Oxtails—a deeply beefy cut full of connective tissue—practically melt when braised, resulting in savory, tender meat and a rich and glossy gravy. Novelist Bryan Washington's recipe for Jamaican braised oxtails, an homage to one prepared by his mother, is perfumed by plenty of warming spices, hot Scotch bonnet chiles, and fresh thyme, while sweet carrots and creamy beans round out the dish.

Chef Tim Love re-creates his mother's cookies here: They're crunchy on the outside, soft in the center and loaded with milk-chocolate chips instead of the usual semisweet kind.

Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson created this ultra-rich hot chocolate topped with coconut cream for his partner Bobby Stuckey's wife, Danette, who has a sweet tooth. "At Frasca, we make a lot of desserts with chocolate or coconut, so we just kept going and came up with this drink," says Lachlan.

Pre-seasoning these chicken legs with salt at least an hour before cooking ensures flavorful, juicy meat. Drizzle leftover hot honey on a cheese plate or pizza.

Jumbo pasta shells are filled with a savory blend of ground pork, creamy ricotta cheese, and herbs, then baked in a rich tomato sauce until bubbling and golden. A comforting, flavorful Italian-inspired dish perfect for family dinners.

A quick sauté renders baby kale leaves perfectly tender, allowing them to almost melt into the buttermilk-enriched béchamel in chef and cookbook author Alexander Smalls' riff on mac and cheese. For a smooth sauce, make sure all of the dairy is at room temperature.

Pouring the batter into a hot skillet ensures a perfectly cooked, dark golden–bottomed crust with a fluffy, golden interior. To check for doneness, rely on the visual cues for browning—a cake tester will come out clean before the cake is cooked through.

At Convivial in Washington, D.C., Cedric Maupillier's foot-long quiche takes this breakfast classic to the next level. This version, prepared in a rimmed baking sheet, makes plenty for the whole family.

We use molasses-steeped strawberries to make a breakfast that's balanced with sour, sweet, and bitter flavors.

For Jing Gao, owner of the cult Sichuan food company Fly by Jing, making these fresh hand-pulled noodles, doused in garlic, ginger, chile, and cumin, is as natural as breathing. A final pour of sizzling-hot oil is all you need to bloom the flavor of the seasonings. Watch Jing make this dish (and more!) in her episode of Chefs at Home.

This recipe takes the flavors of banana bread and turns them into a super-moist sheet cake. The crunchy, nutty streusel topping balances out the sweet cake, which gets finished with a boozy rum glaze for even more flavor. To make it in advance, prepare the cake up until step 4 and then glaze it day-of. The cooled cake can be covered loosely with plastic wrap at room temperature for up to 2 days.

This super-fast sauce comes together in just minutes and makes a next-level topping for Lena Sareini's Brown-Butter Banana Bread. Chunks of sweet, ripe banana get pureed into the cooked caramel, yielding a thick, rich sauce that amplifies the rich flavor of the banana bread.