Pastries

Potatoes help make the dough amazingly moist and tender.

Elegant and deliciously buttery, these golden fantails are an obvious choice for entertaining. Their shape resembles a blooming flower, with each petal forming a perfect pull-apart bite. But don’t worry—they are surprisingly straightforward to put together in a muffin pan.

During a research trip to Budapest, food editor Paul Grimes ate his way through plates of wild mushrooms for dinner and servings of sweet strudels for dessert. When he returned, he came up with this elegant hors d'oeuvre of thin cylinders of phyllo filled with the woodsy intensity of mushrooms. Brushing the phyllo layers with duck or goose fat lends an authentic flavor; butter also works perfectly well.

Editor's note: This recipe is from chef Wolfgang Puck. My mother would always begin baking in early December and keep it up right through the holidays. But she wasn't working frantically the whole time. She just knew that the earlier you start your holiday baking, the more you'll be free to enjoy the big celebrations. The ingredients in her cookies promote tenderness and retain moisture so that they stand up well to storage for several weeks when properly packed. My mother's Linzer cookies not only stay moist thanks to their ground hazelnuts and raspberry jam, but they actually improve in flavor as their subtle blend of spices matures. They remain one of my favorites.

A dacquoise is a French dessert made by layering nut-flavored meringues with whipped cream. In this version, cocoa nib meringues are layered with chocolate chiffon cake, mascarpone whipped cream, and blood orange marmalade, then covered in a rich chocolate glaze.

In this satisfying first course, the sweet-savory filling is wrapped up in a delicious homemade strudel dough. Keep in mind that the dough needs to chill overnight, so start this recipe one day ahead. Serve slices of the strudel alongside the watercress salad .

The combination of crumbly cookie crust, chocolate filling, and crunchy brittle is reminiscent of a candy bar. The smooth, rich filling is a blend of bittersweet chocolate and carob, which is made from the pods of the carob tree. The addition of carob cuts the richness of the chocolate and adds an appealing earthy flavor.

In these tender, elegant cakes, the Italian dessert wine Vin Santo contributes intoxicating flavor that's played up by the addition of plump grapes.

Gael Greene shared these recipes with Epicurious from her new book, Insatiable. To learn more about Greene, read our Q&A. This is a recipe from my young bride days, before cholesterol was a health concern. But I believe holidays are the perfect excuse for excess. If you serve sixteen with this recipe, you'll feel half as guilty. I did four of these for Craig Claiborne's riotous sixty-seventh birthday party, where so many great chefs cooked that few guests even noticed my effort.

A tender, short crust is filled with a creamy orange-scented ricotta custard. Served with hot espresso, these little pastries are a wonderful way to end a big meal.

Danish blue cheese, which is more economical than Roquefort, adds a rich tang to these cheese puffs.

These palm-size pockets can be frozen for up to a month and fit perfectly in a lunch box.

We're taking the highway to French elegance with these stacked desserts. Unsweetened whipped cream is a wonderful foil for gooey caramelized pears and flaky puff pastry.

These muffins are inspired by a favorite dessert: sticky toffee pudding. But they are revamped for breakfast and renamed with hope that as you present your beloved with a plate of these, you'll be invited to open your Filofax and check on next Friday night.

If fresh peas are out of season, look for high-quality frozen brands such as Cascadian Farm.

There are several secrets to perfect, crisp cannoli: 1). You need the right proportion of filling to shell. In America, cannoli are often too large, with too much filling. These are tiny and delicate, perfect for eating in just a couple of bites. 2). Use high-quality ingredients. Sheep's-milk ricotta is the most traditional, but good fresh cow's-milk ricotta will work fine as well. Be sure to drain it for an hour to avoid watering down the filling. Good-quality candied orange peel is important as well. If you can't find any that's fresh and plump, substitute freshly grated orange zest. 3). Most importantly, don't fill the shells until you're ready to serve them. Both the filling and the shells can be made one day ahead, but to avoid soggy shells, don't pipe the filling into them until the last minute. If you don't have a pastry bag, a one-gallon freezer bag with the end snipped off can be used to pipe the filling.

The rich and tender biscuits would also be great with plums or blackberries. Rinse and wipe off any fuzz from peaches before using.

This supple homemade dough rolls beautifully into a solid base and laces into a pretty lattice top.

Just right for breakfast on the go, these muffins are subtly spiced, fluffy, and speckled with plenty of golden raisins.

I remember exactly when I first encountered these celestial biscuits. It was in the early 1970s as I prowled the South in search of great grassroots cooks to feature in a new series I was writing for Family Circle magazine. Through country home demonstration agents, I obtained the names of local women who'd won prizes at the county and state fairs. I then interviewed two or three of them in each area before choosing my subject. And all, it seemed, couldn't stop talking about "this fantastic new biscuit recipe" that was all the rage—something called Angel Biscuits. The local cookbooks I perused also featured Angel Biscuits, often two or three versions of them in a single volume. Later, when I began researching my American Century Cookbook, I vowed to learn the origin of these feathery biscuits. My friend Jeanne Voltz, for years the Women's Day food editor, thought that Angel Biscuits descended from an old Alabama recipe called Riz Biscuits, which she remembered from her childhood. Helen Moore, a freelance food columnist living near Charlotte, North Carolina, told me that a home economics professor of hers at Winthrop College in South Carolina had given her the Angel Biscuits recipe back in the 1950s. "I remember her saying, 'I've got a wonderful new biscuit recipe. It's got yeast in it.'" Others I've queried insist that Angel Biscuits were created at one of the fine southern flour millers; some say at White Lily, others at Martha White (and both are old Nashville companies). In addition to the soft flour used to make them, Angel Biscuits owe their airiness to three leavenings: yeast, baking powder, and baking soda. Small wonder they're also called "bride's biscuits." They are virtually foolproof.