Julie Dreyfoos

This pie pastry is as easy to make as, well, pie. It's flaky and rich but simple and plain enough to let any filling shine.

Subtly sweet and slightly crumbly, these chocolate cookies are indulgent through and through yet in a sorta sophisticated way. Tasting is understanding.

Indulge your inner Laura Ingalls Wilder with this charming caramel-like candy made by drizzling maple syrup onto fresh snow. Its provenance may be outdated but its appeal transcends time.

The classic cookie benefits enormously from a hit of ginger here with these surprise sleeper hits of your Christmas season.

Vanilla ice cream. Just sorta defines summer, yes? And what better way can you imagine spending a lazy afternoon than making and devouring this childhood classic?

A classic chocolate cake on caffeine, this impressive yet easy to assemble stack of chocolatey elegance takes its rounded chocolatey-ness from a cup of joe and its ample fudgy-ness fro ganache.

This Southern classic is an oh so sweet and charming stack of pineapple, coconut, bananas, and pecans slathered with cream cheese frosting.

Eggplant, celery, fennel, zucchini, onion, tomatoes, olives, raisins, and pine nuts, oh my! Sicilian heaven in the form of a pleasingly tart side dish of sorts.

Relax with these crunchy-tender fish tacos filled with a kicky cabbage slaw and sweet-tart mango-banana salsa. Think flip-flops and a beer—all year long.

This quick refrigerator jam doesn't require canning and processing and preserving. It just requires strawberries, sugar, a pot, and a fridge.

Simple. Surprising. Spunky. Just what we look for in a summer salad. Just what we found in this jumble of cucumbers, vinegar, and ginger.

A touch of maple syrup infuses traditional coleslaw with a unique, unexpected sweetness. Try this slaw with pulled pork sandwiches, burgers, or barbecue.

Rabe. Raab. Rapini. Call it what you will, but it's never better than when jumbled with sautéed garlic and crisped potatoes.

Sometimes it’s nice to just let your spoon sink into something that tastes pure as the driven snow. Indulgently rich, sigh-inducingly creamy, vanilla-enhanced snow.

This flour-free fried bird is contrary to everything we know about fried chicken. Or think we know. That's exactly what makes it so darn genius.

Lend a little swanky to everyday spaghetti by gilding it with chunks of sweet, sweet lobster and juuuuust the perfect hit of chile pepper.

These fork-mashed spuds are indulgence defined with their easy execution, deceptively rich taste, and lack of bowls and beaters to clean.

No more helplessly watching as the chops you toss on the grill toughen into leathery dryness. This flawless technique cooks the pork loin whole and slices it AFTER grilling.

This classy little number shamelessly flaunts its herbal notes, making it as suave and cosmopolitan as far more complicated, not to mention classic, cocktails.

Flecks of brilliant orange and green bejewel this not-so-common quick bread, but what adds a royal je ne sais quoi are the robust bursts of candied ginger.