Frangelico

Rich, refreshing and easy — the perfect finale to an elegant summer dinner.

Great with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

A real winner: Delicate "purses" of phyllo pastry hold a banana and hazelnut filling. They're served with white chocolate sauce and a crunchy hazelnut crumble.

Italian fruitcakes with Frangelico chocolate sauce If you don't have the mini Bundt molds called for, oversize muffin cups (about one-cup capacity) can be used instead. Begin preparing this at least a week ahead.

This recipe originally accompanied Frozen White Chocolate and Hazelnut Dacquoise .

This dessert comes from Café Terra Cotta in Tucson, Arizona.

Gianduia, the classic Italian combination of hazelnuts and chocolate, is never more appropriate than in fall, when the hazelnuts are harvested throughout Piedmont. Here the mixture is showcased in a soft, simple pudding, spiked with hazelnut liqueur and sprinkled with toasted hazelnuts.

Ella Brennan, who has been called the "queen of Creole cuisine," tasted her first bread pudding long ago. "It was my mother's," she says. "You never had anything like it." These days, people say the same thing about the bread pudding at Brennan's famous Commander's Palace restaurant in New Orleans. "Our bread pudding soufflé outsells all of our other desserts by ten to one, maybe a hundred to one," she says. "We see people swoon over it." Here's a new take on this hall-of-fame comfort dessert: a pumpkin bread pudding that is served cold, except for the sugar sprinkled on top and browned under the broiler just before the sensational dessert goes to the table.

Waffles put on their black-tie best in a treat that is both elegant and homey.

At the inn, the cake is decorated with Frangelico-flavored whipped cream and garnished with chocolate-covered almonds. Begin preparing the dessert a day ahead.

Bake this dessert ahead so it can chill overnight.

Hazelnut liqueur adds zip to the sauce in this easy dessert.

Panna cotta means "cooked cream" in Italian, and, indeed, that is just about all these elegant little desserts consist of. A touch of hazelnut liqueur and a rustic sauce of crushed berries make this version just right for romantic company.

This is what Nutella would taste like in cake form; it was the first recipe Gina created for our original dessert menu.