3-day laminated dough project. 27 layers of butter and dough. Honeycomb crumb. The most technically satisfying bake I know.

Buttery sweet shortcrust shell filled with silky lemon curd. Sharp, bright, and not too sweet. The tart that I made for my pastry school final.

The extra step of browning the butter adds a toasty, nutty depth that elevates these from good to obsession-worthy.

Four overripe bananas and brown butter. The loaf that actually improves every day for three days. Tested 14 times to get the crumb right.

A 75% hydration open-crumb country loaf. My starter is named Gerald. He is 4 years old.

What if French onion soup was a pasta dish? Caramelized onions, sherry, beef stock, and Gruyere. Goes viral every winter for good reason.

Big flat wide rice noodles, Chinese broccoli, oyster sauce and dark soy. The wetter, sweeter, more charred cousin of pad thai.

Steep 2 tsp dried culinary lavender in the warm cream. Strain before adding to yolks. Subtle, floral, surprising.

Same dough, two sticks of good dark chocolate rolled inside each. The shape is a rectangle, not a crescent. The soul is the same.

1:1 gluten-free flour swap plus a splash of almond flour for texture. Undetectable. My celiac husband ate seven of these.

Lemon curd folded into the mascarpone cream, ladyfingers dipped in limoncello syrup. Lighter and brighter than the original.

The French countryside batter pudding. Somewhere between a crepe and a flan. No pitting the cherries — the pits keep them from going mushy and add a subtle almond flavor.