Fruit

Speckles of grated lime zest in this pretty soft-green icing give the finished cookies a fresh citrus flavor.

To keep these cookies flaky and light, do not over mix the butter and sugars; the dough must not become too soft before adding the remaining ingredients.

These cookies have a delicate texture and light, fresh taste.

These classic drop cookies are large, soft, and chewy. Look for grade B maple syrup, which has a deeper flavor than grade A.

Poppy seeds give these cakes an interesting texture and appearance, but you can certainly omit them if you prefer.

For the prettiest chips, use blemish-free pears that are not quite ripe. A mandoline will help make the pear slices perfectly even.

This is a slight twist on applesauce cake, relying instead on a homemade pear sauce. The cake can be made a day ahead. Keep it at room temperature, then glaze it and garnish it with pear chips just before serving

Sour cream gives this cake a particularly lovely tang. Tube pans are made with both regular and removable bottoms; either is fine for this recipe.

The addition of raisins, caraway seeds, and egg makes this version richer and even more delicious than traditional Irish soda bread.

If you use miniloaf pans, reduce the baking time to forty-five minutes. Because this recipe calls for dried figs, it can be made year-round; the figs’ seeds give the bread a nice crunch.

If you use miniloaf pans, reduce the baking time to forty-five minutes. The recipe comes from Deanna Caceres Cahn, a former brand manager in the Martha Stewart Signature furniture group.

The dough for these savory scones gets its unique texture and flavor from a combination of butter and olive oil. It was inspired by a similarly flavored yeast bread sold at Amy’s Bread in New York City.

Feel free to substitute other dried fruits for the apricots. We particularly like using sour cherries, cranberries, golden raisins, or chopped figs.

Sanding sugar is coarser than granulated sugar and lends a lovely sparkle when sprinkled over the tops of scones, biscuits, pies, and cookies before baking. It is available at baking-supply stores and many grocery stores.

Be sure to use unsulfured molasses—not sulfured or blackstrap—in this recipe. Also, buy the freshest, moistest dates you can find.

You can substitute an equal amount of chopped peaches or nectarines for the plums. Or use your favorite berries instead—the recipe is very versatile.

These muffins offer a nice balance of tart and sweet flavors.

Try sprinkling granulated sugar over the tops of the unbaked muffins (one tablespoon should cover all twelve) to give them a bit of crunch.

Amish and old-order Mennonites bake this pie, also called rosina pie (German for raisin) or “funeral” pie, during any season. Some recipes include milk, making it more like a custard pie, and others use water, but they all seem to agree on the necessity of a double-crusted pie, often with a lattice top. If you like raisins, you’ll love this pie. Walnuts, pecans, hazelnuts, or almonds would be perfect choices for the chopped nuts.

You know a pie recipe is old when several stories are told about its history. Some say the term chess pie goes back to an eighteenth-century English cheese pie. Another links the origins of the name to the Southern pie chest, or pie safe, a piece of furniture that holds kitchen confections. Another anecdote tells of a man who stopped to eat at a diner in Alabama. He loved the pie he was served, and when he asked what its name was, the waitress replied, “jes pie.” Whatever the truth may be, as food writer Stephanie Anderson Witmer says, “So many Southern pies, like the chess pies, are elegant in their simplicity. They use staple ingredients, but are divine.”