Vanilla

The tang of crème fraîche works as a balancing agent in this vanilla-speckled cream, making it a great contrast to sweet things like fruit.

For all the years I’ve been working with Jean-Georges, I’ve had his legendary molten chocolate cake on the dessert menu. Finally, I decided I had to do something to make the cake my own, so I took it apart and put it back together with white chocolate and a good hit of vanilla. This cake isn’t molten; it’s much more a lush, custardy soufflé. I love combining citrus with chocolate, hot with cold. The frozen mandarin orange refreshes and cleanses the palate.

I first tasted a risotto similar to this one in South Africa and though at first the idea of adding vanilla to a savory dish sounded a bit odd, I found the flavor combination irresistible. The vanilla adds a lovely aromatic finish but not a lot of sweetness. I consider this the perfect fall dish.

What can I say about this one? Sometimes the best things in life are the simplest, and a thick and creamy vanilla milkshake is definitely one of those things. The fresh vanilla bean will give you a shake flecked with tiny dark specks of recognizable vanilla, but its true and intense flavor is a quality far greater than cosmetic. Basic but never boring, the vanilla shake can also be doctored up in dozens of ways. I’ve included a couple of my favorite variations below.

This milkshake is so simple but so incredibly amazing and rich. I put this on the menu at Bobby’s Burger Palace and I have one every time I am there.

This classic sugar cookie and tart shell dough is also known as pâte sucrée. Like the Chocolate Sugar Dough, it is very versatile and works as tart shells or sugar cookies, or whenever you need a sweet, sturdy crust to hold delicacies like strawberries and cream or chocolate mousse. You can also mix all the ingredients in a food processor—just pulse until the ingredients come together.

These playful black-and-white cookies have the simple appeal of chocolate and vanilla as well as the universally appealing symbol of Buddhist duality, yin and yang. By giving these cookies as a gift, you get the return gift of delighting the recipient. For the shortening, look for an all-natural transfat-free brand, available in many health food stores. Use Dark Chocolate Plastique (page 134) to make the chocolate side of the yin yang decoration.

This recipe offers treasures of the Caribbean “sugar islands”: chocolate, sugar, and rum. It’s a classic French buttercream using a cooked sugar technique, pâté à bombe, to blend and aerate the eggs and sugar, which creates incomparable richness. Or maybe it’s the butter. Or maybe it’s the chocolate. You get the picture—it’s rich! One batch makes enough to ice one 2-layer cake, but if you like generous layers and rosettes, double this recipe. Allow time to chill the buttercream. If soupy, chill it for another half hour. If stiff, heat it over a saucepan of hot water, then whip it. For children, you can omit the rum.

This is a moist, fragrant cake with a soft, strong crumb. Its flavors hold up well with chocolate. Use it with Cocoa Chantilly Cream (page 117) for subtle chocolate flavor, or use Sugar Islands Chocolate Buttercream (page 119) for the big bang of chocolate and vanilla together.

Some days, the fats and sugars of life must be avoided, but you can still squeeze in a little chocolate. I usually prefer natural ingredients like whole milk and real sugar, but on diet day, everything must be skinny, and I use sugar substitutes. Swirl a green apple slice through this dip in the afternoon, make a cup of green tea, soak up all your antioxidants, and you’ll forget that you’re even on a diet.

A simple way to make spumoni in the shape you remember is to use tall 10-ounce paper cups, like the ones you get when you order a soda. You can make the layering process simpler by spooning in a level layer of vanilla ice cream, then chocolate ice cream, then flavored whipped cream. If you’d prefer to serve one large spumoni instead of individual ones, prepare the spumoni in a 6-cup soufflé dish, layering it into the dishes as described below. Let the frozen large spumoni stand at room temperature 10 to 15 minutes before inverting it onto a serving plate. Cut it into wedges to serve.

Even though there is no sugar in the custard part of the recipe, I did decide—after experimenting with every sugar substitute out there—that it would be okay to use unrefined Demerara sugar for the brûlée part of this dessert. Considering that the fat grams are down to less than 3 from 50, I gave myself a pass.

When you think about adding flavor to foods in the most healthful way possible, you think about the most intense flavor vehicles you can find. That’s why this recipe calls for vanilla bean. The tiny seeds inside pack a wallop of this most delicate and beloved taste. If you can’t find good strawberries, try whole raspberries or small slices of ripe peach.

These short ribs are everything you want braised meat to be. They are tender and juicy with a rich beefy flavor that is nicely balanced by the sweetness of the carrots. The root beer and birch bark draw on familiar aromatics and tastes but we use them in a slightly different manner. Come to think of it, these short ribs are not too far off from a traditional cola-glazed ham.

This is the classic pudding of our childhood. Chocolate pudding is the ultimate comfort food, and this version is decadent without being overpowering. Use your favorite good-quality chocolate here because it will make your pudding that much better. A dollop of unsweetened whipped cream or lightly sweetened heavy cream poured over the top takes this to yet another level, although Aki has been known to eat it straight out of the container with a spoon. Jell-O pudding has nothing on us.