Make Ahead

These crunchy cookies are a new version of classic Mandelbrot, which means almond bread in German. Here, recipe tester Selma Brown Morrow uses hazelnuts instead of the usual almonds. To add an elegant look, she dips the cookies into melted chocolate and seals them in holiday bags.

Pennsylvania is now a national center for cultivated exotic or "specialty" mushrooms like shiitake and crimini, but early colonists found plenty of familiar wild mushrooms growing free for the picking in the forests of their new world. The tradition finds expression in this mushroom-lover's dressing, which blends both wild and cultivated fungi for maximum flavor.

Partner these with ripe pears and a blue cheese, like Roquefort or Gorgonzola.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less but requires additional unattended time.

Holidays in our home were strategic missions. We had a plan, everyone had a job, and in a perfect world, we would somehow deploy the food from a cleaned kitchen to a set table, complete with ice in glasses, by 5:30 p.m. Time was scarce. To compensate, my mom had a collection of simple coffee cakes that were quick, had enough chocolate to qualify as desserts in my family, and didn't contain walnuts (as they bother her mouth). This was the first from-scratch cake she taught me. It's good, easy, and practical, with chunks of chocolate and a sprinkling of spice.

This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Pair this with frosty glasses of lager.

"I came upon this recipe several years ago in Mother's kitchen," writes Barbara Wilkerson of Talladega, Alabama. "It is now my own family's favorite holiday treat." Active time: 1 hr Start to finish: 3 hr

Canned mangoes are excellent in this dessert if ripe fresh ones are unavailable. Use a drained (1-lb 14-oz) can of mango slices in syrup. If the canned fruits you buy are Alphonso mangoes (our favorite variety of mango), add an additional 1/2 cup cream.

(Zuccotto) During the Renaissance, Italian cardinals wore small skullcaps, called zucchetti, presumably from the word zucca, meaning "squash" (the caps resembled little pumpkins). This dessert looks very much like those caps from long ago, and so the name refers to them. Many fillings can be used, but the nuts and chocolate here come closest to the original recipe, which is a Florentine classic.

Take these olives along on your next picnic.

This version of a popular Provençal treat has a tender texture. The fried cookies are perfect with a glass of milk (kid style) or with an after-dinner drink (for grown-ups).