Makes 12 muffins
A combination of cake flour and whole-wheat flour makes a muffin with a hearty, but tender, crumb.

http://www.americastestkitchenfeed.com/to-your-health/2011/07/the-secret-to-fluffy-whole-wheat-muffins/

SERVES 4 TO 6
For tips on trimming asparagus, see related tip. Campanelle is our pasta of choice in this dish, but farfalle and penne are acceptable substitutes.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
For a fresh version of a pasta primavera recipe, we used a pair of spring classics—asparagus and green peas—plus other flavor-packed vegetables and aromatics. We found that by sautéing the vegetables in stages in a large Dutch oven, we could ensure that each one maintained its crisp-tender texture while taking on a touch of flavorful browning. Switching from long-stranded spaghetti to small and compact campanelle allowed us to use the risotto method of cooking, which guaranteed that our Spring Vegetable Pasta recipe resulted in tender pasta coated with a light but lustrous, creamy sauce that brought the dish together perfectly.

Makes 6 toasts
You will need two heavy-bottomed rimmed baking sheets for this recipe; our favorite is the Wear-Ever Half Size Heavy Duty Sheet Pan (13 Gauge) by Vollrath. If you don’t have a biscuit cutter, cut the toast holes with a sturdy drinking glass.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
To adapt this classic skillet breakfast to the oven, we start by toasting bread (with a hole cut out) on both sides in a hot oven. A preheated, buttered baking sheet ensures that the bread browns without sticking, and cracking the eggs onto the hot pan helps them set up right away, preventing the whites from running all over. Adding a second, room-temperature baking pan to the setup acts as insulation, so when the eggs are returned to the oven they cook quickly but gently for a tender white and runny yolk every time.

Serves 2
Although this recipe will work with any electric mixer, a handheld mixer makes quick work of whipping such a small amount of cream. If using a standing mixer in step 1, transfer the whipped cream to a separate bowl, wipe out the mixing bowl, and then beat the eggs in the clean bowl.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
Typical omelets make a fine breakfast or light dinner, but diner-style omelets can satisfy the biggest of appetites. We wanted to make our cheese omelet to be impossibly tall and fluffy and loaded with cheese and other fillings, but the recipes we tried left us with flat and flabby eggs. Incorporating air into the eggs with a mixer made our cheese omelet tall and fluffy. The cream’s fat made it impossible to whip air into the eggs, but we found a way to work around this: We whipped the cream first and then folded it into the whipped eggs. After letting the bottom of the omelet set on the stovetop, we popped the skillet into a preheated oven, and just six minutes later had a puffy, fluffy omelet, cooked to perfection.

Makes 8

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS: This traditional scone has a biscuit-like texture obtained by using both butter and heavy cream. The easiest and most reliable approach to mixing the butter into the dry ingredients is to use a food processor fitted with the metal blade. Resist the urge to eat the scones hot out of the oven. Letting them cool for at least 10 minutes firms them up and improve their texture.

http://www.americastestkitchenfeed.com/bake-it-better/2013/05/secrets-to-cream-scones-with-currants/

Serves 8 to 10
Scoring the fat on the brisket at ½-inch intervals will allow the rub to penetrate the meat. Two disposable aluminum loaf pans stacked inside one another can substitute for the metal loaf pan.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
A simple rub—salt, pepper, brown sugar, cumin, chipotle chiles, and paprika—imparted smoky, spicy flavor to our Slow Cooker BBQ Beef Brisket. To allow the flavors to permeate, we lightly scored the fat on the brisket before rubbing. To minimize the moisture absorbed by the brisket (which traditionally isn’t cooked directly in liquid), we came up with an unorthodox solution: elevating the meat off the bottom of the slow cooker with an inverted loaf pan. The liquid exuded from the meat during cooking was drawn under the loaf pan by a vacuum effect, which meant that the slow cooker more closely mimicked how a real barbecue cooks. To bump up the flavor of this liquid, we sautéed onion, garlic, tomato paste, and chipotle chiles and added this to the slow cooker, under the loaf pan, to cook along with the brisket.

Makes about 2 cups
Although any style of whiskey will work here, we like the smokiness of bourbon. As bourbon is both American and southern, it fits right in.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
We found any style of whiskey did just fine, but bourbon added a nice smokiness to our Bourbon Whipped Cream. As with any whipped cream, it is essential to make sure the cream is well chilled so it will whip properly.

To avoid rushing at the last minute, we found we could prepare the whipped cream up to 4 hours beforehand and store it in the refrigerator.

Serves 8
Use your favorite pie dough or our recipe (related).

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
The majority of Thoroughbred Pie recipes that we prepared were far too sweet. We reduced the amount of sugar to almost half of what was called for in some recipes. Brown sugar contributed a hint of spice and depth, while more neutral white sugar ensured that the nuts and chocolate weren’t eclipsed. To bring more balance to the pie, we replaced semisweet chocolate chips with chopped bittersweet chocolate.

To give the top of our pie its trademark crunch, we went with cornstarch instead of the flour that we’d been using as a thickener. Removing some egg white from the recipe also helped. We settled on blind baking our pie crust to ensure that it didn’t come out of the oven underbaked. Sprinkling the chocolate over the still-warm crust provided a hit of intense chocolate in every bite.

Serves 8
For even cooking, buy asparagus spears between 1/4 and 1/2 inch in diameter.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
Rather than cook our Asparagus Gratin in a cheesy sauce, we opted to cook the two aspects separately and combine them at the end. We initially turned to gruyére cheese, a classic element in gratin dishes, but it caused our sauce to be slightly gritty. Replacing it with milder, smoother Monterey Jack fixed the problem. We also found that tasters preferred a version of the sauce that replaced the half-and-half entirely with vegetable stock made from the trimmed ends of the asparagus, which also enhanced the vegetable’s flavor.

Serves 4 to 6
The dressing, croutons, and hard-cooked eggs can be prepared 1 day before you plan to serve the salad.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
We took common ingredients like olive oil, salt, red wine vinegar, mustard, and minced thyme and garlic, and combined them to create a flavorful dressing for our Springtime Spinach Salad. Raw onions and unflavored croutons seemed a little lackluster for this salad. We used a little dressing to sauté the onions, and tossed the croutons with dressing before baking them. Rather than slicing or quartering the hard-boiled eggs, we opted instead to grate the whites and the yolks separately into small, uniform yellow and white pieces that contrasted nicely with the deep green spinach.