Cranberry

A classic Austrian tart gets an American update with this cranberry and apricot filling.

These caramel-dipped fruits look like jewels and add another layer of elegance to the gingerbread roulade.

Kumquats lend their bright citrus snap to a no-cooking-required relish.

A crunchy and colorful salad with a lively dressing. Pomegranate juice and pomegranate seeds can be substituted for the cranberry juice concentrate and cranberries.

This is a free-form tart with a crisp flaky crust topped with crunchy walnuts and sweet/tart cranberries. It is easy to make and an attractive dessert on a holiday table. Serve the galette with crème anglaise or vanilla ice cream.

Colorful bits of cranberries, walnuts, and pistachios make these simple cookies sparkle for the holidays.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Here's a colorful and creative pie: Apricots, which flourish in California, Hawaiian pineapple and Oregon cranberries come together in a filling that offers a terrific balance of the exotic and the traditional. It's good with vanilla ice cream.

Ginger, curry powder and Chinese five-spice powder turn up in this northwestern version of a classic holiday relish.

Here, the classic cranberry sauce becomes a salsa. The traditional ingredients — cranberries and orange — are enhanced with decidedly untraditional ones, such as a poblano chili and cilantro.

This super easy relish stays on the savory side. It makes a wonderful accompaniment to poultry, beef, or game.

Shortbread cookie crust meets airy filling.

Sweet and tart at the same time, the compote is spooned atop creamy chilled custard for a satisfying Italian dessert.

From the Spa at Doral in Miami.

If you think novelists do research only in libraries, think again. Culinary mystery writer Diane Mott Davidson has a different approach: She caters. Far-fetched? Not when your perennial protagonist is one Goldy Schulz, a caterer who has cooked her way through such delicious mysteries as Dying for Chocolate and Killer Pancake, stories that include the author's own enticing recipes and mentions of cranberry and orange, both significant flavors in her comfort-dessert memory file. "My husband was in the Navy and was often away at sea, so there was little opportunity to cook," she says. "One day I was with some Navy wives, and somebody set out a cranberry-orange bread. I raved about it. Not long after that, I drove to Norfolk to meet my husband's ship, and stayed with the woman who had baked the bread. While I was there, she slipped another loaf of it into my suitcase. It was the nicest thing anybody could have done." Prepare the cranberry glaze for this lovely orange layer cake a day ahead to allow it to firm up and chill. And consider presenting the finished cake as a gift; you're sure to make someone's day.