Make Ahead

The buttermilk in our recipe makes these airy rolls especially tender.

Beef stock (often called brown stock) is no more difficult to make than chicken stock, and just a small amount of it can be used to great effect in all sorts of dishes.

Be sure to use bittersweet chocolate with no more than 60 percent cacao for this recipe.

We used store-bought graham cracker crumbs to save time; if you prefer to make your own in a food processor, you'll need 13 crackers, each about 4 3/4 by 2 1/4 inches. Freezing the tart helps to chill it quickly. If you're not in a rush, simply chill the tart in the refrigerator until you're ready to serve it.

Yvonne M. Parnes of Batavia, Ohio, got the recipe for these rich, buttery cookies in an e-mail from the McCormick spice company. We like them plain, but drizzled with espresso icing and bittersweet chocolate, they are truly out of this world.

Our food editors find the texture of pineapple sherbet so much lighter and fluffier than that of other sherbets and sorbets — it practically has the weightlessness of granita. It provides a wonderful, tangy balance to the rich ambrosia cake and is delicious on its own, too.

The zing of ginger and the sweetness of molasses combine in perfect proportions in this cookie, sent to us by Jane Booth Vollers of Chester, Connecticut. Her grandmother, Helen Dougherty, made batches and batches of them every holiday season.

These lightly spiced butter cookies are similar to Janhagel, a popular Dutch cookie. Jane Valentine Talbert of Encinitas, California, uses pecans instead of the more traditional almonds.

When Abby Cohen of Oakland, California, was in college, her friend Michael Gevelber would receive these cookies in care packages sent by his Czechoslovakian mother. They taste best when made and filled 1 day ahead.

It's best to have a napkin handy when eating these crunchy chocolate cookies — the confectioners-sugar coating can get messy. After Catherine Rieger of Martinez, California, found the recipe in The Babbo Cookbook, the cookies became a staple in her home.

Fredricka Schwanka of Terryville, Connecticut, re-created her grandmother's recipe for these pastrylike cookies. This dough is extremely tender — if at any time during the filling process it gets too soft to work with, chill it on wax paper on a large baking sheet. You will have leftover filling, which is wonderful spread on toast or an English muffin.

The pleasant bite of anise gives these beautiful cookies a grown-up appeal. This recipe is from Mary McAvoy of Willow Grove, Pennsylvania, who has been baking since she was ten years old.

Michele Evola of New York, New York, writes: "I thought you might enjoy this family recipe. My aunt Bess puts fresh persimmons in the freezer so she can make these bars anytime." When Hachiya persimmons are very ripe, they're so fragile that they nearly turn to juice. If you want to freeze them as Michelle Evola's aunt Bess does, we suggest first putting them on a baking sheet in the freezer until they harden. Then wrap them in plastic wrap while they're hard and freeze them in a sealed plastic bag.

These moist, chewy cookies have an intense almond flavor. Barbara Bruno of New Portland, Maine, enjoys hers with a glass of chilled Champagne.

Erin Rutherford of Charlotte, North Carolina, writes: "This sauce was a hit with my supper club — I served it with filet mignon encrusted in black pepper, cumin, and sea salt, and it was killer. It would also pair well with swordfish."

Espagnole is a classic brown sauce, typically made from brown stock, mirepoix, and tomatoes, and thickened with roux. Given that the sauce is French in origin, where did the name come from? According to Alan Davidson, in The Oxford Companion to Food, "The name has nothing to do with Spain, any more than the counterpart term allemande has anything to do with Germany. It is generally believed that the terms were chosen because in French eyes Germans are blond and Spaniards are brown."

Flavia Schepmans of New York, New York, writes: "One of many Belgian regional variations, this beef stew hails from my mother's natal city, Ghent." Our associate art director Flavia Schepmans's mother uses American-style beer in this recipe. If you want to try another beer, go for a Belgian ale — an imported pilsner might be too bitter.

When my grandmother, Noi, came to America in 1975, banh trang—Vietnamese rice flour wrappers—weren't available, so the use of wheat wrappers from Singapore and China became widespread throughout the immigrant community. While it's easier to get banh trang these days, Noi still uses the wheat wrappers for this recipe.