Season 8

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  Lightening Up Chocolate Desserts

  Skipping dessert or eating a piece of fruit is an obvious way to cut calories, but where’s the fun in that? We set our sights on lowering the fat and calories in two favorite chocolate desserts—chocolate mousse and brownies.

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  French Apple Tart

  A tart should be easier to prepare than the typical double-crust American pie. But developing a flaky crust sturdy enough to support the fruit is a bit tricky. And getting the apples to caramelize by the time the crust is baked is also a challenge.

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  Lemon Layer Cake

  Layer cakes are desserts to be savored at birthday parties, holidays, and other celebrations. Ideally, the cake’s tender layers offset the bracing, citrusy filling, and the whole is swathed in a glossy, pale frosting. We’ll show you how to make a version that tastes as great as it looks.

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  More Cookie Jar Favorites

  We turn our attention to two favorite cookies: a triple chocolate cookie so chocolaty it’s almost a brownie, and the humble brown sugar cookie, moist, chewy, and packed with butterscotch flavor.

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  Coffeehouse Treats

  In this episode, the test kitchen perfects two breakfast treats: blueberry scones and rich bran muffins.

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  Old-Fashioned Breakfast Cakes

  Bakery versions of crumb cake often fall short. The crumb topping can be skimpy or dry and brittle. And the cake can suffer too, baking up too dry or not sturdy enough, so that the crumb topping simply sinks into the cake. We tackle these issues to develop the ultimate crumb cake.