Tamiko Lagerwaard, Recipe Tester

Fresh figs alone, while stunning if savored by you alone in the kitchen, isn’t exactly what you want to serve guests. Here’s what you do want to offer them.

• 10 M
• 10 M
• 14

One of our most requested recipes. Easy, elegant, and pretty much foolproof. Sorta impressive for something that you toss together in less than 15 minutes, wouldn’t you agree?

• 15 M
• 15 M
• 26

Some things never go out of style. Witness this throwback to the 50s recipe for drumsticks rolled in crumbs of any sort. Potato chips. Wasabi peas. Rice crackers.

• Quick Glance
• 20 M
• 50 M
• 17

Schnecken translates from German quite literally as snails, although to us it means gooey, sticky pecan caramel buns.

• 30 M
• 4 H
• 18

This stunning Southern belle and its dozen tiers—yup, 12—is astonishingly easy peasy to make thanks to a savvy cake-baking tactic.

• 1 H, 15 M
• 2 H
• 46

No ice cream maker required. Just watermelon, citrus, sweetness, mint, and a little time in the deep freeze. Vodka optional. Then all you do is scoop it up and plop it in a pretty bowl.

• 20 M
• 20 M
• 17

Drizzle, douse, souse, or otherwise acquaint this emerald elixir with grilled steak, chicken, chops, seafood, or heck, anything.

• 5 M
• 5 M
• 13

These gooey, slurpy, peanut butter-y wonders are the true test of a Chinese restaurant’s worthiness. Although now you don’t have to leave it to chance. You can simply make them at home.

• 20 M
• 20 M
• 4

The asparagus in this salad is sublimely sweet and is beautifully balanced by salty pecorino and tart zinginess of lemon.

• 20 M
• 20 M
• 1

This simple yet spectacular riff on coffee cake—there’s actually coffee in the cake—is rich and robust and rousing in that way only espresso can be.

• 15 M
• 1 H, 15 M
• 39

Don’t let these delicate, diminutive cakes with the froufrou French name fool you. They’re a cinch to toss in the oven–and even easier to toss in the mouth.

• 15 M
• 45 M
• 15

Who knew Katharine Hepburn was as agile at baking as acting? These brownies make us think maybe she missed her true calling.

• 10 M
• 1 H
• 35

And, on the seventh day, God created gianduia (zhahn-doo-yah). And the world has been a more glorious place ever since.

• 25 M
• 1 H, 15 M
• 2

A beloved Brazilian candy, brigadeiros are chewy fudge balls that are rolled in sweet sprinkles, just for good measure.

• 40 M
• 40 M
• 25