Make Ahead

Rich and silky, with black pepper and crystallized ginger adding a little punch.

An easy version of the classic.

Salting the beef 24 to 36 hours in advance enhances flavor and texture. For more on this technique, see the test-kitchen tip below.

Put on your winter whites for this elegant dessert featuring spiced, wine-poached pears, ladyfingers, and a white chocolate–mascarpone mousse.

Making spaetzle is easy, with no fancy equipment needed: a coarse grater, colander, or wide perforated spoon or ladle with 1/4-inch holes will work well.

Golden beets have orangey skin and a more delicate sweetness than red beets.

A creamy chocolate pudding fills this rich cake and an easy-to-make chocolate band wraps it up in style.

Store-bought peppermint ice cream will vary in color from pale pink to bright pink.

The marmalade can also be served with a cheese plate or simply spread on toast.

For a lemony twist, reduce the vanilla extract to 3/4 teaspoon and add 1 1/4 teaspoons finely grated lemon peel.

Dry mustard in a cookie? Absolutely. It amps up the spiciness, adding just the perfect amount of heat.

The best part about making these Christmas cookies? Cutting them into holiday shapes, of course. Cold dough is easier to work with, so chill your dough in the freezer for five minutes if it starts to get warm. 

Classic Italian stock vegetables enhance this amber-gold broth for an unbeatable gravy that really complements the turkey.

This quick stock, which uses the turkey's neck, heart, and gizzard to enrich purchased turkey or chicken stock, makes enough for the stuffing, mole sauce, and turkey and gravy.

Crisp disks of two kinds of radishes taste clean and sweet in this Japanese- and Korean-influenced pickle.

Basic is best when it comes to piecrust. There's no need to fiddle with this multipurpose flaky pastry.

Here we've taken pecan pie above and beyond its usual corn-syrupy incarnation. A layer of bittersweet chocolate adds richness to the dessert while simultaneously balancing its sweetness. And an abundance of pecans makes for a supremely satisfying filling.

A thin layer of plum jam beneath the custard is visually gorgeous—it's a magenta pinstripe just under the pumpkin orange—and provides a surprisingly delicious twist, since the tart plums bring out the best in all the other traditional flavors of pumpkin pie.