Erin McKenna

A combination of gluten-free flour, rice flour, and arrowroot gives these dairy-free vegan cookies their light, crisp texture.

Serve this immediately; it is not a beverage that can sit around.

Rich, flaky shortcake is a perfect showcase for luscious strawberries.

Brace yourself for an unbelievably adorable, moist, and perfectly sweet donut that will leave you breathless and endlessly happy. We're going to bake them, not deep-fry them! If you're OK with sugar, this should be your go-to recipe, as it yields a fantastically crispy outside that secures the light, pillowy inside. The donut here is shown with the cinnamon sugar topping .

From cornbread slathered with jam to peanut butter and jelly, there are few things closer to my heart than the combination of salty and sweet. After I’d worked out the pancake recipe, it occurred to me—by way of an Eggo-heavy childhood—that a waffle recipe would be the perfect opportunity to explore salty-sweet in depth. Personally I find that a dollop of coconut oil and a sprinkle of salt on each waffle before the Agave Maple Syrup is perfect. Even more perfect? Making them chocolate-chipped! The next time you’re roaming the grocery store aisles and you happen—accidentally or otherwise—onto that wonderful section stuffed with every known variety of organic and sweetened and unsweetened and flavored chocolate, make sure to attack it full force. Then head immediately for the vegan whipped cream and pick it up. Find some vegan powdered sugar and place it in your basket. Load these groceries into your trunk or into your little go-cart to push home and get on your phone and offer up your waffle-making services to anyone willing to clean up the mess you’re about to make.

I have to give Sabrina, my business partner at BabyCakes NYC, 100 percent of the credit for creating this incredible cake. Normally, pineapple upside-down cake just isn’t my thing, but the texture, spice, and fluffiness of this recipe really won me over. If you’re a beginner, this is a good cake to start with because it’s a snap, it can be ready to eat in just about an hour, and it looks gorgeous. Feeling adventurous? Make some Vanilla Sugar Glaze (page 127) and drizzle it all over.

In my house, baking cookies was a cutthroat competition among siblings, with my mother presiding, Iron Chef style, with one baby perched on her hip and the other clamped to her knee. Our approaches varied. Mary increased the sugar in an attempt to up the crunch. Patrick (ever the psycho perfectionist) altered the recipe and portion size teaspoon by teaspoon in pursuit of a product with Mom's thin and crispy edges. Bill made his backwards, just to act rad. It was never my intention to upstage your cookies, Mom—but you should know that I've never claimed a victory as great as when you tasted your first Babycakes NYC cookie and said: "These are better than mine." Slather an exceedingly generous dollop of your favorite frosting between two of these cookies and you've got your newest addiction, the Babycakes NYC cookie sandwich. Try freezing them.

These cakes are delicate and golden, tasting subtly of vanilla with a faint hint of lemon.

Let's just dive in, shall we? Not only does this produce a thick and creamy vanilla frosting, it also doubles as a whipped topping, and left unrefrigerated it becomes a vanilla sauce to serve with crumbs, shortcakes, or volcanoes. And why stop there? I especially love the sauce on savory bites like corn bread, muffins, and biscuits, where it acts like a decadent sweet butter. If you try to steer clear of soy, replace the liquid and powdered soy with the rice milk variety for both in equal measure—but be advised that the result will taste slightly sweeter. Please note: If it's true frosting you want, be sure to factor in the full six hours for it to chill and set.

Editor's note: Use this frosting to top Vanilla Cupcakes or to make Chocolate Chip Cookie Sandwiches, both from Babycakes.