Holidays

Admit it. You've long admired those gorgeous chocolate curl garnishes atop cakes and wondered how to make them at home. It couldn't be easier. Here's how.

Essentially creamy easy cheesy side dish awesomeness., these are as welcome on weeknights as they are on holidays.

Sometimes it's not a bad thing to indulge our culture of gratification and have exactly what we want, whether that means pale gingerbread cookies that are mild and sweet or darker gingerbread cookies that are stronger and spicier.

So magnificently and outrageously incredible that folks have literally applauded it at the dinner table. Swear. Easy enough for weeknights. Elegant enough for impressing guests.

Glazed turnips and apples. Sorta seems an unsexy, if unlikely, duo. Yet when sweet apples and earthy turnips take a quick turn in a skillet with some butter and thyme and a splash of cider vinegar, ooooooooooh baby!

These traditional German Christmas cookies that are subtly reminiscent of gingerbread are typically called lebkuchen, although we tend to refer to them as moments of perfectly spiced deliciousness.

All fancied up for the holidays, these boast all the perfectly-crisp-on-the-outside-tender-on-the-inside awesomeness of traditional potato latkes as well as a few surprises.

This slow roasted lamb shoulder coaxes the meat to fall-apart tenderness in the oven while infusing it with the pervasive aroma and flavor of orange, chile, and honey.

Crunchy, sweet, salty, buttery, and nutty. It comes together in 30 minutes, making it practical to toss together batch after batch for gifts if you get carried away with sampling.

So crazily satisfying you may just find yourself making Thanksgiving dinner more than once a year.

Lighter, more delicate, some may even say more sophisticated, and we dare say better than any other carrot cake you've ever had. No pineapple. No raisins. No complaints.

Even better than the ones at the Renaissance fair that you walk around gnawing off the bone. All it takes is a simple brine and a little patience.

Know what we can't stop thinking about? This crostata. At first whiff of its heady fall spices and rustic charm, you'll tumble head over heels.

Sweet or savory. Fruit or chocolate. Large or small. These lovely little hand pies can be customized any which way to calm your craving. Easy as can be, too.

Made in minutes from just five ingredients, this cranberry relish belongs in your weeknight repertoire and not just on your Thanksgiving table. Did we mention it freezes beautifully?

You’re going to want to drizzle, douse, and dribble this fragrant homemade vanilla syrup over and into and onto just about everything.

These pumpkin swirl brownies are just as outrageously rich as you'd expect thanks to pumpkin spice cheesecake colliding with a pan of fudgy brownies.

Peppery greens, creamy blue cheese, and crisp pear are jumbled together with a sweetly nutty vinaigrette that’s so delicious you may just catch folks licking the plate.

As its name implies, this simple roast hen ridiculously easy and turns out a superlative bird with shatteringly crisp skin and surprisingly juicy meat. No surprise that it's the same technique that Thomas Keller uses.

Brimming with a mountain of sweet apples and redolent of sugar and spice and everything nice, this homemade pie unabashedly plays apple favorites.