Five simple ingredients - cream, vanilla, salt, eggs and sugar - make for an exquisitely rich and elegant dessert. Most crème brûlée recipes require the use of a small propane torch to achieve the crackly...
Author: Mark Bittman
This creamy pudding, thickened with cornstarch and egg yolks and stirred together on the stove, is as homey as it gets. Spiking the mixture with a little bourbon or Scotch isn't strictly traditional, but...
Author: Melissa Clark
Simon Hopkinson is a first-rate pleaser, a chef who was never after recognition but one who wanted to produce terrific food his customers would love. He's best known as the founding chef of Bibendum, the...
Author: Mark Bittman
This is restaurant-grade pudding you can make at home. It's dense yet buoyant with a profound chocolate flavor thanks to the use of bittersweet and unsweetened chocolate. A healthy dose of salt balances...
Author: Melissa Clark
Pudding cakes are magical sweets, baking up into two distinct layers from a single, straightforward batter. On top is an airy sponge cake that puffs in the oven's heat. Right beneath it is the pudding,...
Author: Melissa Clark
The recipe for this Indian dessert comes from the North Carolina chef Cheetie Kumar, and it instantly transports her to her mother's kitchen around Diwali, the air rich with the aroma of fragrant carrots,...
Author: Brigid Washington
This crowd-pleasing Southern dessert created by layering vanilla pudding, vanilla wafers and bananas is adapted from Millie Peartree, the owner of Millie Peartree Fish Fry & Soul Food restaurant in the...
Author: The New York Times
You may know it as chocolate delight or chocolate lush, but while this dessert has many names, the recipe rarely varies. Traditionally, it starts with a salty nut base, followed by a mixture of cream cheese...
Author: Samantha Seneviratne
Ultracreamy but still ethereally light, these individual custards are set with lemon juice rather than eggs, cornstarch or gelatin. They are thick and velvety, but not overly rich, with a bright, clean...
Author: Melissa Clark
When it comes to pawpaw, accept no substitutes. Trust us; we tried. We went to a bunch of experts - scholars who specialize in fruit, plus chefs and cookbook authors who know all about the proud culinary...
Author: Jeff Gordinier
Whipping up this dessert may be the wisest decision you'll make in the summer: It comes together quickly and uses only five ingredients. Mashed juicy berries folded into lightly whipped cream results in...
Author: Vallery Lomas
A bottle of workmanlike Scotch or other whiskey can be as useful in the kitchen as it is on the bar, contributing alcohol and flavor to a range of recipes. A splash of it can sharpen a pan sauce for steak...
Author: Florence Fabricant
This light and airy mousse is just the thing when you want the flavor, but not the heft, of pumpkin pie. We think it's an elegant end to a hearty autumn meal - Thanksgiving or otherwise.
Author: Craig Claiborne And Pierre Franey
One of the most wonderful ways to celebrate fresh (and, in this case, even frozen) fruit, clafoutis originated in the Limousin region of France. Here, a small part of the batter is baked in the baking...
Author: Nik Sharma
This traditional Iberian flan, is now sometimes called "Flan a la Antigua," or Flan of the Past. That's because it doesn't include the common New World ingredients of condensed and evaporated milk. Instead,...
Author: Julia Moskin
Based on a traditional British pudding called posset, these ultrasilky custards set without the need for cornstarch, eggs or gelatin. (The acidity in the crème fraîche and brown sugar helps do that instead.)...
Author: Melissa Clark
This cozy dessert from Sara Mardanbigi and Edgar Rico, the owners of Nixta Taqueria in Austin, Texas, is a take on sholeh zard, a loose, heavily spiced Persian rice pudding Ms. Mardanbigi grew up eating....
Author: Priya Krishna
This butterscotch budino from the pastry chef Dahlia Narvaez is a pudding to shame all other puddings. The budino's simple master stroke? Over the pudding hovers a thin layer of caramel with an audaciously...
Author: Frank Bruni
Rice pudding prepared in an electric pressure cooker is both speedy and simple - the kind of thing you can whip up in minutes in between other kitchen tasks. This version calls for short-grain rice, which...
Author: Melissa Clark
Rich and creamy with a hit of floral cardamom, these puddings are a perfect make-ahead dessert. For the most flavor, make sure to break open the cardamom pods and crush the seeds using a mortar or pestle...
Author: Yossy Arefi
The journalist and cookbook author Von Diaz cooked her way through the classic Puerto Rican cookbook, Cocina Criolla, about six years ago, eventually using the experience as a jumping off point for her...
Author: Tejal Rao
You could use a combination of berries (raspberries, blueberries and blackberries in equal parts) in this crisp, but it especially sings with just blackberries. (Wild blackberries, if you can find them,...
Author: David Tanis
Constructed from layers of soft, spongy sliced bread and tons of juicy, just-cooked fruit, this British dessert gets an update with a layer of barely sweetened whipped cream. It is the best thing since,...
Author: Alison Roman
Freda DeKnight introduced many signature dishes to Ebony magazine in the mid-20th century. One was her rose petal pudding, which was beloved by Ebony staffers and readers alike. Although its origin story...
Author: Kayla Stewart
Always elegant, chocolate mousse is not at all difficult to make, and it can be prepared up to two days in advance. A classic chocolate mousse gets its foamy consistency from stiffly beaten egg whites....
