Holidays

Ingredients

With their sticky, spicy glaze, these hens are a diminutive riff on our holiday turkey. The birds can be served with Butter-Roasted Cornbread — a twist on traditional stuffing, made of cornbread with sausage, nuts, and cheese baked into it and then toasted into crispy croutons. That crunch makes them irresistible. Spoon them over the hens and serve with Roasted Grapes and Winter Vegetables and you have a dish worthy of a cover shot.

Although they're called "horns," these cookies are shaped more like a horseshoe. They can be piped into any shape, however, such as the familiar rosette with a little piece of maraschino cherry in the center. The almond paste and egg white combination gives them a wonderful chewy texture.

You should bake this a couple of days in advance and let it stale at room temperature.

Sautéeing the cabbage ahead, even a day ahead, works well, but finish it with the butter and mustard just before serving.

The technique Chef Richard uses in his version of the traditional Yule log is inspired for eliminating the pesky problem of the cake cracking as you roll it. Another bonus is that his isn't as time-consuming and difficult as some. While the recipe appears long, there are few ingredients, and the directions are clear and easy. And the cake is so very good!

These are meatballs like no others. Rich with spices, cheese, peppery salami, nuts and candied fruit, there is clearly Arab ancestry in this dish. This particular recipe comes from Puglia, the heel of the boot, though you will find similar versions throughout Southern Italy.

This is an amped up version of Mexican Wedding Cake Cookies by Sally’s mother, Ricki.

For the pastry shy, this tart is salvation. It looks like jewels set in amber, with its candy bar mosaic of five kinds of nuts embedded in buttery caramel slicked over a tender crust, which is where salvation comes in. There is no rolling pin in sight. You pat the crust into the tart tin with your fingers.