Holidays

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.

Seasoning is totally your call and it can have as much attitude as you’d like, as in these warm-tasting spices of the West Indies and a garlic-tomato sauté.

This recipe stands well on its own, but is also the base for a delicious holiday treat: Cornbread Pudding with Rough Country Greens.

Judy Graham created this luscious southern-style cornbread. Use fresh corn when it's in season, but know that niblet-style canned corn tastes just fine here. You could bake off the bread an hour ahead, wrap in foil, and reheat it.

Ingredients

I adore the deceptive plainness of gingerbread. It is definitively unfancy, and yet the flavor is so rich, and its deep-toned tang so subtle. Here the tang is a little more emphatic, as sour cream and licorice-evocative Guinness give heady lift, but still this is — for all the treacly sugar and pungent spices — gentle and cozy-making, though almost alarmingly addictive.