From Better Homes and Gardens

Crepe recipes are back. A French import, they realized great popularity in the United States during the 1970s and still epitomize elegance in desserts.

Almond Cream Crepes

From Better Homes and Gardens

These sweet, lightly glazed yeast cake desserts are a glowing finale to serve for fancy dinner parties. Babas can be made in specially designed molds,muffin cups, or popover pans.

Rum Babas

From Better Homes and Gardens

The traditional French fritter or beignet is a puffy, deep-fried doughnutlike pastry. Mixing the dough is easy with the help of your bread machine.

New Orleans Beignets for 32

From Better Homes and Gardens

Layers of cake and mocha ganache make up this opulent French nut torte, which is pronounced mahr-zhoh-LAYN.

Marjolaine

From Better Homes and Gardens

Fried dough squares are sprinkled with powdered sugar to make these sweet rolls. Serve them while still warm for brunch, a snack, or dessert.

French Market Beignets

From Food & Wine

This is Jacques Torres's recipe for sables, a classic French butter cookie with a sandy, crumbly texture (sable means "sandy") -- though this fabulously dense version is actually more like shortbread.

Sugar-Crusted Chocolate Cookies

From Food & Wine

This delicious dessert is a large version of the individual tartlets served at Racines. The thin, crisp pastry shell is filled with a layer of almond cream made from both finely ground and coarsely chopped nuts that give the tart layers of texture. The thinly sliced apples on top caramelize as the tart bakes.

Apple Tart with Almond Cream

From Food & Wine

Flameware is perfect for preparing this French tart, as an ordinary clay pot may not be able to withstand the high heat required to caramelize the apples.

Clay-Pot Tarte Tatin

From Food & Wine

There are many versions of this exquisite tart from the Pays Basque region of France. Daniel Boulud created his with pastry chef Eric Bertoia: A flaky crust surrounds a pastry cream dotted with brandied cherries.

Gateau Basque

From Better Homes and Gardens

Clafouti (kla-foo-TEE), is a French fruit dessert topped with a batter and baked. Cherries are the classic fruit of choice, but you can use most any fruit.

Berry Clafouti

From Food & Wine

"Above all, sorbet should taste -- and feel -- almost like eating fresh fruit," says Jeni Britton.

Sour-Cherry Lambic Sorbet

From Food & Wine

This stunning plum-studded sabayon -- an airy custard sweetened with clover honey and Moscato -- is summer's answer to creme brulee. If you don't have Moscato on hand, any honey-inflected dessert wine will do, such as Muscat de Beaumes-de-Venise or a late-harvest Riesling.

Plum-and-Honey Sabayon Gratins

From Diabetic Living

Light soymilk, light dessert topping, sugar-free dark chocolate, and unsweetened cocoa powder make this decadent dessert recipe fit into your diet.

Chocolate-Amaretto Pots de Creme

From Better Homes and Gardens

Buttery and elegant, this filled cookie sandwich is a wonderful Christmas treat.

French Pistachio Buttercreams

From Better Homes and Gardens

After Australian opera singer Dame Nellie Melba performed in Paris in the late 1800s, French chef Auguste Escoffier named a peach and raspberry dessert in her honor. The fruit combination has been a star ever since.

Peach Melba Puffs

From Heart-Healthy Living

Cocoa powder, fat-free milk, fewer egg yolks, and sugar-free hot fudge topping make this recipe a luscious, yet heart-smart dessert.

Mocha Souffles

From Fine Cooking Magazine

This French caramelized upside-down apple tart is great to serve to guests, because they either know it and adore it, or they've never heard of it before and they fall in love with it right at your dinner table. It isn't hard to make, but it is a bit of a project. A good time to make your pastry is while the apples are cooking.

Classic Tarte Tatin

From Family Circle

This classic dessert recipe is traditionally made with puff pastry, but here layers of phyllo dough brushed with butter provide a pastry every bit as crisp and flaky at the original.

Napoleon

From Diabetic Living

A healthy take on the traditional layered dessert. In this recipe, high-fat, high-calorie pastry and filling are replaced with tempting Lemon Crisps, melon slices, and light dessert topping.

Melon Napoleons

From Fine Cooking Magazine

To keep this filling from being overly juicy (which would sog out the bottom crust), I cook the berries to release their juices and then thicken them with cornstarch. You may refrigerate the filling in a covered container for 2 days before using.

Mixed-Berry Jalousie

From EatingWell

Originally from the Limousin region of France, clafouti is sort of a cross between a flan and a fruit-filled pancake. This one embraces apricots instead of the traditional cherries, but any fruit can be used, including apples, pears, peaches and plums. It will puff up dramatically during baking, then collapse; let it cool slightly before serving so you can truly enjoy the flavors. Leftovers make a delicious breakfast treat.

Apricot-Almond Clafouti

From Fine Cooking Magazine

Rich and creamy, these gingery custards can be prepared and baked a day or two ahead, but wait until you're ready to serve them to caramelize the sugar topping. You'll need a mini blowtorch for this step (we like the Messermeister Cheflamme).

Ginger Creme Brulee

From Diabetic Living

The lightest, most delicate lemon cake imaginable tops off a layer of lemon pudding in this captivating creation.

Lemon Souffle Dessert

From Vegetarian Times

A specialty from Nice, in the south of France, this dessert surprises anyone outside of Provence or Italy (where they make a similar sweet), because few people think of putting greens in a tart.

Tourte de Blettes

From EatingWell

The haunting, subtle flavor of chai spices adds depth and richness to these elegant French baked custards. You could use the leftover egg whites to make meringues.

Chai Chocolate Pots de Creme