Cream Cheese

These pretty cookies look as though they are fussy to make, but they are actually slice-and-bake cookies, with holes cut from half of them about halfway through the baking. Buckwheat pairs well with any dark berry or cherry flavor, so feel free to try different preserves. The cookies keep well, but they should be assembled only shortly before serving. Leftover filled cookies will soften a bit, but they will still taste great.

Indulgent raspberry cream cheese makes homemade brownies even better.

Two Halloween favorites—candy corn and pumpkins—meet in these irresistible blondies.

"Because it's cheese! And nuts! In ball form! Best of all, it's infinitely riffable, as these recipes demonstrate. Hurrah, freedom! Hurrah, cheese balls!"

Although this sweet-tart cheesecake is great with a homemade graham cracker crust, which you can whip up pretty quickly, to make this easy cheesecake even easier, use a 9-inch ready-to-use all-natural graham cracker piecrust. If you like a limier flavor, add a teaspoon of lime zest to the batter (which you can sample before cooking because, thanks to chia, there are no raw eggs to worry about).

We make the shells for these tarts with packaged graham cracker crumbs to save time. If your brown sugar contains hard lumps, force it through a sieve before using. Otherwise, it won't dissolve in the filling.

To create this Girl Scout cookie–inspired dessert, grind Thin Mints and use them to make the cookie crust for a luscious mint chocolate cheesecake.

I love how the fruitiness of Cluizel Concepción chocolate, mellowed by a little cream cheese, plays against the caramel and the flowery, slightly musky acidity of the blossoms (actually, calyces) called "Jamaica flowers" in Mexico and red hibiscus in this country. (They are what gives Red Zinger tea its color.) When I first developed this recipe, I used hibiscus to flavor the caramel, but now I include it in a separate sauce where its red color makes a gorgeous contrast with the dark flan. You will find that this flan is reminiscent of the classic cream cheese–fruit paste pairing that Latin Americans like in other contexts. For this recipe, do not use the spice marketed as "cinnamon" in American stores (it's really cassia). Look for the soft, flaky true cinnamon from Ceylon (Sri Lanka), which has a much subtler and more delicate flavor. You can find it in Hispanic markets under the name canela.

Cookbook author and baking authority Flo Braker created this recipe exclusively for Epicurious. The basic recipe is moist and full of pure banana flavor, but if you'd like to dress it up, Braker recommends adding up to a cup of toasted nuts. She's partial to hazelnuts, but walnuts, pecans, and macadamia nuts are other popular choices. If you prefer chocolate, you can add 3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips or mini chocolate chips. If you can't decide, try adding up to 1 cup total of a combination of nuts and chocolate.

Spruce up your fruit spread by adding this flavorful dip from CARNATION BREAKFAST ESSENTIALS®. Try this Vanilla-Cinnamon Fruit Dip recipe today!

We admit that we have had cake for breakfast before. Who hasn't? But how about breakfast for dessert? This recipe came about when we accidentally made too much pancake batter on Sunday morning. It's our take on a thousand-layer cake. The pancakes can be made up to a day ahead and refrigerated. The cake can be assembled up to 2 hours ahead. Not feeling like dessert? Prepare the pancakes using only 2 tablespoons of sugar and have them for breakfast.

Hot-smoked salmon, unlike cured, is fully cooked.

Country ham is cured, smoked, and aged. We love Benton's, made in Tennessee.

The olive oil gives this cake extra depth and intensity. The complex flavors mature over time, so consider wrapping the cake in plastic wrap and refrigerating it, ready to ice and serve, for up to 3 days. Somewhat less festive (and less calorie laden), this is still very satisfying without the maple icing. Just dust lightly with confectioners' sugar.

The only thing better than a favorite dessert is two faves in one— without twice the calories, of course.

This whole roasted cauliflower has become a signature of Domenica chef Alon Shaya. Precooking the cauliflower in seasoned liquid infuses it with flavor.

This fun Brazilian street food is traditionally formed into the shape of a drumstick to represent the main filling ingredient: chicken. In fact, coxinha (pronounced co-SHEEN-ya) means "little chicken drumsticks" in Portuguese. We like to make them extra mini for snacking.