Serves 8 to 10

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
Cool, creamy icebox cheesecake meets a salty, pucker-inspiring margarita. We bring the best of both worlds to center stage in our Margarita Cake. As the top glaze has the boozy kick of its namesake, this cake is a lively contribution to a grownups-only party.

Serves 4
It’s important to follow visual cues, as pan thickness will affect cooking times. If using an electric stove, heat one burner on low heat and a second on medium-high heat; move the skillet between burners for temperature adjustment. If you don’t have half-and-half, substitute 8 teaspoons of whole milk and 4 teaspoons of heavy cream. To dress up the dish, add 2 tablespoons of chopped parsley, chives, basil, or cilantro or 1 tablespoon of dill or tarragon to the eggs after reducing the heat to low.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
Scrambled eggs should be a foolproof, go-to breakfast. Yet surprisingly, we’ve successfully created our ideal scrambled eggs only a handful of times. More often than not, they’re tough and dry. For moist and fluffy eggs with soft, big curds, we found it necessary to cook them over high heat, which creates enough steam to properly puff the eggs. Salt helps produce tender curds while gentle beating avoids a tough scramble. The addition of half-and-half provided just enough richness without making the eggs dense and a couple extra yolks boosted egg flavor. Lowering the heat at the end of cooking ensured the eggs didn’t overcook.

Serves 8 to 10

It’s important not to overbake the lasagna. Once the sauce starts bubbling around the edges, turn the oven to broil. If your lasagna pan is not broiler-safe, brown the lasagna at 500 degrees for about 10 minutes. Whole milk is best in the sauce, but skim and low-fat milk also work. Supermarket-brand cheeses work fine in this recipe. The Gorgonzola may be omitted, but the flavor of the lasagna won’t be as complex. The test kitchen prefers the flavor and texture of Barilla no-boil noodles, but this recipe will work with most brands. One box of Barilla will yield enough noodles for this recipe; you may need two boxes of other brands.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
For the best flavor in our four-cheese lasagna recipe, we settled on a combination of fontina, Parmesan, Gorgonzola, and Gruyère. But the real secret to a great four-cheese lasagna recipe proved to be a fifth cheese. While ricotta didn’t add much flavor, it gave the lasagna body without making the dish heavy and starchy.

Makes about ¼ cup

Any combination of soft leaf herbs—parsley, cilantro, basil, tarragon, and chives—will work in this recipe. No more than 1 tablespoon of heartier herbs, such as thyme, rosemary, sage, and oregano, should be added. Walnuts, pecans, whole blanched almonds, skinned hazelnuts, unsalted pistachios, pine nuts, or any combination thereof can be used here. Toss the pesto with pasta, spread it on a sandwich, or use it to flavor dips and dressings. The pesto can be refrigerated in an air-tight container for up to 4 days or frozen for up to 1 month.

http://www.americastestkitchenfeed.com/use-it-up/2012/02/what-to-do-with-extra-fresh-herbs/

Serves 6
Let the berries and accumulated juices soak into the shortcakes for a short time.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
Reducing the butter in our Reduced-Fat Strawberry Shortcakes recipe left the cake dry. A little skim milk supplied moisture and added just a few calories per shortcake. In traditional shortcake, when the bits of butter melt, steam escapes and puffs the shortcake up and out. We replicated this effect by melting the butter we did use and allowing it to cool before whisking it in with the milk and yogurt. The melted butter clumped into droplets, which in the oven acted like the butter particles in the original recipe.

Real whipped cream accounted for about 200 calories per saving. Replacing some of the heavy cream with Greek yogurt reduced the calories without sacrificing a luscious, airy texture. Traditional recipes have 680 calories, 37 grams of fat, and 23 grams of saturated fat per serving. Our changes brought the numbers down to 420 calories, 16 grams of fat, and 10 grams of saturated fat.

Makes 9 lemon squares
Press the crust dough snugly against the pan edges to keep the lemon topping from running beneath the crust. Cool the crust for at least 15 minutes before pouring on the lemon topping.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
A little number crunching revealed that lemon squares’ shortbread-like crust is the main fat and calorie heavyweight. We were able to scale back the butter by two-thirds yet keep the same flavorful, tender bite by employing milk for moisture and baking powder for light texture. Our trimmed lemon topping sings lemon, thanks to a whopping 6 tablespoons of juice and 1 tablespoon of aromatic zest.

Traditional Lemon Square recipes have 330 calories, 16 grams of fat, and 11 grams of saturated fat per lemon square. Our changes brought the numbers down to 190 calories, 6 grams of fat, and 4 grams of saturated fat per square.

Makes 6 Danish
This recipe is based on Pepperidge Farm puff pastry, which is the most widely available brand. One sheet measures 9 1/2 by 9 inches. Be sure to let the puff pastry thaw completely before using it, otherwise it can crack and break apart. To thaw frozen puff pastry, allow it to sit either in the refrigerator for 24 hours or on the counter for 30 to 60 minutes. Serve with confectioners’ sugar.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS: After testing many methods for making Danish shells out of a sheet of puff pastry, we found that it was important to score a 1/2-inch border in the individual pastry rectangles and prick the centers with a fork. Doing so prevented the pastry from rising too much in the center—making room for the cream cheese filling—and helped to form a pretty edge.

http://www.americastestkitchenfeed.com/bake-it-better/2013/04/secrets-to-cheese-danish/

Serves 4

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
We wanted the asparagus in our Roasted Asparagus with Peppers and Shallots recipe to have lots of flavor, so we tossed the spears with a garlic and herb marinade, then cooked them (along with some peppers and shallots) hot and high to caramelize them without withering them away. A heavyweight rimmed baking sheet stood up to the high heat and didn’t warp as the asparagus cooked.

Serves 4

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS: We found that Pillsbury’s Refrigerated Crescent Dinner Rolls worked well in this recipe, but any 8-ounce can of crescent dinner roll dough can be used. Serve with ice cream of a drizzle of heavy cream.

http://www.americastestkitchenfeed.com/bake-it-better/2013/04/secrets-to-apple-dumplings/

Makes about 16 (4-inch) pancakes

Getting the skillet hot enough before making the pancakes is key.

http://www.americastestkitchenfeed.com/bake-it-better/2012/05/secrets-to-perfect-pancakes/