Brunch

Imagine what would happen if gooey butterscotch cookies and crunchy Cracker Jack had a love child. Caramel corn blondies are born! These are best served the day they are made for the crunchiest texture, but they are still yummy as the popcorn softens. It shouldn't be a problem though, since they take just minutes to throw together.

Most people think of ambrosia salad as a cloud of chunky white fruit in a glass bowl with neatly arranged canned mandarins on top. But we've evolved from those dark ages, and it's high time this salad got a makeover. Ambrosia can be reeeaally delicious, if made with the best, freshest ingredients. If you are even thinking about using dried coconut flakes from a bag, don't bother with this. Sweet fresh coconut meat is what makes it a standout. I don't usually go for aperitifs, but a chilled glass of Lillet is perfect with this salad.

When you think about it, "Pan Bagnat" is just a fancy way of saying "the best of all possible summer sandwiches." Unlike the typical tuna on wheat, this Provençal classic only gets better as sits, making it just the thing for picnics, backyard suppers, and last-minute road trips. And its briny, garlicky flavors beat plain old mayo any day.

These pancakes are lighter than those in your standard stack: slender and slightly crisp on the outside, light and lacy with assertive raspberry flavor. The raspberries are blended into the milk before being added to the batter—a solution to having pockmarks of berry flavor only here and there. You'll want a mile-high pile.

When I put these ingredients in my rice cooker, I knew the flavors would complement each other, but I wondered what the dish would look like. It was lovely! The soft, melting goat cheese mingled with the asparagus and creamy eggs. The frittata makes a great light supper or lunch dish; serve it with a fruit salad.

This is an ode to Spain, a culture totally infatuated with the glories of asparagus. Here the green spears are paired with a classic Basque tomato-pepper relish called pipérade, simple poached eggs, and grits. One of these things has no place in Spain, but you can take the boy out of Georgia but you...well, you know.

Caramelized strawberries and crunchy almonds dress up buttermilk pancakes with plenty of spring flair for Mother’s Day.

Rose water infuses this tender cake with an intoxicating aroma perfectly matched by sweet-tart spring rhubarb.

Anytime you put crispy potatoes in a warm tortilla, it's a win.

A combination of brown rice flour, almond flour, and arrowroot replaces wheat flour in these delicious gluten-free muffins. The flavors of orange, coconut, and almond blend nicely here, with maple syrup adding a subtle back note of sweetness. Serve these for breakfast, brunch, or an afternoon snack.

Served warm or at room temperature, a frittata makes for an easy yet impressive dinner. If you are following our $68 Dinner Story, buy 1 bunch asparagus and use 3/4 bunch for the Fettuccine with Asparagus, Beet Green Pesto, and Poached Egg and the remaining 1/4 bunch here. This is the perfect opportunity to use up any leftover beet green pesto from the pasta dish as well.

This decadent cake is infused with rich coffee flavor in three forms: brewed coffee, espresso powder, and coffee liqueur.

This homemade yogurt works well as a dairy-free alternative. We prefer making our own coconut milk over using canned—the flavor is much more fresh. To reuse the pressed coconut, dry it out in a low oven until no longer moist, then use in baked goods or sprinkle over yogurt.

The intense, salty, bitter flavor of redeye gravy can be polarizing. We've added butter and a pinch of sugar here to round out the flavors while still keeping the integrity of this iconic Southern condiment intact. Biscuits and/or grits are a great accompaniment to this dish.

This moist, simple cake has a tender golden crumb and a subtle citrus flavor. I love a thin slice—okay, a thick slice—in the middle of the afternoon with coffee, but it's also well matched with summer berries and stone fruits. My husband enjoys it for breakfast. Accompany the cake and fruit with a dollop of the Yogurt Cream, if you like. In winter, pair the cake with a citrus compote or poached quince. This recipe is adapted from one given to me by Bill Corbett, executive pastry chef for the Absinthe Group in San Francisco, who uses yogurt frequently in his desserts. The cake stays moist for a week if stored in a lidded plastic cake container.

Shakshuka is Tunisian in origin but has become hugely popular in Jerusalem and all over Israel as substantial breakfast or lunch fare. Tunisian cuisine has a passionate love affair with eggs and this particular version of shakshuka is the seasonal variant for the summer and early autumn. Potatoes are used during the winter and eggplants in spring. Having published recipes for shakshuka once or twice before, we are well aware of the risk of repeating ourselves. Still, we are happy to add another version of this splendid dish, seeing how popular it is and how convenient it is to prepare. This time the focus is on tomato and spice. But we encourage you to play around with different ingredients and adjust the amount of heat to your taste. Serve with good white bread and nothing else.

Add lemon granola to your citrus cookies , and they become lemon-treehugger cookies. When you hear that a cookie has granola in it, somehow you feel like you're making a "healthier" choice, right? Use Meyer lemons, a fragrant lemon hybrid more common in California than Brooklyn, if you can get your hands on them.

On those mornings when you don't want to do anything but get up, pour coffee, and sit with your face in the sun, homemade granola is a good thing to have around. Ours is meant to be not too sweet. We serve it over very tangy plain yogurt from upstate New York's Ronnybrook Farm dairy and add a swirl of local honey for people who want it a little sweeter.

Crispy-potato crust > pastry crust. (And it's gluten-free too.)

This all-green salad is studded with creamy avocado, crunchy cucumbers, and asparagus, and punctuated by tons of fresh dill and basil. The varied shades of green look like spring in a bowl.

These fluffy pancakes get an extra dose of nutrition (not to mention serious crunch) from a combination of poppy and sunflower seeds. Use any citrus you like for the batter, but we're especially fond of how oranges pair with the rosemary-infused maple syrup. All-purpose flour may be substituted for spelt, however we love the unique nuttiness that spelt brings to this recipe.

Anyone who loves to dip their bacon or sausage in maple syrup will flip for these sweet and savory flapjacks. To complete the trilogy of perfect breakfast foods, we recommend topping your stack with a fried egg before diving in.