Holidays

These spectacularly decorated cookie creations can be yours with your favorite roll-out cookie recipe, our royal icing, and our handy how-tos. Swear it's so much simpler than it looks.

Don't let the name mislead you. These doughnuts are cause for celebration in and of themselves, regardless of one's occasion or denomination.

Whoever first thought to beat sugar and egg whites into pillowy peaks has our gratitude. So does author Annie Rigg for thinking to swirl in cocoa and cinnamon.

Looks like upside-down cake. Tastes like upside-down cake. Yet this sticky citrusy dessert couldn't be more right side up as far as we're concerned.

The cutest, sweetest, happiest gingerbread people ever, right? They also happen to be the fastest, cheapest, unfussiest gingerbread cookies we've encountered.

Here's a nifty little trick. Reduce maple syrup until sticky, infuse it with spice, and rely on it to impart its ridiculously intense essence to pecan pie.

We used to get our gratins and scalloped potatoes confused. But then we tried this gratin. Guess which one is now our favorite?!

No mere mash, this creamy potato purée owes its uber velvetiness to truly indecent amounts of butter and cream. And we mean that in the best possible way.

Time to change into your baggiest sweatpants—the ones with the no-longer-elastic waistband. (We can't be the only ones who keep those around, can we?!)

Ooooh baby! Broccoli blanketed with a creamy rich white sauce that takes its oomph from blue cheese and its hint of heat from cayenne.

Simply stunning. Stunningly simple. These fancy pants pears are perfect after being poached in a cinnamon-infused syrup and drizzled with a coffee-infused caramel sauce.

The spirits summoned for this ghostly glow-in-the-dark Jello hail from a bottle, not the supernatural. (It's just a gin and tonic under a black light. Who knew?!)

A tarte Tatin is nothing more than a tart turned upside down, nothing less than pastry perfection. It's a lot of caramely apple goodness atop a buttery crust.

These beauties aren't unlike classic sugar cookies in terms of ease and appeal. They're just a little richer and a lot less expected.

Enchiladas that are offer something to please everyone, whether vegetarians or carnivores, including a simple yet spectacular green chile sauce.

A sweet something that evokes the memory of travels to Greece. Or the bulk bins of '70s-era health-food stores. Whichever experience it calls to mind for you, these will take you back.

Shrimp and longnecks. There's little else a summer shindig requires, except perhaps these eminently easy dips.

American waffles have nothing over Belgium's best. As gaufre gourmand Kimberley Lovato explains, you only think you know the real deal.

A little something dark and decadent to swoon over on a sultry summer afternoon. A little cinnamon- and cayenne-laced chocolate and cream never hurt anyone.

Essentially eggs scrambled with chips (or day-old tortillas) and salsa, chilaquiles is equally enticing in the a.m. as the p.m., with a cup of hot joe or a bottle of cold cerveza.