Biscuit

Any leftover compote is great served over vanilla ice cream or frozen yogurt.

It's so easy to make these processor-quick biscuits ahead if you like. Then reheat, split and fill them with ice cream and berries just before serving.

Many find that just one of these biscuits isn't enough. Fortunately, this quick recipe can easily be doubled.

Also great topped with butter and jam.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

A delightful new take on shortcakes. Adding a bit of gelatin to the cream helps maintain its volume when whipped.

Traditional biscuits are so intimidating to novices in part because most recipes require you to make them at the last minute. I wanted to come up with something anyone can do, and this is it. The yeast makes the day! The dough is easy to work with, and both dough and baked biscuit can be made ahead.

Great with eggs, chili, soup or stew.

For a luxurious brunch, split open these rich biscuits and top them with smoked salmon, cream cheese and caviar.

There is hardly a wedding or garden party in the Lowcountry without these yeast biscuits. They are small, only about an inch in diameter, and they are split to hold slivers of salty country ham tempered with dollops of chutney or mustard. One ham provides enough meat for 200 to 250 biscuits. These doubly lightened breads — really yeast rolls — are also called "angel biscuits" and "bride's biscuits." Bill Neal has suggested that the "bride" is the inexperienced cook who needs the insurance policy of the double leavening.

Enriched with a little cream and sugar, jumbo-size refrigerator biscuits become shortcakes worthy of the season's best berries. Since there are more biscuits in the tube than you'll need, you could bake extras at the same time and save them for breakfast the next day.

Here's a classic spring dessert from Commander's Palace.

We like to think of these as an American version of gougères.

If you don't have a 2 3/4-inch-diameter cookie cutter, the same size tin can (with top and bottom removed) works just as well.