Baking

These deep, dark brownies, a Lauren family favorite, are from Ricky Lauren's The Hamptons: Food, Family, and History.

The best pie crust doesn't require special equipment. Using your hands is the best way to ensure that the butter ends up in irregular pieces and the dough doesn’t get overworked. Use the force!

This chocolate birthday cake recipe calls for dark chocolate in the ganache to balance out the sweetness of the Nutella. For a more kid-friendly cake, use milk chocolate. This is part of BA's Best, a collection of our essential recipes.

Icing on top and in the middle, sides left bare: This modern-looking style shows off the cake’s decadent (and perfectly even) chocolate layers.

The genius part of this rich and moist sheet cake recipe is the “reverse creaming” method. Instead of creaming butter and sugar before adding the liquid ingredients and flour, you’ll gradually add the liquid ingredients into the flour. As a result, the cake bakes almost perfectly flat—no domed tops, no layers to trim.

This basic scone recipe is perfect as is, but the upgrades and flavor add-ins are nothing to scoff at, either.

This bread was the talk of the BA office for a few months (in the best possible way). Some quick tips: Use the ripest bananas possible and tent the bread with foil if it’s browning too quickly.

Equal parts fruit crumble and coffee cake, this not-too-sweet dessert starts out bright pink but bakes to a toasty golden brown.

Tandem Coffee + Bakery’s coconut cream pie recipe riffs on the classic in all the right ways. 

Assemble these one at a time so the rhubarb juice doesn’t have time to run wild while you’re finishing them.

Carnation malted milk powder, we love you (and this devilish cake) so, so much. If you're using an 8½x4½" pan, you should hold back 1 cup batter.

If you only have an 8½x4½" pan, there’s no need to go out and get a new one. Simply hold back about 1¾ cups batter for later—it makes a mean waffle!

These cookies are both vegan and gluten-free, but you’d never know it. You can find most of these ingredients in health food stores, well-stocked specialty grocers, and online.

Two different types of apples give you a mix of textures and an ideal sweet-tart filling. If you’re looking to streamline, use one or the other (Pink Ladies are less sour).

Is this caramel cream-puff skyscraper a showstopper? Yes. Is it a major-league project? Yes! Here’s the strategy: Make the puffs and the pastry cream a couple of days in advance, then tackle assembly on the morning of the day you plan to serve this.

For extra texture, trick out your cake with rainbow or chocolate sprinkles, chopped candies, or your favorite cereal.

Use your favorite nut—or mixed nuts—in place of the cashews.

The water bath insulates these custards from the dry heat of the oven to ensure a lush, creamy custard.

It may not seem like very much filling, but these handheld pastries deliver the perfect filling-to-crust ratio (and if you overstuff the dough, they’ll be impossible to seal).

If you like darker chocolate, feel free to use something with a high percentage of cacao here. Milk chocolate works too, if that’s your thing.

You can use any flavor jam or jelly you like; substitute roasted salted peanuts to play up the salty-sweet angle.

For the neatest, cleanest edges, freeze the brownies for 15 minutes so they’re nice and firm before cutting, and dip your knife in hot water between each slice.

Room temperature cream cheese and butter are key to a smooth frosting (cold ingredients will form hard beads). Take them both out of the refrigerator three hours ahead of time.

Make sure to get your whisk into the bottom edge of the pan as you prepare the custard so that the mixture cooks evenly.