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(CREPES DE NOIX AUX FRAMBOISE ET FIGUES) In Provence, crepes are often served simply, embellished with sugar, jam or liqueur. Here, they get dressed up a bit more.

Oranges and kiwis are among the fruits highest in calcium; almonds are the nuts with the most. This is a light and refreshing finish to any meal.

The dumplings can be assembled and chilled up to eight hours before steaming.

Boxes of matzo farfel, very small pieces of matzo (about 1/4 inch wide), turn up in markets around Passover. Farfel is usually used in soups or for stuffing. This brittle can be eaten as candy or sprinkled over ice cream.

Try jazzing up the shortbread with chopped toasted nuts. We particularly like pecans, hazelnuts, and almonds. Use your favorite fine-quality butter for the best-tasting cookies.

Delicate cookies and purchased ice cream produce a grown-up version of a playground favorite.

At fenix restaurant in The Argyle hotel in Los Angeles, chef Ken Frank layers the ice cream with spice cake, then tops it with the rum-spiked bananas.

This romesco-style sauce is good on grilled fish or vegetables as well as burgers.

Candida Sportiello writes: "As owner and chef of Il Giardino restaurant, on the tiny island of Ventotene off the coast of Naples, I've been cooking professionally for twenty-five years — but I've been cooking for pleasure for a good fifty years. As is the Italian way, most of my favorite recipes were handed down from my mother and grandmother, so they date from the early 1900s." This rich dessert is called a semifreddo ("half frozen") in Italian.

Makes 12 to 16 servings.

The torte and compote are each great on their own, if you have time to make only one of them. A kosher-for-Passover sorbet would be nice with this dessert.

This recipe was created to prepare <epi:recipeLink ="14264">Apricot Almond Shortbreads</epi:recipeLink>.<P> You will need three mini-muffin pans, each containing twelve 1 3/4-by-1 inch cups.