Store-bought cannoli shells make it easy to create this gorgeous Italian dessert, which provides balance to the other items on Fabrizio Cercatore’s spring menu.

“This tart recipe makes the best of California-grown goodness, is impressive for guests and really simple to pull together. I often add a bit of orange zest when serving for an easy added flourish, and it seems fabulous, too,” digital marketer and recipe developer K.C. Cornwell says. She warns that once you try this “ridiculously easy” pistachio crust, it will be difficult to go back to regular pastry.

Chef Andie Hubka says salt is one of a cook’s most important ingredients. This dessert, for example, “completely changes when you add salt, especially sea salt, which has a high salinity.” 

Here’s one of the favorite recipes from Dragon Delights farm in Ramona.

Elevate your peaches and cream by topping it with masa crumble. This addition gives you another layer of texture, and the earthy flavor helps balance the sweetness of the fruit and whipped cream. Alternately, feel free to serve the peaches and cream as is!

This dish, which chef Dane Blom calls his “favorite dessert of all time,” is an easy-to-make showstopper. At home, the chef often serves it over pound cake.

There’s no fuss, just fun, when it comes to making these pies, Hughes says. “You can crimp them with a fork. You can press the edges. You can make cute little designs when you’re venting them.”

Melinda Price enjoys experimenting with recipes using the saffron grown on her Lake County farm.

“Saffron has been used for centuries in America by the Amish and Mennonite communities, who, like us at the farm, flavor everything from chicken soup to bread with it,” she says.

She found a winner in this saffron shortbread, based on a recipe by Shira Bocar of Martha Stewart Living. It’s been a big hit with farmstand and online customers.