Toasting meringue is one of my favorite things to do in pastry. I like how the completely white meringue canvas changes instantaneously to a deep golden. The photograph of the lemon meringue tart in the Bouchon Bakery cookbook is particularly striking in that you can still see the residual smoke atop of the meringue. As for the interior, what makes this recipe special is the addition of a cake layer in between the lemon curd and the meringue. It’s like having two classic desserts in one – a hybrid tart and Baked Alaska.

Come autumn, I do enjoy the Jenga-style game of stacking apple slices into a pie dish ensuring every bite of pie will be loaded with fruit but I am equally fond of the simplicity of overlapping slices for a beautiful fanned apple tart.

Rhubarb is one of my favorite summer ingredients and will eat it whenever I can, whether it be in a fancy liquid nitrogen gazpacho or swirled into cheesecake ice cream. When I found out it would be the main ingredient in this tart I was excited to get to use it. It has the most vibrant red hue.

To add to the list of interpretations of the classics–Better Nutter (Nutter Butter) and Oreo (TKO), Thomas Keller has a recipe for an Oh Oh, his version of the chocolate Swiss roll or Hostess’ Ho Ho. The technique is similar to making a jelly roll or buche de noel in that you make a flat sponge cake, spread a layer of filling and roll it up. For the Oh Oh, the rolls get a chocolate coating finish.