A highly versatile warm raspberry and almond cake that is perfect for any occassion.

Poires Belle Helene is a classic French dessert composed of pears poached in a vanilla syrup served with vanilla ice cream then drizzled with a hot chocolate sauce. It’s a very easy dessert to master and can be easily altered to suit your tastes.

Of all the culinary treats that grace the French Christmas table, nothing inspires more child-like joy than a rich, chocolate Bûche de Noël.

I have made countless flourless chocolate cakes over the years. What makes this one so unique and special is the use of buckwheat flour. Despite the name, buckwheat is not in the wheat family at all, but actually in the same family as rhubarb and sorrel. I recommend Bob's Red Mill brand for both the buckwheat flour and the fine ground almonds. The idea originated from one of my favorite bloggers Beatrice Peltre in her first cookbook 'La Tartine Gourmande'.

Profiteroles are the perfect home dessert and guaranteed to please everyone, from small children to grown adults. And once you master the dough for profiteroles you can easily make several other classics like a feather-light beignet, gougères, and crispy potato puffs known as Pommes Dauphine.

This might start as a bad joke, but I promise it isn’t. I was making ‘Nun’s Farts’ yesterday, the more colorful name for feather-light deep-fried beignets, and was struck by how diverse the dough actually was. It got me thinking about the differences between how a chef and a home cook approach cooking. Chefs learn to multi-task many different preparations (mise en place) in order to be ready for service on any given day. Home cooks, while they may multi-task to get through their busy days, generally make one dish to feed their entire family. Most home cooks I have watched tend to make each dish from start to finish.