Sour Cream

Who doesn't love a wedge? Ask your butcher to cut slab bacon into thick slices (about 1/4") to yield nice meaty pieces once they're crisped on the grill.

Once a way to make use of stale tortillas (by toasting and/or frying them), tostadas are so good that it wasn't long before people simply started using fresh tortillas. After biting into these layers of flavor—crunchy, creamy, luscious—you'll see why.

An extra smooth, delightfully tangy guacamole.

Double-baking means double the fun—and the indulgence. This hybrid of baked and mashed potatoes is comfort food par excellence.

Inspired by Alice Medrich's gluten-free corn chiffon cake recipe in her book Flavor Flours, the Epicurious Test Kitchen created this new take on shortcake. The naturally sweet flavor of corn really shines through in the delicate and spongy cake, which forms a wonderful base for blackberries and cream.

Purists will tell you this just gets better with time, so prepare it in advance of your party.

The best thing about making ranch from scratch? If you like a more garlicky or more herby ranch, the choice is yours to adjust the recipe accordingly.

Onions are loaded with umami flavor, as are anchovies, mushrooms, and Worcestershire sauce. Together, they make this dip especially hard to resist.

A super-juicy watermelon is key; it should feel heavy for its size and sound hollow when tapped.

If you don't want to heat up your house with the oven, you can bake any muffins on the grill but the lightly smoky flavor that the grill imparts is especially nice with corn-based ones. Because keeping the grill at a steady temperature can be tricky, the baking time can vary, so keep an eye on the muffins. For the best muffins, be sure that the entire pan is not set over direct heat (otherwise, the bottoms will burn).

Otherwise known as the triple-threat chocolate cookie: melted, chopped, and drizzled. You're welcome.

Soaking the onion mellows its sharpness. If you can't find fresh horseradish, add 2 tablespoons prepared horseradish to the crème fraîche mixture.

When I was just starting to put some ideas together for recipes that I wanted to be included in this book, I had a conversation about lightened whipped cream with my friend and mentor Maida Heatter. She suggested that I try a recipe of hers called Cream Ooh-La-La, which she uses to top strawberries macerated with sugar and Grand Marnier, in Maida Heatter's Best Dessert Book Ever (Random House, 1990). It's basically sweetened whipped cream with the addition of some sour cream and whipped egg whites. I've transformed it a little by substituting reduced-fat sour cream and a cooked meringue. This results in a whipped cream with overtones of crème fraîhe and an exquisite lightness.

Feed this luscious sandwich to your egg-eating veggie friends when they get a burger craving, and they'll likely think twice about ever ordering a veggie burger–puck again. When you eat it, it drips and spills everywhere in a decidedly appealing way. NOTE: The bun must be fresh. Really fresh. A stale bun will wreck this sandwich.

I insisted that the theme of my coming-of-age party be mocktails and canapes because I wanted to be grown up, and had often seen my mum eat canapes at parties. My Rose Beef Bites are delicate and also delicious, with beef and horseradish being lifelong friends. Spending a tiny amount of time to be sure the beef looks pretty makes these canapés stunning to behold. Assemble the beef before the party, so then it's only a matter of spread, drop, serve, and smile!

Adding sour cream to the dough imparts richness and a bit of tang, and doesn't thin it out too much.