Author: David Tanis
Using a microwave to cook lemon curd streamlines the entire process, and eliminates the need to stand over the stove whisking constantly. The result is silky-smooth and as tart as you like. Use the smaller...
Author: Melissa Clark
All the textbooks say the same thing: cooking granulated sugar until it turns into caramel involves complex chemistry. And I'm sure they are right. But I'm just as sure that what turns sugar into caramel...
Author: Dorie Greenspan
You can look at this as chocolate mousse stiffened by caramel or as a perfect caramel enriched by chocolate. Either way it is so rich, thick, gooey and creamy, so childish in a way, that it almost requires...
Author: Mark Bittman
This smooth, satisfying pudding recipe served at Franklin Delano Roosevelt's White House originally called for leaving the prunes in water overnight. But now that pitted prunes are readily available, an...
Author: Steven Kurutz
A splash of bourbon and a generous grating of fresh nutmeg transform this simple custard into a holiday sensation. Make the custard in advance, but wait to caramelize the topping about 10 minutes before...
Author: Samantha Seneviratne
Flour helva, a thick, sweet pudding that tastes of warm, toasted flour and browned butter, is both a ceremonial and everyday dish in Turkey. It's essential at gatherings such as funerals and births, but...
Author: Melissa Clark
There are two secrets to this silky, not-too-sweet pudding, a Jamaican holiday staple from Hazel Craig, the mother of the pastry chef Jessica Craig: Freshly grated nutmeg provides the warm, toasty flavor...
Author: Priya Krishna
The classic Italian panna cotta - cooked cream - is a pure white custard set with gelatin instead of eggs or starch. It can be prepared up to 2 days in advance, in individual ramekins or a larger mold....
Author: David Tanis
Dense and very creamy, this dark chocolate mousse has pockets of sesame tahini swirled through it, weaving a nutty flavor into the bittersweet. The candied cacao nibs add a piquant, caramelized crunch....
Author: Melissa Clark
This easy stovetop pudding is smooth, rich and tangy, just like your favorite cheesecake - but it's far faster (under an hour), far easier (no fussy water baths) and far less intimidating (the topping...
Author: Erin Jeanne McDowell
Anyone looking to try one's hand at playing around with a recipe can't do better than to start with rice pudding. I began making rice pudding with our son's babysitter, a Frenchwoman named Marie-Cécile,...
Author: Dorie Greenspan
This custard, a mix of French and Chinese techniques and tastes, comes from the New York pastry chef Daniel Skurnick. Because Mr. Skurnick is responsible for the desserts at the French restaurant Le Coucou...
Author: Dorie Greenspan
Sweet potato pone is a baked custard pudding-like dish that's something like a crustless sweet potato pie. This version is made with whole shreds of sweet potato, which is how it's often served during...
Author: Jerrelle Guy
This dairy-free version of lemon curd is lighter than more traditional, butter-enriched versions, but is just as tart and creamy. The olive oil gives it a complex flavor that can range from herbal and...
Author: Melissa Clark
Pastel de tres leches, a traditional Latin American dessert, consists of a basic sponge cake doused in three types of milk: condensed, evaporated and whole milk or cream. Inspired by the classic cake,...
Author: Samantha Seneviratne
A classic, old-fashioned chocolate pudding, this dessert is made a bit more interesting by layering with whipped sour cream (for a little tang) and crushed cookies of your choosing (for texture). While...
Author: Alison Roman
Shrikhand is a creamy yogurt-based dessert from western India made simply by straining yogurt and sweetening it. The yogurt is traditionally strained by pressing it between newspaper (to soak up extra...
Author: Tejal Rao
A gelatin salad, or Jell-O mold, may seem retro, but when you make one from scratch, substituting fresh juice and fruit in place of artificial flavoring and color, it can be spectacular, making a great...
Author: David Tanis
This recipe for arroz con leche came to us from Veronica Garcia of Houston. The original came from her maternal grandmother, but Ms. Garcia has since made a few adjustments: a little less sugar, a split...
Author: Sam Sifton
"Simple ingredients made super special" could not be more true of these lemon possets, which are well worth the effort for their perfect combination of creamy, tart, sweet and crispy. A posset is a quintessential...
Author: Yotam Ottolenghi
This delicate Ottoman milk pudding has a burned bottom layer that adds a toasted-marshmallow, caramel-like flavor reminiscent of crème brûlée. The pudding itself is thickened with cornstarch for a soft,...
Author: Melissa Clark
Five simple ingredients - cream, vanilla, salt, eggs and sugar - make for an exquisitely rich and elegant dessert. Most crème brûlée recipes require the use of a small propane torch to achieve the crackly...
Author: Mark Bittman
Diplomat cream is the professional baker's tool for pastry cream that won't collapse and turn watery. It uses both cornstarch and gelatin for the reliable structure, but a little cold butter and whipped...
Author: Gabrielle Hamilton
All the textbooks say the same thing: cooking granulated sugar until it turns into caramel involves complex chemistry. And I'm sure they are right. But I'm just as sure that what turns sugar into caramel...
Author: Dorie Greenspan
This is restaurant-grade pudding you can make at home. It's dense yet buoyant with a profound chocolate flavor thanks to the use of bittersweet and unsweetened chocolate. A healthy dose of salt balances...
Author: Melissa Clark