Brunch

One of the many treats my brother and I looked forward to during the Christmas holidays was having a freshly baked petit bonhomme for breakfast or for an afternoon snack. The breads seemed to have a best friend, too: hot chocolate. Still today shop windows display the petits bonhommes in sizes ranging from seven or eight inches to several feet high. Some families buy a large bread to put in the middle of the holiday breakfast table. My father made his petits bonhommes from brioche but tells me they can also be made from the kugelhopf dough.

This recipe is part of the Epicurious Online Cooking School, in partnership with the Culinary Institute of America. To watch it being made, and to learn how to make other Mediterranean classics, check out the video classes.

This recipe is part of the Epicurious Online Cooking School, in partnership with the Culinary Institute of America. To watch it being made, and to learn how to make other Mediterranean classics, check out the video classes.

This recipe is part of the Epicurious Online Cooking School, in partnership with the Culinary Institute of America. To watch it being made, and to learn how to make other Mediterranean classics, check out the video classes.

This coffee-cake like strawberry cake is piled high with a lemony pistachio streusel.

This is a Baker & Spice original and it's our most popular cake—loved by men and women alike! The buttercream frosting is tinted pink by a raspberry puree (not food coloring)—be sure to save your extra whites from baking the cake to make the frosting. The cake itself is a rich, moist chocolate cake. If you want a go-to recipe for all your chocolate cake cravings, this is the one.

This simple variation of a traditional dish is great as a side dish or on its own.

{like his mother made} Rösti or hash browns done well are potatoes perfected. I learned this from my husband's mother in Hungary, but you'll find similar versions that are the pride of many a mother and a young bride in homes all over Central Europe. In our home, few things raise bigger enthusiasm than the smell of rösti cooking when András walks through the door. You'll love them for brunch or dinner, or a whole meal {vegetarians take note} with a poached egg and chopped herbs. Add in rosemary and you've got a really heady, flavorful substitute for French fries with your steak dinner. They key to a crispy outside and soft inside not laden with oil is to get the oil very hot before you add the potatoes, in which case they will absorb very little of it and leave nothing but flavor and crunch for you to devour the instant it hits the plate.

{for a small crowd} I grew up thinking strata was my mom's signature dish, until I realized every mother has her own version. You should know how to make it too, but {just between us}, yours can be much more elegant than your mother's, especially when you make it in a small dish to serve two and pair it with a large salad.

After three glasses of wine and about six chocolate chip cookies, my friend Andrew had the idea that I should make a dessert that incorporates the flavors of his favorite sweet drink, Thai iced tea. Despite having had a sufficient amount of wine and cookies myself, it was clear to me what a brilliant idea it was, so the following weekend, we baked a cake.
The sweetened condensed milk in the cake creates a lightly caramelized crust and the Thai tea gives it a beautiful bright orange color. This cake stayed on my mind for days to follow.
Note: look for the Thai tea at Asian specialty grocery stores.

A fine choice for a spring menu, although good whenever you can find fresh asparagus, this frittata has an especially nice flavor because the asparagus and leeks are roasted and caramelized before being added. If you like, roast the vegetables a day ahead of time and refrigerate them until ready to use.

This pink-hued cake is filled with rhubarb, which is in season during the spring and early summer. The cake freezes nicely and has a high ratio of fruit to cake—always good in a brunch sweet. Sliced into wedges, this coffee cake is a nice way to round out a seasonal bread basket of fruit muffins.

The addition of ricotta cheese gives these citrusy pancakes a little more heft. After you cook each batch of pancakes, transfer them to a heatproof platter and keep them warm for up to 20 minutes in a preheated 200°F oven.

Maytag Blue cheese, made by the same family that became world famous for its appliances, is handmade from cow's milk and has a peppery, piquant flavor. Start this sandwich about an hour in advance so the chicken has time to marinate. This is an easy recipe to double or triple for a larger group, and the chicken can be made ahead. I like to serve this sandwich on raisin pumpernickel bread, but feel free to use another favorite loaf.

