Berry

A light-textured baked apricot meringue.

This super easy relish stays on the savory side. It makes a wonderful accompaniment to poultry, beef, or game.

Cream cheese was added to the ricotta for this smooth, luscious dessert. But if you can find fresh ricotta, which is less grainy than some of the commercial types, use it and omit the cream cheese.

In this dish, the richness of the venison is balanced by the sweet-tart fruit compote.

Shortbread cookie crust meets airy filling.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

The recipe for this delicious and speedy summer pie ws given to me by a food-writing colleague, Dede Ely-Singer. The filling requires no baking, is quick to prepare, and can be varied to suit whatever combination of berries and fruits is in season. The technique is simple: some of the fruit is first mashed and cooked into a thickened sauce. Then the remaining fresh fruit is stirred in and the entire mixture turned out into a completely prebaked pastry shell and chilled. The filling can also be served as a pudding without any pastry. Advance preparation: The pastry can be prebaked a day in advance. The filling should be made early in the day, and the pie filled and set to chill at least 3 hours before serving.

Tender shortcakes accented with fresh and candied ginger are delicious complements to the strawberry filling.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

This refreshing mint syrup can flavor any combination of fresh fruits. Leftover syrup is great for sweetening iced tea.

This dessert is based on an old-fashioned Russian kissel—traditionally a sweetened fruit purée thickened with potato starch, which gives it a puddinglike consistency. We've left the berries whole in order to achieve a more interesting look and texture and substituted cornstarch for the thickener as it's more readily available in the States.

Sweet and tart at the same time, the compote is spooned atop creamy chilled custard for a satisfying Italian dessert.

I recommend that you strain the blackberry mixture, because the little seeds will only get caught in your teeth.

In this terrific take on the classic Linzer-torte, an almond-cinnamon cookie crust is the delicious base for layers of chocolate and raspberries with raspberry jam. Cookie-crust stars top the whole thing off.

This appealing do-ahead dessert, perfect for a picnic, can be formed ahead and frozen. Just thaw, then bake and cool.

A vacherin includes layers of meringue with a creamy filling; its name derives from its resemblance to the rich, round French and Swiss cheeses of the same name. Begin preparing this lovely dessert at least one day before you plan to serve it. Once assembled, the torte can be frozen for up to four days.

An almond-scented pudding layered with blackberries and blackberry preserves makes a nice finale.

We slightly dried the small strawberries in this recipe so that their excess juice would not affect the crème caramel. We recommend using wild strawberries, as they do not need to be dried before using here. Both the crème caramel and the crust may be made ahead, but, to ensure a crisp crust and shiny caramel, do not invert the crème caramel onto the crust until shortly before serving.