Your new favorite baking ingredient — maple bits that give a sweet taste to any baked good.

My Q&A with Ming Tsai about his experience on “The Next Iron Chef.”

Almonds and a healthy dose of brown sugar make these biscotti incomparable.

Pomegranate or tangerine licorice, anyone?

Adopt an olive tree in Italy and get all the luscious olive oil it produces for a year.

An easy salad from the chef of Chez Panisse.

What one item in your kitchen could you never give away? For me, it’s my late-Mom’s rolling pin.

The secret ingredient in this luscious pie? Parsnips!

Eggs and Serrano ham with Manchego bechamel from Tyler Florence.

White bean turkey chili gets a Thai-like spin with lemongrass and coconut milk.

Morimoto demonstrates how to cook with suckling pig at the recent “Worlds of Flavor” conference.

It’s 11 layers and made by Auberge du Soleil in the Napa Valley.

Holiday gingerbread cookies available for purchase in San Francisco that will make wishes come true.

Chef Carlo Middione: a well-known San Francisco chef who manages to cook, despite having lost his senses of taste and smell.

Buttery as can be and swirled with a whole jar of Nutella.

Hand-made artisan chocolates made in Hershey, PA. Yes, THAT Hershey’s.

Sticky, soft caramels made with goat milk and goat butter.

Scones chock-full of crunchy, luscious hazelnuts. From the new “Baked Explorations” cookbook.

Meet Tyler Florence when he signs copies of his new cookbook, which includes this roasted beet salad recipe.

At this San Francisco restaurant, cooking on a roaring hearth makes a splashy comeback.