Afternoon tea need not be an upturned-pinkies-and-starched-napkins affair.

At Thanksgiving, when the amount of cooking to be done can overwhelm both human and oven capacity, some desserts can be made ahead of time.

In Berlin, a chocolaty bar that divides and unites.

Pecan pies from Oko frozen yogurt stores and a new line of sophisticated ice cream cakes from Il Laboratorio del Gelato.

This dessert is loosely based on the Moroccan seffa, essentially sweetened couscous sprinkled with rosewater.

Doughnuts will never be good for you, so just get over it.

They look like little marzipan fruits and vegetables, but their key ingredient is coconut, not ground almonds. Made in Belgium by Cocomas, they are clever, sweet and rich, and a nice treat to serve on a cookie tray or alongside a dish of sorbet. A package of eight pieces is $3.99 at Fairway markets.

The benefits of having a clearly defined rival.

Just four months old, the new restaurant Elizabeth has already changed plenty, and it still doesn’t seem entirely sure of what it wants to be.

By Maria Hines, the chef and owner of Tilth in Seattle.