Flour

Candied herbs, edible dried flowers, and freeze-dried berries are beautiful decorations for these iced cookie wreaths.

Spaghetti squash varies greatly in terms of wetness. You’ll really want to squeeze out as much liquid as possible so your fritters fry up crisp, not soggy.

“Good for dessert but even better for breakfast.” –Brad Leone, test kitchen manager

Make sure your eggs and coconut oil are at room temperature for this pumpkin bread recipe: Cold eggs can make the oil seize, making the batter uneven.

Grinding half of the walnuts into the streusel makes for extra tender, buttery muffin tops.

Chef Ryan Pera, Coltivare Pizza & Garden, Houston, learned the art of arepas from his sister-in-law. Now, this recipe is his easy Sunday meal of choice, packed with leftovers or farm-fresh produce.

Cooked summer squash can be mushy. Solution: Eat it raw. If you can’t find buckwheat groats, use chopped toasted almonds instead.

How is this shortcake different from all others? Cake flour makes it extra-tender, for starters, then it’s baked in one big circle and bathed in tarragon-infused butter. You might never go back.

Semolina flour is ground from durum wheat and is usually used to make pasta; toasting it deepens its flavor, and its fine grain yields a tender, custardy cake.

Try a combination of strawberries and rhubarb in this buckle-inspired breakfast cake.

These hot and crunchy filled crepes are known as banh xeo in Vietnam.

Selling skeptics on the idea of a vegetarian dinner is easy when it’s in pie form. Maitake mushrooms add heft.

Yes, you could serve these crepes before they’ve been caramelized in sugar, but why deprive yourself?

Store-bought almond flour can be expensive—luckily, it's easy to make the flavorful, gluten-free stuff at home. Here's how

Cook the chickpea mixture until it resembles wet concrete; it won’t set up if it’s undercooked.

Had kasha or soba? You’ve tasted buckwheat. The flour has an earthy, mineral flavor that pairs especially well with tart fruits, like these cherries.

For a moist cake, be sure to use finely ground polenta labeled “quick-cooking” or “instant”; cooking times listed on the package will be five minutes or less.

A simple, straightforward cornbread that we’d happily serve alongside a bowl of chili on any other day of the year.

We recommend using a finely ground cornmeal for these; it will give them the ideal texture.

If you don’t have (or can’t spare) a cast-iron skillet, this can also be finished off in an 8x8” glass dish for baking.

Forget the boxed version you grew up with. This yellow cake recipe gets a rich dark-chocolate frosting with a touch of tang thanks to sour cream. For the best presentation, it’s important to cut the cake layers evenly. This is part of BA's Best, a collection of our essential recipes.

(in the spirit of Pollo Campero)

Using frozen berries in desserts is a clever way to add flavor and vibrant color in colder months. Choose a mild honey, such as clover or orange blossom, to let the fruits shine.

Paper-thin crepes aren’t so fussy. “They’re almost simpler than pancakes,” says pastry chef Megan Garrelts of Rye in Leawood, Kansas.