Blueberry

Offer some butter cookies alongside this dessert, which makes a lovely presentation.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

The curd can be prepared up to four days ahead; the assembled tartlets, one day ahead.

In this pie, one cup of berries is cooked to form a syrup. The remaining three cups of berries are heated in this syrup just enough to turn the blueberries a midnight blue with overtones of purple. The filling is then spooned into a prebaked crust. If you've made the crust ahead, this pie comes together in minutes. By dessert time, the filling is set.

"My husband, Garry, and I do a lot of business travel together these days," writes Sheryl Hurd-House of Jupiter, Florida, "so one of our favorite things is spending a very lazy Sunday morning at home reading the paper, sipping Bloody Marys, and having a nice brunch. This blueberry croissant French toast is one of my fastest, and most popular, brunch dishes. It’s Garry’s new favorite, and when our kids come to visit, they love it, too." A rich and delicious way to use leftover croissants. Sheryl always keeps some in the freezer, just in case.

These "patriotic" sundaes with their terrific blueberry-caramel sauce are a lot of fun for a Fourth of July party.

This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less but requires additional sitting time.

"I started cooking when I was a 'young married' in my twenties and realized I liked it," writes Sheryl Hurd-House of Jupiter, Florida. "But I'm having even more fun cooking now that our three children are grown and it's just me and my husband, Garry." Frozen berries — thawed, of course — can stand in for fresh ones in the winter. Prepare the frozen "baskets" (made from cream cheese that’s lightened with whipped cream) at least two hours and up to three days before serving.

Ruby Port in the juicy filling deepens the fruit flavors in this crisp. Top with vanilla ice cream or the ice cream from the Malted Milk Ice Cream Cake .

To help this crisp live up to its name, we devised a little trick: Squeeze the topping by handfuls to compact it, then crumble chunks of it over the filling. The chunks rest on top of the fruit instead of sinking into it.

Buttermilk makes the cake tender, and cream cheese adds great texture to the frosting.

Frozen blueberries make these muffins a year-round treat. You can use blue cornmeal for this recipe, but of course, the yellow works just as well.