Walnut

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

At the restaurant Charlie Trotter bakes these small soufflés in thimble-shaped molds and sets them atop rounds of his own dried-fig brioche. Although he likes to use white Muscat grapes for the sauce, the recipe works well with any color or variety of grape. We used red seedless grapes, and they yielded a beautiful dark-pink sauce.

The classic appetizer incorporates sweet and luscious ingredients for a terrific dessert from ObaChine in Beverly Hills.

Have fun with this variation on an old favorite.

Oats, brown sugar and walnuts team up with cinnamon and cloves in the terrific streusel topping for this homespun treat.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

At the café this dessert is accompanied by raspberry sauce and topped with whipped cream.

Food writer Janet Fletcher says, "During my childhood, the only salad on the Thanksgiving buffet was an old-fashioned Waldorf with chopped apples, celery, walnuts and mayonnaise. Frankly, I don’t miss it. This contemporary salad has the walnuts and the crunch, but is much fresher and far more inviting."

By the seventies, Julia Child, through her books and television shows, had made French food accessible, and the Cuisinart, introduced in 1973, made many of the cuisine’s more complicated techniques quick and simple. As a result, pâté became increasingly popular, and remains so today.

These dessert packages are fun to make and a clever way to serve strudel. Try either tart dried cherries or the sweeter dried Bing - both available at specialty foods stores and most supermarkets.

Cream cheese enhances the texture of the custard in this tart. To create the pretty wave pattern, use an icing comb, available in cookware stores. Begin making the dessert a day ahead.

Kevin Prothal of Albany, New York, writes: "While we in upstate New York don't usually get a lot of press about our restaurants, we are still very well fed. I think the best place for any meal is McCarthy's Restaurant in Canton. The service is friendly, and the chocolate chip pie is, by itself, worth a trip up from New York City." This dessert is amazingly easy to prepare.

Active time: 1 hr Start to finish: 2 hr