Simple Cooking

These spiced nuts are tangy, spicy, and the perfect thing to nibble on during the holidays. With extra crunch from cornflakes and a determined kick from cayenne, these will keep you coming back for more.

Crispy, chewy, and naturally gluten-free.

Halfway between a cookie and a blondie, these peanut butter and jelly bars are delightfully chewy. They’re salty-sweet with pockets of raspberry jam.

This recipe adds a little cornstarch for a more delicate cookie that is also easier to pipe or push through a cookie press.

As a last-minute party snack or an addition to your dinner party table, these one-biters can’t be beat. 

These easy miso-maple walnuts are crunchy, savory, a little sweet, and beautifully caramelized.

This family favorite holiday cookie pairs the winning combination of chocolate and peanut butter.

Classically French, prune‐Armagnac ice cream is one of the most graceful ways to serve a prune. Whereas most fruits become hard and icy when frozen, these prunes remain chewy and soft.

Crunchy peanut butter and a quick, glossy, trufflelike chocolate ganache take classic peanut butter blossoms a step up from their former selves.

When I’m with my mom’s side of the family, no holiday is complete without ube pie. Ube is a vibrant purple yam from the Philippines used in many sweet dishes. This version of the pie, with its deep shade of violet and its pearly crown of marshmallowy whipped cream, looks as regal as it does whimsical. It’s creamy and custardy like a sweet potato pie but with ube’s distinct notes of vanilla and pistachio. Instead of starting with whole purple yams, this recipe uses jarred ube halaya (sometimes ca.…

This peppermint bark is made with not one, but three kinds of chocolate: milk, bittersweet, and white.  It’s a stunning, festive sweet to make for yourself and loved ones during holiday season. 

These caramel candies are a joy to make and give to loved ones. Make the original, then try your hand at orange caramels, espresso caramels, and salted caramels.

Filled with rich bourbon notes and glazed with rosemary, brown sugar, mustard, and bourbon, this festive ham makes for a delicious and stunning holiday centerpiece.

Toss leftover turkey and peas (or green beans! or brussels sprouts!) with spaghetti and creamy mushrooms for this classic day-after-Thanksgiving baked pasta.

This is an especially refreshing take on the cosmopolitan cocktail. You can batch the cosmo mix up to 10 hours in advance to cut down on last-minute fuss at your next cocktail-worthy occasion. (If you’d like to mix it together earlier than that, add the lime juice at the last minute.) To retain maximum fizz, pour the chilled club soda and sparkling wine into each ice-filled glass first—then you don’t need to rigorously stir to mix the bubbles into the heavier cocktail base. This recipe makes eno.…

This easy baked Brie is a great appetizer if you’re hosting a small holiday party. While it’s simple, there is some serious wow value during that first oozing fresh-from-the oven Brie slice. 

This twist on the ham and cheese baguette is a great way to use up that marmalade you keep getting every year during the holidays.

Tart cranberries meet their perfect match in persimmons, the glorious fruit that ripens in time for Thanksgiving. For this cranberry relish, use Fuyu persimmons, which are eaten while still hard, like apples.

This warm, cheesy dip with sweet, caramelized fennel and Brie is perfect as an appetizer or for entertaining.

The best cranberry-orange relish recipe is a simple chopped mix of fresh cranberries, orange, sugar, and a touch of cinnamon.