A seasonal fruit salad made with plump strawberries, sweet cherries, lemon zest, and coriander brown sugar. Plus a few photos from QUITOKEETO.

Beautiful buttermilk muffins - berry-streaked with sugar-sparkled tops, big flavor, and buttermilk-tender texture.

A chocolate pudding that is hard to beat. From this day forward, if you come to my house for dinner, and I decide chocolate pudding might be a nice finish to the meal, this is the recipe I'll be using.

One of the easiest cookies I know how to make - made from rolled oats, they're razor thin and lacy, golden, freckled with poppy seeds, with and anise accent from crushed fennel seeds.

The Saffron-Vanilla Snickerdoodle recipe from The Blue Bottle Craft of Coffee: Growing, Roasting, and Drinking, with Recipes.

A luscious fresh mint frozen yogurt recipe from the soon-to-be-released(!) Sprouted Kitchen cookbook.

Snappy, small, fragrant, vanilla wafer cookies made with a whole vanilla pod. The entire thing!

A beautiful ruby-hued rhubarb rosewater syrup. Perfect on (or in) everything from yogurt, spritzers, waffles, or oatmeal.

I took slices of this chocolate bundt cake on a road trip to Portland this week. Slathered with chocolate buttermilk icing, it's a great travel treat made with a blend of whole wheat and all-purpose flours, lots of yogurt, and the darkest brown sugar I can get my hands on.

A vibrant ginger grapefruit curd recipe & scans from my Marrakesh photographs.

This black sticky gingerbread recipe makes an outrageously dark, dense, flavorful and delicious cake. The burnt-caramel-esque crust that forms on the top of the cake is part of what makes this recipe a keeper.

A moist, ridiculously good banana bread recipe. A banana bread that is chocolate studded, lemon kissed, and made with whole wheat flour (and olive oil!) - from Melissa Clark's new book. Plus pics from a a beautiful wedding I attended at an off-season summer camp.

My go-to berry pie recipe - a rye flour crust and mixed berry filling seasoned with fresh thyme leaves.

Lillet-spiked buttermilk shakes. Just a quick grown-up twist on the classic vanilla milkshake.

A no bake chocolate cake I make when I'm feeling particularly lazy and need a crowd-pleaser of a dessert. Good-quality dark chocolate, cream, and whatever you like to infuse the cream - you're set.

Toasty, nutty sable cookies made with whole wheat flour, sliced almonds, currents and salted butter. And a peek at some of my favorite vintage cookie cutters.

A cardamom-kissed, brown sugar crusted, squash-battered spice cake. Made with brown butter and a bit of leftover winter squash.

Charming little bite-sized, powder-coated pistachio cookies inspired by a visit to Mona Talbott's kitchen and the Rome Sustainable Food Project at the American Academy in Rome.

I'm posting this recipe not because these are the best oatmeal chocolate chip cookies ever of all time. They're good, but...I'm posting the recipe, because they make amazing ice cream sandwich cookies. And it's prime ice cream sandwich season.

Cookies made from toasted quinoa and wheat flours, flecked with chocolate shavings, rolled and stamped into cloud shapes.

A simple spring crumble - rhubarb, strawberry, and a splash of port wine with a buttery black pepper, pine nut and oat crumble top. Sounds a bit fancy, but really, it couldn't be easier to make.

Dense, gooey chocolate brownies packed with boozy, port-soaked dried cherries. Made with Muscovado sugar, chocolate chunks, and crème fraiche.

I came across a cookie when I visited Portland, it was a crackle-edged puddle of chocolate with a texture that made me think of the collision between a soft meringue and a fudgy brownie.

The little black dress of my tart repertoire - bittersweet chocolate with a thin brown sugar crust. The filling is a dark chocolate ganache, the consistency of thick frosting, set off by the crispness of the crust, finished with a dusting of cocoa powder, and a pinch of sea salt.

Around the holidays these pretty, sparkling sugared cranberries are perfect. Tart and sweet, they glint and wink in the surrounding holiday lights, and lend a striking dash of red to the table.

An apple and carrot-flecked shortbread recipe inspired by a recipe I came across in Good Tempered Food by Tamasin Day-Lewis.

A twist on the classic, I use crisp brown rice cereal slathered in a decadent peanut butter maple syrup sludge. This version of treats has bits of chopped, toasted pistachios throughout - also vegan (no marshmallows) and gluten-free.

An old-fashioned blueberry cake sweetened with molasses adapted from a reader submitted recipe to the July 1974 issue of Gourmet Magazine - rustic, dark as chocolate, tender, and punctuated with lots of tiny pockets of oozy, magenta berry flesh.

I made these cookies for Wayne to eat when he finished the San Francisco Marathon. The batter is made with pureed white beans, lots of oats, and whole wheat flour. The resulting cookies are sesame coated and flavored with aniseed, lemon zest, olive oil and chopped dates. They are beautifully tender, licorice-scented, with a bit of crunch from the sesame seed coating.

A deliciously dense, buckwheat flour cake that can be baked off in a tart or cake pan. From David Lebovitz's new book, The Sweet Life in Paris.

These charming little tartlets finish off a meal nicely. Oat-crusted with a creamy, ginger-spiked yogurt filling, they are delightful topped with any number of adornments - fresh berries, dried fruit, or crystallized ginger.

This is a rich, decadent, but basic chocolate cake recipe. It is chocolate-packed, moist, and not-too-complicated. Baked and served in one pan slathered with a layer of fresh chocolate whipped cream frosting.

The perfect bite-sized chocolate chip cookie. Tiny, thin, golden, crisp, a bit nutty with plenty of shaved chocolate.

