Vanilla

The warming spices of chai flavor this fruity smoothie.

This smoothie has all the familiar flavors of carrot cake: sweet coconut, buttery walnuts, fragrant cinnamon, and warm vanilla.

This aromatic alternative to pumpkin pie calls for fresh (not canned!) squash and a new twist on the classic crumble topping. If you'd like some sparkle on the edge of your crust, brush it with a beaten egg and sprinkle with coarse sugar before baking.

One of the most important steps in making custard is making sure the sugar is fully dissolved into the yolks. Be sure to beat them together until pale yellow ribbons form, since the sugar acts as a shield for the yolks, preventing them from curdling when you add the hot cream.

Slightly undercook these mouthwatering morsels for a molten effect.

This laid-back apple galette got a standing ovation during tastings, thanks to its crisp crust and the ideal sweet-salty balance.

Silky, with a texture somewhere between pudding and panna cotta—and no water bath required.

It doesn't come out of a soft-serve machine, and you can't twist it, but our version of fro-yo wins at everything else.

If your grill is large enough, you can bang out all 12 slices of French toast in just a few minutes. While any white bread is delicious here, brioche and challah make especially custardy toasts.

"Strawberries and Sambuca are such a wonderful combination," says author Gina Marie Miraglia Eriquez. "Add a little vanilla in there and you can't go wrong. And it's beautiful, too." We totally agree.

Pots de crème are little baked custards with a fancy name. A pinch of salt in these custards heightens the caramel flavor. Cover the baking pan of custard cups with aluminum foil; it makes for the most luxuriously smooth pots de crème you'll ever have.

Nationally renowned Chef Matthew Lightner of Atera in New York City is known for his special flair with seasonal ingredients. In this elegant-yet-approachable dish, Bosc pears are basted in caramel and served with homemade hazelnut butter and crunchy roasted hazelnuts. A scoop of good vanilla ice cream is the perfect complement to this fragrant and flavorful dessert.

Editor's note: Use this pastry cream to make Francois Payard's Soufflé of Puff Pastry with Orange-Scented Pastry Cream, Candied Pecans, and Caramel Butter Sauce . A classic filling for fruit tarts and éclairs, pastry cream is also used as a component in desserts, from napoleons to panini.

Forget the British way of serving rice pudding with a dollop of jam and go for the French way of topping it with a drizzle of caramel sauce.

For Halloween, we attempted to break the record for the world's loudest scream—the acknowledged "Scream of Ice Cream." To coincide with the attempt we created the world's first "ice cream soup," a bowl of steaming hot 
pumpkin soup with a scoop of pumpkin ice cream dropped in the middle. I loved it, but it left everyone else in meltdown. In the end we ran out of time to stage the world-record 
attempt, and killed off ice cream soup, but we kept spiced pumpkin ice cream alive.

There's nothing, um, vanilla about our homemade version of the classic. Of course, it also makes a great base for your favorite upgrades.