Make Ahead

If you aren't making the schmaltz manié ahead of time, there's no need to form the paste into balls. Simply add the paste by teaspoonfuls to the simmering stock until the gravy has reached the desired consistency.

A creamy white cheddar cheese sauce makes this gratin luxurious enough to serve as a vegetarian main course.

Make or buy a favorite pumpkin pie for dessert. What to drink: A fruit-forward Zinfandel or Malbec.

This simple, rustic cornbread is best used for making stuffing.

This would be a crowd-pleasing addition to breakfast or brunch. The iced tea powder adds an intriguing background flavor.

Celery root (also called celeriac) is one of autumn's most delicious—but least appreciated—vegetables. Here it adds fresh celery flavor to this velvety first-course soup.

Blood orange pulp and a dash of bitters update the classic Champagne-gin cocktail. Make the base for the drink one day ahead if you like.

The puffs can be formed and chilled or frozen on baking sheets well ahead of time, then simply popped into the oven.

These golden-brown cookies sprinkled with flaky sea salt contrast nicely with the sweetness of the glaze on the blancmange .

Que delicioso! A Spanish makeover for this simple pudding creates an elegant dessert for any fiesta.

Tabat Jibneh In Kuwait it's common for women to gather at least twice a week for a couple of hours before lunch. When I lived there, most of the women at these gatherings were not employed outside the home, making these subheys, which means "mornings," a cherished part of our social life. We enjoyed visiting one another and sampling the delicious refreshments that were always an important feature of the get-togethers. Savory pastries, sweets, and coffee were usually served, and there was always an unspoken challenge to come up with uniquely delicious recipes in order to impress one another. Since I love cheese, and especially the combination of cheese and bread, I invented these fragrant cheese-filled rolls to serve at one of our subheys. Tabat Jibneh can be frozen uncooked, right in the pan, for up to 6 weeks. Double-wrap the pan with one layer of plastic wrap and another of heavy-duty aluminum foil. When you are ready to bake them, defrost the rolls in the refrigerator, then bake them in a preheated 425°F oven until they are pale gold, 30 minutes. You can also freeze fully baked Tabat Jibneh, tightly wrapped, for up to 2 weeks.

We used what the turkey has to offer to create a base for the perfect gravy .

Using turkey meat rather than just bones adds a deep richness to this stock. Although you have to buy the extra parts, you'll be happy you did; great stock is the key to outstanding gravy, and everyone knows you can never have too much of that at Thanksgiving.

Four fresh fruits bring a sunny taste of the tropics to your table. If you want to make this a virgin drink, simply omit the rum and add an extra cup of tangerine juice.

There's a reason that we use this recipe time and time again—it results in a flaky pastry that we think is simply the best.

Although this orange butter takes only 5 minutes to prepare, it makes the Orange Cinnamon Sweet Rolls even more spectacular than they already are.

Why, we wondered, should traditional bread stuffing have to use white bread? Rye and pumpernickel stand up much better to the sweet caramelized onions and earthy turnips in this very autumnal version.

This stuffing uses polenta two ways—half of it is left creamy, while the other half gets browned, for a nice contrast of texture.

Our resident Louisianan, associate food editor Alexis Touchet, remembers this dressing from her childhood—and it's the one that still graces her family's Thanksgiving meal, year after year. This dressing is not considered a stuffing for the turkey, but a dish that "dresses up" the table.