Baking

There's just a hint of chocolate in these.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

This recipe was created to accompany Mocha Mousse with Kumquat Cranberry Sauce and Phyllo Crisps .

White chocolate custard tops espresso custard in this luxurious make-ahead dessert. It's pretty garnished with fresh strawberries and coffee beans.

"My parents and I recently celebrated my mom's birthday at a local restaurant called The Farmhouse," writes Karen Eschenbach of Emmaus, Pennsylvania. "We ended a wonderful meal with an even better dessert—chocolate-peanut butter 'beggars' purses.'" Each elegant phyllo "purse" contains a flourless brownie topped with peanut butter and chocolate ganache.

A small slice of this delightfully dense chocolate cake goes a long way.

This recipe makes more meringue than you'll need for 8 servings. You can pipe the extra into sticks and bake them to eat as a snack. Active time: 45 min Start to finish: 2 1/2 hr

My mom (the "Jill" of this recipe) used to make lots of finger foods when I was younger. These were always a big hit. Easy to make, easy to love, these snacks are equally at home at a fancy dinner party as they are during the Super Bowl. You can experiment with this recipe to alter the taste: Use vegetable or flavored cream cheese, or any other kind of easily spreadable cheese (I like that Alouette herb cheese a lot).

For the fudgiest brownies, be sure not to overbake these, from Steffi Berne's Cookie Jar Cookbook.

This elegant dessert was inspired by Vienna's Spanische Windtorte, a giant meringue shell filled with cream and berries. The sauce is a colorful and delicious accompaniment; if there is some left over, use it on pancakes, waffles or ice cream.

This dessert tastes indulgent, but it's made with nonfat cottage cheese, nonfat cream cheese and evaporated skim milk.