Coffee

For this spiced coffee with brandy and orange, we ignite the spice- and citrus-infused spirits in the saucepan, add the coffee, and serve the glowing drink in demitasse cups. It’s a less risky—but equally astounding—spectacle.

Want to get fired upu for the game? Have some coffee with your grilled steak. Better yet, on your grilled steak. Wait, let's go one better and marinate the steaks in beer first! Coffee-rubbed steaks have been getting popular all over the United States. This is my spicy, Texas-style version with dark beer and dark coffee.

You'll turn up your nose at plain old chocolate chip ice cream once you try this cool, stracciatella-flavored concoction—stracciatella being a vanilla-flavored cream with thin ribbons or chips of chocolate (which melt on the tongue) running through it. The stracciatella cream fills this semifreddo-like cake, which also shines with a toasted-almond cookie-crumb base, a toasted-almond topping, and a drizzle of espresso fudge sauce.

The trick here is that instead of beating egg whites into peaks, you whip the chocolate and egg together in a blender. Salmonella from underdone eggs is rare, but if you're concerned about partly uncooked yolks, skip this for the kids and save it for the adults.

The coffee marinade is sweetened slightly with a little maple syrup, and the sauce gets a kick thanks to a jalapeño chile.

Boiling this strong coffee with eggshells clarifies it by helping the grounds to settle.

These chocolate-dipped stars look beautiful on the table, and their ethereal texture means guests can nibble without filling up. All three flavors—vanilla, chocolate, and coffee—come from one batter.

SERVING SUGGESTION: Delicious after dinner with coffee.

Pichet Ong adds pineapple to this Italian dessert for a Southeast Asian feel. The tiramisù needs to chill overnight.

All-American hot fudge gets a jolt of flavor from ground coffee beans.

The sweetness can be adjusted be adjusted to your liking. This version falls somewhere between orta and sekerli. Depending on the amount of sugar added per cup, Turkish coffee is served in four variations. Sade — without sugar
Az Sekerli— 1/2 sugar cube
Orta— 1 sugar cube
Sekerli— 2 sugar cubes

Get your chocolate fix with this lush torte from executive pastry chef Philippe Niez at The Mayflower Inn & Spa. It tastes so rich, you won't even want seconds!

This recipe is based on one from senior food editor Sarah Tenaglia's mom.

Here's a hot chocolate for the coffee lover. Plus, it's decadent enough to serve as dessert.

Sensational flavor from only six ingredients. Serve with Israeli couscous, which is larger and chewier than the more common variety.

A layer cake with a simple, modern look.

Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are from Greg Case's and Keri Fisher's One Cake, One Hundred Desserts. To read Epicurious's review of the cookbook, click here. One of the best things about this mousse is that it's very simple, with only a handful of ingredients and a few steps. Yet the mousse is so versatile—not to mention so tasty—you'll soon find yourself whipping some up to fill a graham cracker crust for chocolate mousse pie, or to serve on its own, topped with some fresh raspberries for an elegant dessert. Or you could just eat it right out of the bowl with a soupspoon, as we do. Be careful when combining the chocolate and the whipped cream. Whipping the cream adds lots of air and volume to it, and overworking it when adding to the chocolate will allow all that air to escape (and then you'll have chocolate sauce, not mousse.