The Dessert Shelf

Desserts reward precision more than most cooking, and they also forgive more than their reputation suggests once the reasons behind each step are clear. This chapter explains them: why melted butter makes a chewier cookie, why less flour and no baking powder give a fudgy brownie, how egg proteins set a lemon curd, and why a water bath and a slow cool keep a cheesecake from cracking. There are make-ahead desserts for gatherings, a carrot cake with a cream cheese frosting that holds its shape, and two fruit desserts built from inexpensive staples: an apple crisp for a crowd and a peach cobbler that works with frozen fruit straight from the bag. Every recipe states when to pull it from the oven and how to store it.