No-Cook

Did you notice that all my cupcake recipes yield 24? With so many cupcakes (is 24 really a lot?), you might, theoretically, have a few left over. Those little leftover treasures are the secret behind my most brilliant invention: the crumb. Crumbs consist of either an unfrosted cake or an unfrosted cupcake broken down and treated with additional flavoring. In most cases, you’ll be using cupcakes, which aren’t all that sweet on their own and are thus the ideal blank canvas. You’ll find the vanilla-based version to be the most versatile crumb of the three I’ve included. You can add your favorite spices to tailor it to your taste; just don’t add more than 2 teaspoons of the spice you choose, or it will overpower the cake you’re baking.

If there’s ever a time to search out a high-end cocoa powder, it’s before you dig in and make a batch of chocolate frosting. Invest in some French Valrhona, if at all possible. It has a remarkably rich and excellent flavor. Quick tip: For a more milk chocolaty frosting, replace 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa with soy milk powder. For a deep, rich chocolate sauce, add 2 tablespoons agave nectar to the mix and store at room temperature instead of refrigerating.

This nutty powder is a great garnish. I use powders like this whenever I want to add flavor to a dessert without adding heaviness. My buddy and fellow pastry chef Sam Mason developed this as peanut butter powder when he was working at the restaurant wd-50 in New York. He shared the technique with me, and I’ve adapted it to make a praline powder perfumed with citrus.

This is one of the first desserts I learned from François Payard. It’s complex in flavor yet simple in ingredients and technique. Put it in the freezer for a while until it’s so cold that it’s slushy, and serve it with assorted tropical fruits.

I love the burst of flavor when I combine this compote with Cream Cheese Ice Cream (page 223), but you could also put it out for brunch, with bagels and cream cheese and smoked salmon, to bring that acidic tang you’d usually get from a ripe summer tomato.

Dessert wines are usually too sweet for me, so I introduce the natural acids of fresh fruit or berries for balance, as in this granité. Serve this over berries or add it to a margarita.

I’m not giving quantities here, since you can make as much as you like. Crystallized herbs bring a bright, sweet herb flavor to the plate when you use them as a garnish. You can follow the same procedure with rose petals, too; just make sure they are unsprayed, or pesticide-free.

I use a lot of vanilla beans in the restaurant, and I always reuse the pods, rinsing and drying them before storing. Sometimes they become a garnish (see page 186), but often I use them to make this perfumed sugar.

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.

This adaptation of Pâte Brisée (page 180) uses milk rather than water to make a richer pastry.

I really like the combinations of flavors and textures that result when soft-curd cheeses are served with poached fruit. In this dessert, I add to that by layering on an icy granité and a crisp cracker. I’m not giving you a yield here, since this is more of a combination of flavors than anything, and you can make as many as you like.

Chef Alex Lee used to serve a tomato mosaic at Daniel, and when I got two super-ripe watermelons, one yellow and one red, I mimicked the appearance of his savory dish on my dessert menu. The cheese and granité add depth of flavor. I’m not giving you a yield here, since this is more of a combination of flavors than anything, and you can make as many as you like.

It looks complicated, but all the steps are actually easy, and it will be such a hit. I like to make tiramisù the day before so that the cookies have enough time to absorb all the flavors and the tiramisù has time to set. Tiramisù means “pick-me-up,” and boy oh boy will it pick you up.

One word: easy. Make that two: delicious.

Cannoli (“pipes”) are said to be one of the unshakable rocks of Sicilian desserts, and these days they can be found in almost every Italian pastry shop in America. They are crispy fried pastry tubes that are filled with sweetened ricotta cheese or sometimes pastry cream. The tubes are time-consuming to make, but the filling is easy, and dolloped over fresh berries, well, it just brings me home.

Italians aren’t afraid of using spicy and slightly bitter greens in their salads, and you shouldn’t be either. Belgian endive are small, pale (white) heads of lettuce with yellow tips; they can be eaten raw (as in this salad) or grilled or roasted—the possibilities are endless. Frisée has slender, curly leaves that are a yellow-green color. The blood oranges add a hint of tart sweetness and a beautiful refreshing color to this salad—they’re orange with bright red or red-streaked white flesh. The dressing, nuts, orange segments, and lettuces can all be prepared ahead of time, no last-minute fuss.

This sandwich can be made with any meat prepared in the Milanese style (see recipe on page 158)—veal, chicken, or pork. You can use whatever ingredients you want, but the combination below tastes great.

A simple, light, and versatile dressing that can be used to top any salad. The honey adds a little sweetness and rounds out the flavors.

The beauty of a dish like this is that you get just enough meat to feel satisfied that you’ve had a substantial meal, but you’ve actually consumed a much greater proportion of healthy greens than of red meat. Plus, it can serve four people on the budget of one steak.

A spicy sauce that’s perfect tossed with pasta. Be sure to wash your arugula thoroughly, in at least two changes of cold water, to remove any soil and grit, which you definitely don’t want in your pesto.