Preheat oven to 350° F.

For the crust, mix together the crumbs, sugar, cinnamon and ground pecans if you have them in a bowl. Add the butter and mix well. Press evenly into the bottom and 1/2 inch up the sides of a 9 inch springform pan. Bake about 8 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven and cool.

In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese until creamy and smooth. Add the sugar a few tablespoons at a time and then the flour and vanilla extract. Add the eggs and heavy cream, beating on low speed until it is all combined. Split open your vanilla beans and scrape out the seeds and guts inside the bean. Add this to your batter. Save your split beans to garnish the top of the cheesecake.

Pour the batter into the pan and bake in the middle of the oven until set, the center should be slightly soft. It should bake for 55 to 70 minutes. Remove from the oven, loosen the outer ring and let cool in the pan.

Refrigerate the cake, for about 6 hours, then remove the outer ring. Top with the vanilla beans and a sprig of something green like peppermint leaf.

Beat the yolks with the sugar; when the mixture is a pale yellow slowly stir in 1 quart of the best quality whole milk. Put the pot on a high flame and continue stirring with a wooden spoon until it begins to steam, then reduce the heat to low lest it curdle and continue stirring gently until it begins to thicken sticks somewhat to the spoon.

1. Place the milk and sugar into a saucepan and heat gently, dissolving the sugar.
2. Place the milk to one side to cool and when cold, stir in the cream and peppermint essence (and the green food colouring if you want to use it).
3. Transfer the complete mixture into an ice cream maker and freeze following the manufacturer's instructions BUT remembering to add the grated chocolate as the ice cream begins to thicken.

1. Preheat oven to 425°F. In a bowl, mix crushed oreo cookie halves and butter. Pat into bottom and sides of 10 inch pie dish. Bake in oven for 5 to 10 minutes; remove from oven and cool completely. Once cooled, place in freezer to chill.
2. In saucepan, melt marshmallows in milk over medium heat. Remove from heat and cool. Add creme de menthe and creme de cacao, and mix well. Add a drop or two of green food dye if desired. Fold in whipped cream. Pour into chilled pie shell.
3. Freeze for 3 or 4 hours.

Begin by grating 1 pound (450 g) Grana Padano or Parmigiano Reggiano. Combine the grated cheese with a quart (1 l) of cream and season the mixture with a pinch each of salt and pepper. Heat the mixture over a moderate flame until it becomes uniformly creamy, then remove it from the fire, let it cool, pour it through a strainer, and when it has cooled transfer it to an ice cream maker to make it into ice cream.

Heat the cream, milk and sugar in a heavy-bottomed saucepan, stirring occasionally until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is hot. Place the egg yolks in a bowl and whisk briefly. Still whisking, slowly pour in about 1 cup of the hot liquid. When the mixture is smooth, slowly pour it into the liquid in the saucepan, whisking constantly. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens slightly and coats the back of a spoon, about 8 minutes. Be sure not let the mixture boil at any time or will curdle. Strain into a clean bowl and use as directed in the specific recipes. Stir in the nuts.

Heat the cream until it’s just shy of boiling. In the meantime, crush the coffee beans, then add them to the cream, cover, and let the mixture cool. After about a half hour strain the cream to remove the coffee grains, then beat the egg white to soft peaks. Incorporate the cream into the egg whites, and then the sugar. Set the mixture on the fire and heat, stirring, until it begins to thicken. Let it cool and make the ice cream following the instructions given by the manufacturer of your ice cream machine.

1. Heat ½ cup cream in saucepan over medium heat, until just about to boil.
2. Finely chop the chocolate and place in bowl.
3. Pour hot cream over chocolate, stir once, cover, and set aside.
4. Whip remaining cream and sugar in the other bowl until they form soft peaks.
5. Stir the chocolate mixture until all is melted and well incorporated, then fold in the cream.
6. Chill for at least 2 hours.

Combine the chocolate, sugar, and 1 quart of the milk and bring the mixture to a boil, stirring constantly. As soon as it comes to a boil remove it from the fire and stir in the second quart of milk. Once the mixture has cooled, make the ice cream following the instructions given by the manufacturer of your ice cream machine.

1. Preheat oven to 350*F (175*C). Grease and lightly flour a 13 x 9 x 2-inch baking pan (or, two 9 x 1 1/2-inch round pans, or three 8 x 1 1/2-inch round pans). Set aside.
2. In a large mixing bowl combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt, mixing well. Add the milk, shortening and vanilla and beat with an electric mixer on medium to medium-high speed for 2 minutes, scraping sides of bowl as needed. Add the eggs and continue beating an additional 2 minutes. Pour batter into prepared pan(s).
3. Bake the 13 x 9 x 2-inch cake for 40 to 45 minutes (or the 9-inch cakes for 30 to 35 minutes; the 8-inch cakes for 20 to 25 minutes), or until a wooden pick inserted near center of cake comes out clean, or until cake springs back when touched lightly in the center.
4. Cool the 13 x 9 x 2-inch cake on a wire rack. (Cool the 9 or 8-inch cakes on wire racks for 10 minutes; remove from pans and cool completely on wire racks.) Frost as desired.