Lemon Meringue Pie
Unabashedly bright as sunshine, the tangy lemon filling, flaky pie crust, and pillowy clouds of bruléed meringue make this an irresistible classic. You can smile while eating it, but only if you want—not because someone told you you’d be prettier if you did!
Croquembouche
All we can ever hope in this life is to stand as tall and proud as this French classic. The towering masterpiece of caramel-covered cream puffs—complete with golden threads of spun sugar—is just screaming “look at me” in the best way possible.
Classic Mayo-Dressed Tuna Salad Sandwiches
If there are people out there who hate tuna salad, this Barbie doesn’t care. With additions like fish sauce and red wine vinegar-soaked red onions, this recipe stands out from the rest.
Coconut Cream Pie
You can’t tell us this pie doesn’t scream “large and in charge”—it’s definitely not afraid to take up space, that’s for sure. Filled with a rich custard and topped with whipped cream and toasted flaked coconut, you’ll be pleasantly delighted with every bite.
Continue to 5 of 7 belowCanh Chua Cá Thì Là (Vietnamese Fish Soup With Tomato and Dill)
It’s not everyday a fish soup is proud to be a fish soup, but today is not one of those days for this Northern Vietnamese specialty. It’s light! It’s delicate! It’s refreshing! What’s not to like?
Onde-Onde (Malaysian Sweet Palm-Sugar Dumplings)
The emerald nuggets are the ultimate one-bite dessert. We love to keep these sweet Malaysian dumplings in our freezer for emergency snacking—talk about a reliable queen.
Chicken Piccata (Fried Chicken Cutlets With Lemon-Butter Pan Sauce)
Given that chicken piccata isn’t afraid to be itself (aka a big ol’ mess to cook), we couldn’t exclude it from this list. The crispy, juicy cutlets are finished off with a lemon-butter pan sauce that’ll put a pep in your step once you get around to cleaning the kitchen.
Photo: 2001 German Oscar up close by Marco Verch under Creative Commons 2.0