Stand Mixer

Active time: 20 min Start to finish: 45 min

Perfect for an elegant dinner party, this sophisticated dessert is a snap to make.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less, but requires additional unattended time.

Coffee Semifreddo "Drowned" in Coffee We have served this dessert at Pó for six years and it is consistently my favorite—a kind of adult milkshake. Be careful to use decaf for the bathing liquid, or your guests may be up yakking all night.

This satisfying accompaniment is named for the creator of the recipe.

Call them galettes sucrees, mandelbrot, or biscotti — I love these Moroccan cookies, made by Rosette Toledano of Netanya, who, as her daughter says, "puts her heart in her cooking."

Terrific when served with vanilla or coffee ice cream, and a very appealing breakfast or snack cake on its own.

Instead of using a pastry bag to pipe the meringue for the baskets, just snip a corner off a resealable plastic bag. Begin preparing this one day ahead.

Passover without macaroons is like Rosh Hashanah without sweet honey cake or Thanksgiving without pumpkin pie. Sephardic macaroons use lemon zest for flavoring rather than almond extract. The secret to good macaroons is beating the egg whites just right and not overbaking the cookies.

Active time: 30 min Start to finish: 1 1/4 hr

This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.