Bottles of wine and bouquets of flowers make for lovely hostess gifts, but a box of handmade candy says "thanks for inviting me over" in a much more personal fashion. This Black-and-White Sesame Brittle from Kir Jensen's The Sugar Cube is ideal to bring along to any dinner party, simple to make, impressive to gift, and a sweet treat to nibble on after any meal. More

This ice cream is full of flavor and subtle all at once. Steeping cardamom pods in cream brings out all their layers of flavor, which are heightened by the citrus and bitter notes of the orange zest. Lots of ice creams are best served alongside some other dessert; this is fantastic enough to ride solo. More

This is a bright, fresh, and impressively fruity ice cream that rises above the strawberry pack. A touch of balsamic vinegar adds sweet complexity and some of the acidity lost by cooking the fruit. More

[Photograph: Max Falkowitz] The salted caramel ice cream from Bi-Rite Creamery is one of the best I've ever tasted. It's wildly complex, a tad smoky, and just salty enough. Just as important, it's ridiculously creamy thanks to an especially high... More

These Sablé aux Olives Noires from Pierre Hermé Pastries take a lovely sablé base and incorporate one of the most unexpected cookie add-ins ever: oil-cured black olives. It's an unlikely duo of sweet-buttery and salty-bitter that works in a way that's innovative and elegant. More

Once you've figured out the method to marshmallow making madness a whole world of puffy possibilities opens up to you. These Chocolate Malt Marshmallows from Shauna Sever's Marshmallow Madness take marshmallows to the soda fountain, creating a poppable version of a chocolate malted. More

Dyed a lovely mint green from Crème De Menthe, these marshmallows are studded with mini chocolate chips and dipped in bittersweet chocolate. We love the idea of flavoring marshmallows with liqueur but if you're not feeling like a cocktail you can always sub in peppermint extract and a few dashes of green food coloring for a similarly festive mallow. More

Mastering the art of marshmallow making gives candy makers the opportunity to play with all sorts of exciting flavors because, after all, the marshmallow really is just a squishy blank canvas. We have to tip our hats to Shauna Sever, author of Marshmallow Madness for having the foresight and vision to bring together two of our favorite confections in these Sea Salt Caramel Swirl Marshmallows. And if you're wondering, they're just as great as they sound. Tender, bouncy vanilla marshmallows run through with ribbons of sweet and salty caramel. More

These Chocolate-Filled Vanilla Marshmallows from Shauna Sever's Marshmallow Madness is the perfect way to ease into the wonderful (and not all that difficult) world of marshmallow making. The recipe is three in one: Classic Vanilla Marshmallows, powdery coating, and a creamy chocolate ganache filling. More

Entenmann's excels at cake donuts. Frosted, glazed, crumb topped or coated with loads of confectioners' sugar, all of the varieties are pretty great. So this recipe for Entenmann's Chocolate Cake Donuts obviously came with some pretty high expectations. More

This recipe, adapted from Entenmann's Big Book of Baking, attempts to replicate those blue and white boxed cookies at home, and does so if you keep a watchful eye on your cookies and pull them a bit early. More

Entenmann's bright yellow, super buttery loaf cakes are legendary. They're the base for countless semi homemade summer strawberry shortcakes but also entirely solid when sliced and eaten straight out of the box. Obviously we were quite curious to see how the make at home version from Entenmann's Big Book of Baking would fair. More

This Blueberry Crumb Cake is a cinnamon-spiked sour cream coffee cake run through with fresh blueberries and lemon zest and topped, of course, with that one and only crumb. More

These pocket sized desserts from Handheld Pies are not exactly like the slice you'd find at your local diner, and the fact that it comes in a jar is only the beginning. More

Tucking a buttery crust into a little jar and filling it with raspberries tossed with brown sugar, lemon zest, and just enough flour makes for a mini-pie that browns up beautifully and somehow stays crisp on both the top and bottom crusts. More

These handheld pies are somewhere in the sweet spot between dessert and breakfast, with a crumbly cornmeal crust filled with honey-laced farmer cheese and a touch of thyme that make them feel as though they are a viable breakfast option. More

Encased in a buttery pâte brisée crust and filled with creamy mascarpone and bitter-sweet marmalade, these "Pop-Tarts" are more on par with croissants than rainbow sprinkle-topped breakfast pastries. More

This Caramel Cream Layer Cake from Neue Cuisine is a riff on the Hungarian dobos torte customized by Kurt Gutenbrunner for caramel lovers. More

While fruit-filled strudels are the norm on these shores, in Austria filling options are much more vast and varied. One of the fillings that's pretty much everywhere in Austria (but nowhere here) is Milchramstrudel or Quark Custard Strudel, a lightly sweet and tangy cheese-filled strudel that's baked with a creamy, custardy sauce. More

This deceptively simple Apple Strudel is made flaky phyllo brushed with clarified butter and confectioners' sugar and a sweet-tart apple-sour cream filling studded with currants, raisins, and walnuts. More