A generous handful of mint leaves adds a tongue-tingling surprise, reinforcing this salad's zesty freshness.

If you have difficulty finding buster crabs or small soft shells, you can use large soft shell crabs, quartered, and they'll still make a great dish.

Here's a whole-grain update of that longtime British favorite, the scone. Serve it with hot tea at any time of the day or evening.

If you make this whole recipe, you will have enough to feed a crowd, plus you will have half of a pineapple and perhaps half of a papaya left over. The salsa is especially good atop grilled chicken or fish.

These golden, crunchy croissants that we permit ourselves to enjoy without the slightest remorse on Sunday mornings are not as French as you might think. These pastries, known in French as viennoiserie, indeed originated from seventeenth-century Vienna. In 1683, the inhabitants of the Austrian capital suffered an attack led by the forces of the Ottoman Grand Vizier Kara Mustafa. After months of a terrible siege, they were liberated by Charles V of Lorraine and Jan Sobieski, King of Poland. This victory enabled the Hapsburgs to recover their territories of Hungary and Croatia, and the bakers made a commemorative pastry in the form of a crescent moon, the symbol of the Ottoman Empire. Folk history even accords the bakers a crucial role in reversing the battle situation. As they worked during the night, they heard the sound of the Turkish soldiers preparing a new assault and sounded the alarm. Their version of the croissant was nevertheless closer to the brioche than the croissant that we know today. A century later, Marie-Antoinette is said to have brought this delicacy from her native city to introduce it to the French court. Giles MacDonogh, however, author of a biography of Brillat-Savarin, offers a version that corresponds more closely with the dates when the croissant appeared in France (around 1900). He mentions the arrival in Paris, in 1838, of an Austrian named Auguste Zang, who opened a Viennese bakery at 92 rue Richelieu, only a few numbers away from the Brillat-Savarin building. "The business took off slowly," he explains, but eventually his kipferl cookies began to sell, literally "like hot cakes." The croissant was born. All of his croissants came out of a brand-new steam oven, above which the inscription was written La main de l'homme n'y a pas touché. (No human hand has touched them.) In those days, industrial processes inspired trust! Nowadays, any croissant untouched by human hand is suspect. The dough needs to be kneaded gently, then vigorously, until it can be detached from marble, and pieces of it shaped into a ball. The surface of each ball is then dried with a sprinkling of flour and covered with a damp cloth. Then the waiting begins. The dough is mixed with worked butter, punched down, then folded, turned, and set to rise again. This craftsmanship is becoming rarer, and the challenge is to live up to the legend, to match the taste of these handmade croissants, with their melting, silky layers of pastry.

Although Nelly Custis omitted sugar in her recipe for these lovely, delicate pancakes, published cookbooks of the period often suggested "strewing" sugar over them before sending them to the table. E. Smith, for one, additionally recommended garnishing them with orange, a suggestion also included here. This recipe can be readily doubled.

I love this sweet syrup. It’s similar to chocolate sauce; in fact, beyond the antipasto platter, you could even use it as a dessert topping, drizzled over ice cream or berries.

Think of this bruschetta as a portable salad that doesn’t require utensils or a plate—perfect for entertaining!

Chock-full of grains, nuts, seeds, fruits, and natural sweeteners, granola is easy to prepare, and, when it’s homemade, it’s much lower in sugar and fat than store-bought varieties. This basic recipe can be easily adapted to create many different versions, including the three variations that follow. You can omit the nuts or the dried fruit, as desired. For a vegan option, simply omit the egg whites; the granola won’t be as crunchy but will still be delicious. Freeze granola in an airtight container for up to three months (it thaws quickly), or store at room temperature for up to two weeks.

A frittata is an excellent make-ahead meal, delicious served hot, cold, or at room temperature. Black beans are a great source of fiber, which helps to balance blood sugar.