This decadent dessert is impressive and easy to make.

For an easy afternoon snack, whip up this delicious soy smoothie, using Tetra Pak packaged soy beverage. Use your favourite local berries for a treat the whole family will love.

Hot chili and chocolate make a surprisingly good combination. Sweet, smooth chocolate flavour melts on your tongue and satisfies your taste buds, then finishes with a kick of heat.

This Chocolate Ice Cream recipe has only 6 ingredients, requires no cooking, and with the right equipment is ready in 30 minutes.

Although this recipe calls for liqueur, whisky, rum or any other spirit would work as well.

This recipe is adapted from Tom Jaine's and Nicholas Campion's book, Cosmic Cuisine - The Astrological Cookbook (Windward).

This is the classic recipe that's typically used to make profiteroles (cream puffs) and croquembouche. 

Spread this delicious curd on toast and croissants, use it to fill pastry shells, or pour into a pretty jar and give it away.

Recipe adapted from Cosmic Cuisine - The Astrological Cookbook by Tom Jaine and Nicholas Campion.

Spread your favourite jam on each crêpe and spoon a dollop of whipped cream sweetened with sugar and a splash of Luxardo Maraschino liqueur to transform this appetizer into a luscious dessert. Updated from an old recipe I had from Sunset Magazine.

Christine Sharp submitted this recipe for Tidings' Maple Syrup Recipe Contest

She makes a simple applesauce to accompany pork that all of her guests rave about.  It has a certain je ne sais quoi, except that only she and her husband know exactly what the "quoi" is. She likes the fact that no one can really tell what makes it taste so good.  The secret is a tablespoon each of maple syrup and calvados.

The 3 - 2 - 1 ratio of flour, buter and water is the secret to making the ultimate flakey pie crust.

In India, a chat is a snack, an appetizer or a light salad.

This recipe has been adapted from the Robin Hood Flour recipe collection.

This yummy tart, courtesy or Ricardo Larivée, can be served warm or cold with crème fraîche or vanilla ice cream. Try seasoning the filling with ground cinnamon to taste. It's also delicious with homemade caramel sauce.

Read Kitchen Essentials -- Meringue for tips and tricks on how to prepare this simple, gourmet dessert.

The website of the Ontario maple syrup people, ontariomaplesyrup.com, is loaded with enticing recipes. From the beginning of the meal to the sweetest endings, there’s a fascinating variety of maple tastes. I picked this one and the next from the long list.

Henny Smith submitted this maple syrup-based recipe for the Tidings' Maple Syrup Recipe Contest.

Henny's recipe for maple pie is made with her own dark syrup. It is a variation on a maple tart recipe from Harrowsmith Country Life.

My friend Johanne, who has deep Quebec roots, sent me this recipe — her mom’s — for maple syrup pie. Like all sugar pies, the key word is sweet.

Here’s another version of the same tarte au sirop d’érable, this one from my friend Carol, and again from her mom. The big différence here is that the pie shell is pre-cooked. Take your pick.

Homemade marshmallows may seem to be the domain of those with way too much time on their hands, but they are blissfully easy to make and even easier to enjoy. Originally made from the gummy root of the marshmallow plant, they are now made by aerating a sugar and gelatin syrup. Careful with the icing sugar: answering the door with a dusting of white powder on your face and hands will cause visitors to wonder what kind of operation you’re running exactly.

This is a delicious treat adapted from The KitchenAid Cookbook. Easy to put together, it makes a wonderful anytime snack, or dare I say, breakfast.

This is an old family recipe that doubled as a Christmas pudding. You will note that it contains no plums. No, I don’t have the answer. As a surprise for the kids — and perhaps as an incentive for them to keep eating! — we used to wash up some nickels and dimes, wrap them in foil and add them to the final mix. In these inflationary times, you may wish to consider loonies and toonies!

This classic French dessert was created in the 1870s, inspired by the “belle Hélène,” the handsome title character of an opera by Jacques Offenbach — the original composer of French cancan music. While poaching fruit may seem like something you’d reserve for newborns and nursing homes, you’ll be singing (and possibly cancanning) when you see the result, as delicious as it is visually stunning. This recipe is adapted from a beautiful and elegant book, The Seven Sins of Chocolate.

The secret to this silky and light pound cake, courtesy of legourmettv , is the length of time you beat the butter.

Feel free to substitute your favourite type of pear in this exotic combination.

Serve strawberries warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.