Baking

Begin preparing this a day ahead.

At Valentino, pastry chef Michelle Robie cuts the cake into individual heart shapes and sometimes serves them with a blood orange sauce.

Begin preparing the dessert a day ahead.

These cookies are perfect with a cup of tea.

Among the pear varieties, we prefer the silky, juicy flesh and slightly winy flavor of Comice pears for eating, and they are exceptionally good in this crisp. (For poaching and in tarts, good Bosc pears have the right texture and body.)

These ultra-rich and chocolaty sandwich cookies have creamy, coffee-spiked centers.

While the cheesecake has been around for centuries, it was perfected in the 1920s by New York delicatessens. It first appeared at Arnold Reuben’s eponymous restaurant on East 58th Street and soon was featured at Lindy’s on Times Square and at Junior’s in Brooklyn. Marmalade tops this luscious cake; it also has citrus peel in the filling.

Pear wedges are tossed with brown butter (easily made by melting butter, then keeping it on the heat until golden and nutty) for an especially comforting treat.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

When selecting persimmons for the following recipe, be sure to get the acorn-shaped Hachiya variety and not the flatter, wider type called Fuyu. Look for very ripe specimens, which should feel quite soft and have glossy, translucent skin.

This recipe originally accompanied Peach and Blueberry Shortcakes. . They are also great on their own with coffee or tea.

Arranging the apple slices in a flower petal formation may be work for the cook, but it sure provides luxurious eating for your lucky guests. This pie has an exceptionally crisp bottom crust under a juicy filling of caramelized, cinnamony apples made tangy and glistening with a gilding of apricot preserves. The border is a wreath of leaves cut from the pie crust.

Toast a slice of this bread, and serve it with butter or cream cheese for breakfast.