Dead of winter. It's an apt description for this time of year, when even apples are out of season and virtually every other fruit comes from another time zone, if not another hemisphere.

The cure for a cook's cold-weather blues, however, can be found a few aisles over from fresh produce: Winter is frozen fruit's time to shine.

Right out of the bag, frozen fruits are great for snacking, and they are a favored ingredient in breakfast smoothies.

But with a little more effort, they can liven up a cake or a batch of muffins, lend a sunny sweetness to savory dishes.

Frozen has some distinct advantages over out-of-season fresh fruit.

Bob Barnhouse, vice president of operations for Dole's frozen division, explained that fresh fruit destined for faraway markets often is picked underripe, and can spend weeks reaching its destination. “With frozen,” he said, “we pick it at the peak of the season, and then usually process it within 24 hours.”

The cleaned and sorted fruit is conveyed into a tunnel, where the circulating air is about 30 degrees below zero.

Within 20 minutes the fruit itself has been cooled to zero degrees.

(This process, commonly known as flash freezing, is called IQF — individually quick frozen — in the industry.)

Barnhouse said that strawberries were Dole's top frozen seller, followed by the rest of the berry family, then peaches and other fruits.

Ironically, strawberries freeze less well than other fruits since trimming off the stems “opens them up” and leaves them vulnerable to cell damage and water loss.

“Most frozen strawberries end up in fruit smoothies and margaritas,” he said. “When they're pureed, the textural loss isn't really a problem.”

Roland Mesnier, White House pastry chef from 1979 to 2004, is a big fan of frozen fruit, especially flash-frozen mangos, which he uses with fresh apples to make winter charlottes.

“Blueberries freeze very well,” he added, and could be used in muffins, “or in a cobbler with frozen peaches.”

His highest praise is reserved for frozen raspberries: He likes to use them — straight out of the freezer — as a garnish for almost any dessert.

One of fruit's greatest virtues, of course, is its nutritional benefits.

Xianli Wu, a researcher at the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Arkansas Children's Nutrition Center who specializes in the disease-prevention effects of berries, cited the fiber, vitamins and minerals as well as “other nutrients and non-nutritional phytochemicals which have been shown to promote health.”

Freezing can alter the structure of some of fruits' chemical compounds, he said, but frozen fruit is still a good bet.

Wu, whose primary research deals with blueberries, explicitly rejected the idea of a “super fruit.”

“Every food contains so many different compounds, each of which contributes differently to your health,” he said.

These muffins, adapted from Marion Cunningham's “The Breakfast Book,” are not very sweet, the better to appreciate the flavor of the berries.Cake flour makes lighter and fluffier muffins, but all-purpose flour works, too.You can also substitute raspberries for the blueberries.<B>1 cup cake or all-purpose flour2/3 cup yellow cornmeal1 tablespoon baking powder½ teaspoon salt2 tablespoon sugar1 egg, room temperature½ cup (1 stick) butter, melted¼ cup vegetable oil1 cup milk, warmed (microwaved for 30 seconds)1 cup frozen blueberries, thawed and blotted </B>Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease a 12-muffin tin.In a small bowl, thoroughly combine the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, salt and sugar.In a large bowl, whisk the egg, melted butter and oil until well blended.Stir in the warm milk.Add the dry ingredients to the egg mixture and stir until blended.Fold in blueberries.Spoon batter into muffin tin.Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the edges of the muffins are golden and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center.Remove from tin and cool a little before serving.

Clafoutis is a distinctive rustic French dessert that's sort of a cross between a souffle and a popover. The recipe is traditionally made with unpitted cherries; as they cook, the pits apparently exude a subtle almond-like flavor. But James Peterson, whose “Kitchen Simple” is the source of this easy recipe, lists frozen, pitted cherries as his first choice.<B>2 cups (about 12 ounces) frozen, pitted cherries, thawed and blottedButter and flour to coat pan1 cup flour½ cup sugar3 eggs½ teaspoon vanilla extract1 cup milk½ cup (1 stick) butter, meltedPinch of saltConfectioners' sugar, for dusting </B>Preheat oven to 350 degrees.Butter and flour a shallow, 10-inch porcelain pan or 9-inch glass pie dish.Distribute the cherries in an even layer in the prepared dish.In a bowl, combine the flour, sugar, eggs, vanilla and about half the milk.Whisk to a smooth paste.Work in the rest of the milk, the butter and the salt.Pour the batter over the cherries.Bake about 45 minutes, or until golden brown and puffy. (It will deflate as it cools.)Serve warm or at room temperature, dusted with confectioners' sugar just before serving.

Frozen fruit is perfect for making smoothies since it eliminates the need for added ice to achieve a frosty, frothy texture.After the banana and the frozen fruit, this recipe is infinitely flexible: use more or less milk, yogurt or orange juice; substitute soy or rice milk for the dairy products, or agave syrup or maple syrup for the honey.<B>2 cups any combination of frozen fruit1 ripe banana, peeled and sliced1 cup milk½ cup plain or vanilla yogurt½ cup orange juice2 to 3 tablespoons honey, or to taste </B>Put all ingredients in a blender and purée until smooth.