American

For presentation, fill decorative tins and canisters with this delightful confection.

This side dish goes especially well with grilled or broiled meats.

For an attractive presentation, mound the salad on shredded lettuce and garnish with tortilla chips. Warm corn muffins and thickly sliced beefsteak tomatoes round out this substantial menu, and sliced fresh peaches and brown sugar wafers make a nice light dessert.

Braising the cabbage in cider gives it a light but distinct apple flavor.

If you prefer, use honeydew melon for an equally good salsa. Offer buttered new potatoes and sautéed spinach with the fish. Afterward, serve slices of pound cake with rum-soaked raisins and store-bought caramel sauce. Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

The coconut in this recipe gives a chewiness to these thin cookies.

A sinfully rich dessert that's amazingly easy to prepare.

Thanks to the native Wampanoags, the Pilgrims who landed at Plymouth Rock in 1620 were quickly introduced to such important New World foods as cranberries and corn. The newcomers returned the favor by planting apples, which flourished and were soon available in many American varieties. This wonderful holiday pie, with its cornmeal crust and mixed-fruit filling, celebrates that early culinary sharing. It's a delicious combination of some of our most traditional American flavors.

This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less. Along with corn on the cob, serve some deli macaroni salad gussied up with chopped carrots and green bell peppers. Also have lettuce, sliced tomatoes and other condiments to pile onto the burgers. Strawberry shortcake is just right for dessert.

Sweet potatoes have been cultivated in the South since at least the 1700s. A touch of cardamom gives this dish modern flair.

Spritz cookies-from the German Spritzen, meaning "to squirt"- are formed into fanciful shapes when the dough is piped through a cookie press. One food editor still uses her aunt Carol's old metal spritzer to make these delicate cookie.

Here is a delicious interpretation of a campfire classic.

From the Snake River Grill in Jackson, Wyoming.

Excellent with crackers, on crusty country bread or served as a dip with crudités.

Cardamom and nutmeg are lovely notes of spice in these super sundaes. Caramel ice cream would be good here, too.