) I've used some lower fat dairy options, and some full fat because I couldn't find lower fat items. Mix and match, it's all good. Note: for those of you watching calories, this comes out to 175 calories per serving if you make 4 healthy servings - I filled wine goblets about 3/4 of the way full, rather than going for smaller servings (and fewer calories).

A super simple, been-done-so-many-times-before, no-bake bar usually made of puffed rice. You know the one. Do I even have to tell you how to do it? Here are the guidelines I used. Find my tweaks below. I happen to have amaretto-flavored agave nectar and I don’t think I’ll ever go back to anything else. It was love at first rotten tooth.

The over-the-top dessert lover in me considered adding a layer of chocolate ganache or a simple melted chocolate drizzle, but the memory of being so sick on sweets earlier that day (to the point where my head started spinning and I spoke in tongues) put me back in my place.

I know this is a cop-out recipe and feel just an eensy bit embarrassed for posting it, but I figure there might be other corn flakes nihilists out there who might want to form a club. We could even come up with a Scorn for Corn logo and knit our own sweaters with vegan-friendly yarn and stuff.

Marmalade is for people looking for a little more character in their morning jam—something sweet and sticky with a slightly bitter edge. Traditionally, that little twinge of bitter comes from using the rind as well as the pulp and juice of the Seville orange when making the preserve (although marmalade can be made from other citrus fruits as well). Using marmalade in the batter of this pound cake, as well as a glaze, contributes a little of that bitter flavor to the traditional sugary pound cake, giving what can be a classically simple soft, sweet cake more dimension. This cake can be made without a standing mixer, but be sure to use very soft butter if you are going to attempt it.

America needs more bran," says food editor Ian Knauer. It's hard to argue when your mouth is full of one of his crumbly, deliciously buttery bran muffins. Golden raisins add sunny bursts to this healthful snack.

When I choose recipes for our weekly themes I base my choices largely on my own personal preferences and, as might be expected, these personal preferences frequently lead me down a well-trodden path. For example, I found a recipe for apple pecan pancakes that sounded good to me because I like apples, I like pecans, and I like pancakes, so I announced that today's recipe would be Apple Pecan Pancakes. However, when it came time to compose the recipe for today's edition, it sounded very familiar. Sure enough, I published a similar recipe for Apple Pecan Pancakes a couple of years ago, so rather than repeat myself, I decided to publish a different recipe today. I have included the Apple Pecan Pancake recipe below for those readers who had their hearts set on it.

Yep, I did a batch of peanut butter and a batch of chocolate chip. And a batch of something my mom always called "Patty Johnson Raisin Bars". My dad worked with a guy named Mac Johnson, and his wife gave the recipe to my mom, and thus they have remained named.

This pudding is delicious served warm or chilled.

Rice Pudding Grand-Mere
from The Paris Café Cookbook: Rendezvous and Recipes from 50 Best Cafes,
by Daniel Young

Shir Berenj is a traditional Persian dessert, it can be served cold or hot. You'll need rosewater for this recipe and you can get it at any Persian stores; If you can't find it, use vanilla.

Recipe for Caramel Corn.

Greetings to Recitopia from Bill in chilly North Central Florida. 'Tis the season for us non-bakers to make a rare exception. This one is pretty easy and usually gets rave reviews whenever I serve it. Thanks to my daughter-in-law who gave me the recipe 10 or 15 years ago.

In honor of the January "Sugar High Friday" food blogging event, I decided to make some decadent and delicious chocolate candy. The theme this month is "Chocolate by Brand."

Toffee is a hard candy made mainly with sugar and butter. In America, the term "English toffee" is generally used for toffee prepared with a coating of chocolate and almonds. This recipe is easy to prepare and yields a full flavored, crunchy toffee that has just a little "stickiness" when chewed.

Chocolate and almonds top off a rich buttery toffee. A simple recipe that you could easily remember and whip up any time. I always get compliments and requests for more. Use any type of nut that you like in place of the almonds.

For those who have to "fudge" a little during the holidays...

Seriously my friends, is there anything better than chocolate and toffee together?

Especially when the toffee has a brown sugar-flavored buttery snap and luscious chocolate is smeared over the top so it hardens and melds with the crackly caramelized matzoh underneath. When a marriage is this good, a picture can only do partial justice to the love that exists between the happy couple.

There are many ideas on the origin of this cake and, indeed, some different recipes for same. This one was developed by a Queensland chef called Gerard Yaxley. It is absolutely delicious. I hope you enjoy this one.

It is called Toffee Butter Crunch (found it on the sfgate site). I've used almonds, sometimes pecans. Not too keen on hazelnuts. I've made it multiple times and never had a problem.

(Flo Braker) Marge Sternlieb, a friend and former caterer, sent me this recipe a number of years ago. I think of her fondly every time I make this thin, easy-to-chew, delectable toffee. For the neatest shapes, a mallet or rolling pin helps make uniform cuts, or just break into random pieces with your hands.

You may substitute 2 cups (10 1/2 ounces) blanched almonds or 2 cups (9 ounces) slivered almonds for the hazelnuts, if you wish. After chopping the nuts, shake them in a sieve to eliminate the minuscule nut particles. Use these fine, powdery remains as part of the flour for a favorite cookie, brownie or cake.

These Austrian pancakes are closer to French crêpes than the thick North American pancake. Traditionally palatschinken are served for lunch or dinner, but growing up under the care of an Austrian mother and grandmother, I often had them for breakfast as well. Instead of the folded French crêpes, palatschinken are filled and then rolled (jelly-roll style), and traditionally filled with apricot jam.

The almonds in this recipe lend a pleasant flavor to the rice.

Introducing caramelized, almond-scented Bostock, French toast gone to finishing school. And it's ready in minutes

This spicy, dense bread is an ideal accompaniment for soup or chowder - it's ready in less than an hour

A low-fat cheescake with a tangy strawberry kick

Could you use regular oranges? Perhaps. I wouldn’t. Blood oranges are very special and I’m quite fond of them. And they are in season right now. Cindie says if you prefer a tart candy you can cut the brown sugar in half. I happen to think they were just perfect as written.

I did not grow up eating capirotada. Truth be told, I had never even heard of it until a few years ago when I was at a Mexican restaurant on a Lenten Friday. “Hay capirotada,” was written on a chalkboard and curious what it was, I ordered some. The waitress brought me a small plate with a dessert made of toasted bread slices drenched in a sweet and spicy syrup. It was soft and sticky, but there were crunchy almonds, chewy raisins and a creamy tang to keep it from becoming cloying. Capirotada? I was in love!

Almond-Macaroon Torte with Chocolate Frosting and Orange Compote

White Chocolate-Raspberry Cheesecake Bars (Adapted from Kraft)

Croquembouche, a spun sugar tower of cream puffs, is French for “crunch in the mouth.” Of course it’s French – who else would concoct such a perilous pile of pastries?

MOIST CHECKERBOARD CAKE RECIPE: Serves 16.

Kate is an avid home baker, but it took her a while to figure out egg- and dairy-free desserts. The cake and the oatmeal bars are two of her favorite vegan treats.

Butterscotch Squares
from Fun With Cooking by Mae Blacker Freeman