America’s Test Kitchen

The appeal of ice cream cake is obvious: These two beloved desserts belong together, and a cold, creamy slice of ice cream cake is far more satisfying than a scoop of ice cream haphazardly dolloped onto a slice of cake. We wanted to develop a basic ice cream cake that would be a hit at…

To create the ultimate version of this appealing dip with bold Southwestern flavors and a simple, no-fuss technique, we distilled every layer down to its essential flavors and designed our recipe to emphasize those elements. We replaced the usual refried beans with canned black beans that we processed with garlic, chili powder and lime juice….

Peppery watercress balances the sweetness of the grapefruit and the richness of the avocado and salmon in this light, bright dinner salad. If you buy bunched watercress, be sure to wash it thoroughly. You’ll also need to trim the tough stems. It’s fine to leave some thinner stems near the leaves intact. Starting the salmon…

For an easy, rustic dessert, you really can’t beat a cobbler. With a fleet of tender biscuits floating on a sea of sweet fruit, a good cobbler can hold its own against any fancy cake or pastry. [FLEX-CONTENT] For our cast-iron skillet cherry cobbler, we looked to jarred, pitted cherries in syrup to deliver maximum…

To take this barroom classic from the fryer to the grill we had to figure out how to handle the fat and connective tissue from the wings, which creates a problem as it drips into the fire. [FLEX-CONTENT] To get crisp, well-rendered chicken wings with lightly charred skin, succulent, smoky meat and minimal flare-ups, we…

S’mores may conjure memories of warm nights and sleep-away camp, but it doesn’t need to be summertime to capture the flavors of this treat; the combination of wheaty graham crackers, rich chocolate, and sweet, gooey toasted marshmallow is good any time of year. [FLEX-CONTENT] We wanted to package s’mores into a neat blossom cookie, one…

A big flag sheet cake is the perfect Fourth of July dessert; and at a time when patriotic-colored berries are at their best, vibrant blueberries and red raspberries are a fitting topping. [FLEX-CONTENT] We knew that our workhorse Yellow Sheet Cake was the ideal base for the cake, so our challenge when developing this recipe…

The best deviled eggs start with the best hard-cooked eggs. Conventional wisdom insists that older eggs peel more easily than fresh eggs, but we wanted to be able to start with eggs of any age and still end up with flawlessly smooth peeled results. [FLEX-CONTENT] Instead of a cold-water start, we used our recipe for…

Charred corn salsa combined with cumin-scented flank steak is a winning match. We wanted all the char and perfectly seared steak without having to step outside to grill, so we turned to our cast-iron skillet. We cut the steak into fourths to increase its surface area and seasoned it with ground cumin, salt, and pepper…