Coffee

We've given a range on the amount of instant-espresso powder in this recipe: If you like a pronounced coffee flavor, use 2 teaspoons espresso powder; for a taste that's more subtle, go with 1 1/2 teaspoons.

Fudgy Cocoa Brownies with Chocolate Chips and Walnuts

For a fancifully tall cake, we used 3 (7-inch) round pans. It can also be baked in 3 (8-inch) pans, though the cake will be slightly lower. We tested this recipe with several different brands of chocolate, and found Lindt and Ghirardelli had the best flavor for this particular cake. Ours is garnished with unsprayed, organically grown rose petals, but be as creative as you'd like with yours.

Active time: 25 min Start to finish: 45 min

Here's a great drink that is guaranteed to take the chill off a winter day. It's also quite nice with an added splash of brandy or Kahlúa.

These individual soft-centered cakes are baked and served in ovenproof mugs. (As an alternative, eight-ounce ramekins or soufflé dishes can be used.)

The coffee foam attains its consistency with the help of a charged siphon. If you don't own one, don't worry—the coffee mixture can also be served, chilled but unfoamed, as a sauce. Active time: 45 min Start to finish: 1 3/4 hr

For this recipe, the darker and richer the coffee, the better. We made cone-filtered coffee, but it's equally delicious with perked or plunged coffee. If you only have an electric drip coffeemaker, don't use it for this recipe — too much yield is lost to evaporation. Curry powder may seem like a strange addition to the whipped cream topping, but it's absolutely delicious. You won't perceive any curry flavor per se — when combined with the brown sugar it simply lends fullness and depth.

At the Markham in New York, this cake is served with toasted almond ice cream.

Because they contain so little flour, these cookies have a chewy, brownie-like texture.

In 1897, the Sears catalog offered its customers a treat called brownies. No one seems to remember whether they were bar cookies or a chocolate confection named after a popular cartoon character. No matter; by the 1900s the brownie as we now know it had arrived. The recipe for these dense, moist brownies is from Heather Ho, pastry chef at Boulevard in San Francisco.

Amyrose Gill of Berkeley, California, writes: "My husband and I learned about La Note when we first moved to Berkeley to attend graduate school. Everyone raved about their Sunday brunch, and for weeks we tried to go, but there was always a line out the door. We finally braved the long wait, and it was well worth it. Gingerbread pancakes —redolent with spice, beautifully textured, and absolutely delicious —were the reward. We'd love to get the recipe and serve them at our own Sunday brunches. " In addition to their spiced flavor, these pancakes have a distinctive cakelike texture.