Pudding

There are many variations on the Middle Eastern milk pudding known as muhallebi, but this one, delicately flavored with cardamom, is especially silky, thanks to arrowroot. It tastes best when served well chilled.

Cinnamon and banana liqueur give this version of the iconic dessert lots of bold flavor.

In this golden casserole (which you'll find on many Pennsylvania Dutch tables), a buttermilk custard rises to the top while the chewy, toasty corn sinks to the bottom, resulting in a two-layered pudding. The packaged sweet corn—frequently called by its most common brand name, Cope's corn—is slowly dried so that its natural sugars caramelize, a centuries-old Native American preservation method. Recipes usually call for grinding the corn, but the whole kernels impart a coarser texture that we love.

Fans of milky coffee will go crazy for these softly set little coffee puddings adorned with whipped cream. Use decaffeinated instant coffee granules if you will be serving them to children or caffeine-wary adults.

Yes, buttermilk is good for tender griddlecakes and baked goods, but as these delicate individual puddings show, its tangy flavor is not to be taken for granted. The sauce that tops the puddings begins with a red-wine syrup mulled with citrus and a bay leaf and then puréed with strawberries. A final scattering of mixed berries gives a down-home touch to something that is, at heart, wonderfully curious and complex.

This dessert is fantastic served with ripe summer berries. To further refine it, try mixing the fruit with a little rosewater and sugar.

Beneath a creamy layer of tapioca pudding lurks a silky strawberry base. Ground fennel seeds perk up the flavor of the fruit.

This rich Belizean pudding, or pone, is delicious warm or chilled.

The Hot Toddy—for centuries, the classic remedy for a freezing-cold night—is, writes cocktail historian David Wondrich in Imbibe!, "one of the clearest signs I know that there is a providential plan to the universe." The subtle, malty flavor of good Scotch whisky is carried in this instance by a pudding cake, which separates into two layers as it bakes. Eat this while it's still warm from the oven.

Judging by the incredulous, delighted looks on the food editors’ faces when they swallowed their first spoonful of what is essentially cold, airy, whipped lemonade, this 19th-century dessert deserves a renaissance. The warm, sunny sweetness of basil infuses the accompanying custard sauce.

You will not regret investing in a set of coeur à la crème dishes, as this is the most captivating of summer desserts, and can be varied all season according to what fruits are available.

In this bourbon-spiked baby, homemade génoise (a kind of spongecake) subs for the traditional vanilla wafers, and brown sugar contributes a molasses-like sweetness. Glazed pecans add some crunch to the layers of silky pudding, ripe bananas, and tender cake.

Gajar halva is a luxurious Indian dessert made from carrots slowly cooked down with sweetened milk and spices. This version is fast enough for weeknights and brings the warmth of the Indian sun to mind.

Riz au Lait et Rosace d'Oranges The great rice pudding revival taking hold of Paris is an oddly quiet phenomenon. In interviews for this book, individual bistro chefs like Gérard Fouché were genuinely surprised to learn that dozens of their colleagues had also added a riz au lait to their dessert menus during the last few years. Hankerings for home-style throwbacks are universal: You will be among many instantly enticed by Fouché's creamy rice pudding.

When adding your hot liquids to the bowl while whisking, it helps to stabilize your bowl by rolling a kitchen towel up into a log, wrapping it into a coil as wide as the bowl's base, then setting the bowl onto it to nest it in place. This recipe makes twice as much pastry cream as is needed for the Pavlovas . Leftover cream can be used to make èclairs, cream puffs, fruit tarts, or breakfast pastries.

Steamed raisin pudding, or spotted dick, as it's also called, is a traditional English dessert cake that is steamed instead of baked. It can be portioned into 8 ramekins or steamed in a large bowl and turned out as a whole cake. If you're using the ramekins, rather than spooning in the batter, you may want to transfer it to a large pastry bag and pipe it in—this will keep things neat and produce evenly proportioned cakes.

One of the great things about a trifle is that you make it ahead of time, so the cake can soak up the flavors of the custard, fruit, and syrup. It’s a perfect holiday dessert.

As this cake bakes, it separates into a soufflé-like layer on top and citrusy pudding on the bottom. While it's not really magic, it certainly looks and tastes like it.

Like Jell-O, but all grown up, these tart little puddings have a bracing fruitiness that is just what's needed after a sumptuous holiday spread. The scarlet juices of pomegranates, lingonberries, and raspberries are bound into a very soft gelée.