Comfort Food Mash-Up Recipes

These crispy, cakey doughnuts were meant to be frosted. Make the doughnuts a day in advance of your celebration and store in an airtight container. The frostings can be made ahead as well: Just refrigerate, let come to room temperature and then whip with an electric mixer until smooth before using. Frost, decorate and serve — no cake cutting required.

During the first test in the Kitchen, tasters thought this mash-up soup was just a big bowl of macaroni and cheese, but the French onion soup hidden underneath the golden cheesy topping was a warm and welcome surprise. Make your soup ahead; once cooled, it can be frozen for up to 1 month.

Layers of creamy mascarpone pudding, bananas and coffee-soaked vanilla wafers bring together the best parts of these two classic comfort desserts. Make it the night before you plan to serve it — the flavor and texture only get better.

One of the best parts of this mash-up is the garlicky-peppery pizza crust, which tastes just like the croutons you find in a classic Caesar salad.