This ginger cookie recipe is made special with three kinds of ginger and a hint of lemon zest. Cracked and sugar-crusted on the outside, dense and moist within.

Powder-kissed and pretty, these Swedish Rye cookies are perfect for holiday cookie enthusiasts who are after a not-too-sweet, shortbread-style butter cookie.

My take on the classic fantasy fudge recipe - made with Scharffen Berger chocolate, butter (not margarine) , and organic cane sugar.

Favorite, easy pumpkin pie recipe. Made from a rich, roasted pumpkin and coconut milk base, and baked in a hazelnut-lined crust - delicious!

A deliciously unfussy and relatively healthy apple cake recipe. Red-skinned apples punctuate a buttermilk batter and a final sprinkling of sugar before baking lends a nice top crust.

A caramel apple recipe made from apples, honey, cream, and salt - all-natural, with no processed corn syrup or other funky ingredients.

Toasted coconut, almonds, ground coffee, and good chocolate dropped into little bite-sized chocolate clusters.

A rustic, cherry cobbler recipe made from fresh cherries - though you can certainly try this recipe with other types of summer fruit and berries.

A favorite buttermilk cake recipe, I love the way smashed berries bleed into the sugar-crusted top of this cake. Swap in whatever fruit is in season.

A riff on one of my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipes. This version features banana chips, chocolate chips, toasted walnuts, toasted wheat germ, and whole wheat pastry flour.

My go-to cherry tart recipe - unfussy, and quick to make with a moist, coconut macarooned top.

This quirky, yet amazing black bean brownie recipe delivers deliciously dense, bite-sized squares of melt-in-your-mouth fudge-textured brownies.

An Anzac cookie recipe, with a few little twists. Not overly-sweet, Anzacs are made from oats, coconut, and flour coming together in a butter-kissed dough. You end up with a hearty, sturdy cookie, with little fuss - altogether hard to get wrong.

Ultimate tapioca - a creamy, classic, delicious, vanilla-spiked tapioca pudding recipe.

A fun meringue recipe that enables you to shape the meringue into seasonal shapes - ghosts for halloween, or snowmen for the holidays

A deeply dark and impossibly decadent coconut chocolate pudding recipe. Creamy coconut milk base infused it with a whisper of warming spices.

A beautiful, buttery shortbread cookie recipe straight from the Hearst Castle kitchen.

This rustic plum and peach crisp has a generous oat-flecked crumbly crust. Paired with a dollop of cold, creamy vanilla ice cream - heavenly.

An easy wonderfully tangy, not-too-sweet, creamy white cloud of perfect frozen yogurt deliciousness.

Knee-deep coconut flecked frosting tops over a sour cream coconut cake batter base make these a quintessential holiday cupcake recipe.

A fantastic summer shortcake recipe crowned with perfect little gems of summer fruit, glistening with a honey-and-champagne syrupy glaze.

A good Mexican wedding cookie recipe results in a tender nutty, butter-based cookie topped with an extravagant blizzard of powdered sugar.

A twist on the traditional peanut butter cup. It uses all-natural ingredients and instead of peanut butterthe chocolate shell envelopes Brazil nut butter.

A liquid nitrogen ice cream recipe - it uses a vanilla base, and makes a wonderfully creamy ice cream.

The most exhaustive, detailed instructions on how to make a souffle excerpted from La Bonne Cuisine de Madame E. Saint-Ange - there are few better teachers.

If you are looking to learn how to whisk egg whites properly, there are few better teachers than Madame E. Saint-Ange. The most meticulous intructions you are likely to find on the topic.

Silky, dark chocolate fondue recipe. Simple with just two ingredients and lots of ideas on what makes the best dunkables.

Served in shot glasses this peppermint semifreddo recipe makes a fluffy, dreamy, cloud-like, winter wonderland dessert.

From Michael Ableman's book, Fields of Plenty, a rustic, homey, unfussy pear cake recipe that comes together in five minutes before baking.

This melon sherbet recipe is all-natural, and refreshing. The addition of honey gives it a richness and depth of flavor that you don't normally get when you use refined white sugar.

Simple-yet-decadent this dairy-free chocolate mousse recipe wins over non-vegans and vegans alike.

Rose Beranbaum's Chocolate Oblivion Truffle Torte Recipe creates the best chocolate cake I've ever tasted.

A great way to use up stone fruits. Simple, fast, and decadent using just five ingredients - cream, egg yolks, maple sugar, seasonal stone fruit, and a splash of liquer.

Julie Hasson's delicious ginger cupcake recipe. Little bursts of crystallized ginger speckle each moist and sophisticated little cake.

The flavor in this gratin recipe stops time. The almond top melds perfectly with the sweet spiked juice of the cherries. It is a perfect recipe to welcome in cherry season.

The perfect standard crepe recipe from Larousse Gastronomique, I've included many variations and topping suggestions here as well.

A tasty, no-fuss dessert - these might be the best tasting milkshakes ever.

Stuffed dates are rich, indulgent, and delicious. I strongly suggest trying this recipe the next time you are looking for a nice, simple dessert to top off a nicer than average meal.

This honey ice cream recipe makes a creamy bowl of goodness that tastes as good as it looks. Four ingredients; plump vanilla beans, heavy cream, whole milk, and honey. That's it.

Cool, refreshing, and tropical, this icebox cake recipe features a gingersnap crust, vanilla ice cream, rum, macadamia nuts, and toasted coconut.

I love these. You can remix them a thousand different ways with various flavors of preserves.

A moist and delicious jam cake recipe with berry undertones and sugary crispness from the brown sugar icing. A favorite.