Baked Goods Category

These crisp, hard cookies are traditionally made with bitter almonds. Dessert recipes sometimes call for them to be crumbled or ground. Amaretti de Sarnonno are considered to be the best.

This is an airy white sponge cake made without egg yolks or any fat. It gets its volume from stiffly beaten egg whites, and it's normally baked in a tube pan. Many bakeries sell it ready-made. It will keep its shape better if you cut it with a serrated knife.

This is a Venezuelan bread that's round and flat and usually made of cornmeal. It's usually split open and stuffed with grated cheese, cooked meats, and other fillings.

A Jewish specialty, these ring-shaped rolls have a dense, chewy texture. They're usually served for breakfast after being sliced open, toasted, and smeared with cream cheese. The dough is sometimes studded with raisins, blueberries, onions, seeds, or herbs.

You can buy these crunchy chips ready-made, but they're easy to make at home.

This precooked pizza shell makes it easy to whip up a quick homemade pizza. Just add some toppings and bake it briefly in an oven. Boboli is a well-known brand.

Jamaicans love to butter these cakes and eat them with fish. Bammies are made of grated cassava, and often soaked in coconut milk before being fried.

This flatbread hails from Iran.

These chewy Jewish rolls have indentations on top which are filled with onions. Look for them in bagel shops.

Biscotti are cookies that are hard, dry, and intensely flavored--think of them as teething biscuits for adults. They're made by baking a loaf of cookie dough, slicing it, and then baking the slices a second time. They come in several flavors, including almond, chocolate, anise, and hazelnut. They can be stored for a long time in a dry, airtight container.

These are crusty Mexican sandwich rolls.

This is a Brazilian corn cake.

To learn more about different varieties of bread, click here.

These are used for breading foods, topping casseroles, stuffing poultry, thickening stews, and adding inexpensive bulk to meatloaves, hamburgers, and fish cakes. Dry breadcrumbs are made from very dry bread, and make for a crispy, crunchy coating for fried foods. The bread that's used to make soft or fresh bread crumbs isn't as dry, so the crumbs produce a softer coating, crust, or stuffing. Almost any bread can be used to make breadcrumbs, but crusty French or Italian bread works especially well.

Breading adds a crisp coating to fried foods. Breadcrumbs are most commonly used, but crumbs from crackers, breakfast cereals, melba toast, matzos, pretzels, and corn chips also work well. To bread meat and seafood, first dry the pieces completely, then dust them with a light coating of flour. Next dip them in a mixture of eggs mixed with a little milk, water, or oil, then dredge the pieces in the breading. Refrigerate them for about an hour before frying them.

Italians serve these crunchy breadsticks before Italian meals, to keep their guests occupied without filling them up too much. You can buy them plain, or flavored with sesame seeds, garlic, onion, or herbs.

These sturdy British crackers are quite bland.

This rich, slightly sweet yeast bread is made with eggs and butter, and sometimes with fruit or nuts.

This is the standard cake that we cover with frosting and serve at birthdays, weddings, and graduations. It comes in many flavors, and is easily made at home either from scratch or powdered mixes.

These crisp cookies are made with butter. They're sometimes crushed and use to make pie crusts.

Italians stuff these with a sweet filling that's usually based on ricotta cheese.

This Jewish yeast bread is made with eggs and butter. It's wonderfully soft and rich, and usually comes as a braided loaf.

Flat bread shaped like a boat.

This unleavened flatbread is a staple in India, where people spread ghee on it and eat it with curries. You can make it yourself with wheat flour, salt, and water, or buy it ready-made in Indian markets.

These are vegetables or grain products that have been cut into thin slices, deep-fried or baked until crisp, and then salted. They're often served with creamy dips. The British use the word "chips" for what Americans call French fries.

These are crisp chocolate cookies that are often crushed and used to make pie crusts.

Ciabatta ("slipper" in Italian) is a rustic bread with a heavy crust and a dense crumb.

These crisp, finger-length Italian cookies are flavored with anise. They're often stuffed with fruit or other fillings.

This ring-shaped cake is lightly sweetened and flavored with lemon zest and dried fruit. Romans like to serve it for breakfast at Easter.

Time-challenged cooks toss chicken pieces or pork chops into bags filled with this seasoned crumb mix, then place them on a pan and bake them. Shake 'N Bake® is a popular brand.

These lightly sweetened cookies are made with cornmeal. Look for them in Hispanic markets.

These are made with cornmeal, and taste especially good with chili.

A staple of Jewish delicatessens, this rye bread is coated with cornmeal. It's often paired with corned beef.

These thin round wraps are widely used in southern Mexico, and they're the preferred tortilla for making tacos and enchiladas. They should be served hot. If you're watching calories, do this by cooking them on a hot, dry frying pan or by wrapping them in moist paper towels and briefly heating them in a microwave oven. If calories aren't an issue, fry them in oil. You can make corn tortillas at home if you have a tortilla press. Just mix masa harina with enough water to make a bread-like dough, press the dough until it's very thin, and then cook the tortilla in a hot, dry frying pan. Readymade corn tortillas are available in most supermarkets.

This is used to bread or stuff poultry and fish. Packaged cornbread crumbs are available in the baking supplies section of many supermarkets, or you can make your own by crumbling cooled cornbread.

This is used as a colorful breading for meat and fish, and as a topping for casseroles. You can buy cornflakes already crushed, or buy whole cornflakes and crush them yourself.

This is a large flat Middle Eastern bread that comes either hard (like a cracker) or soft (like a tortilla). You can soften hard lavash by moistening both sides and then placing it in a plastic bag for a few hours

These crushed crackers are used as a breading for meat and fish. When the food is fried, the crumbs provide a crunchy coating. Look for it in the baking goods section of your supermarket, or make your own by putting crackers in a plastic bag and crushing them with a rolling pin.