Nut

(Haj Pesteh) Peeling the pistachios really enhances the green color of these cookies—pistachio skins can be dark purple and may muddy the resulting color. Active time: 1 1/2 hr Start to finish: 2 1/2 hr

Matt McMillan, Big Bowl's executive chef, threw together these items for his lunch one day. We ran it as a special the next week. It's simple and delicious.

"When my ancestors left Spain and settled on the Greek island of Rhodes five hundred years ago, they brought with them their Sephardic culture," writes Rebecca Levy. "Likewise, when I fled Greece during World War II and eventually relocated to Los Angeles, I brought with me the traditions of my home. A lot of these traditions have to do with food, and since sharing my heritage has always been important to me, I often make favorites from my homeland for friends and family." These dainty cookies have a sandy texture.

"I used to live in New York, and once, several years ago, I stopped by Olive's sandwich shop in SoHo with a friend," writes J-R John of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. "After lunch I bought one of the 'cowboy cookies'; this was an extra-large and especially good chocolate chip cookie. I've never forgotten it."

Candied, or crystallized, ginger is peeled fresh ginger root that has been cooked in a sugar syrup and coated with sugar.

Almond paste in the shortcake biscuits and fresh berries glazed with red currant preserves give this dessert a Swedish accent.

These rolls are based loosely on b'stilla — a phyllo-crusted "pie" of shredded chicken that's been simmered with Moroccan spices and then mixed with egg and nuts. The egg lends the filling an almost custard-like richness.

A tweed cake gets its name from the classic wool fabric it resembles. The effect is achieved by folding coarsely grated chocolate into the batter before baking. If you can't find matzo cake meal, you can grind batches of regular matzo meal in a clean electric coffee/spice grinder until it's the consistency of flour.

Scented with nutmeg, these distinctive light little cookies have been a family favorite for many years. They are easy to make, melt in your mouth, and are far better than store-bought meringue cookies.

Marty Rosencranz of River Vale, New Jersey, writes: "Even though I am a professional chef — at the Valley Brook Golf Club in New Jersey — when I cook at home I make dishes that are good but fast. I took two years to perfect the recipe for my chewy chocolate cookies. They're so good that they are now a signature item on the club's menu." Butterscotch chips could easily stand in for the peanut butter chips.

These Christmas cookies are topped with white icing and silver dragées for added elegance. Look for the dragées in the cake decorating section of your supermarket.

For a curved tuile-like shape, these cookies may be draped over a rolling pin after their second baking, while they are still warm. If the cookies become too brittle to form on the rolling pin, return baking sheets to oven for a few seconds to allow the cookies to soften.

A sinfully rich dessert that's amazingly easy to prepare.

Here is a delicious interpretation of a campfire classic.