Gourmet

Mushrooms and beef have long been an inspired combination, and here they're joined in a particularly sophisticated way. Dried porcini mushrooms grind to a powder in no time in a blender and add a subtle woodsiness to the beef, while the truffle butter enriches the sauce with its heady aroma. Black-truffle butter is the best deal going. It gives you tremendous flavor at an affordable price, a fraction of the cost of a fresh black truffle.

Although the origins of spritz cookies are fuzzy—some say they come from Scandinavia, while others cite Germany—I'm inclined to believe it's the latter, because spritzen means to squirt in German, which is how these cookies are formed: The dough is squirted from a cookie press. You can make any shape you want, but we love these old-fashioned washboard strips. If the idea of yet another piece of kitchen equipment deters you, rest assured these cookies are so delicious, you'll be baking them more than once a year. A cookie press is not expensive and with all the different shapes you can make from the dough, it will more than pay for itself in fun and entertainment over the years for the child in all of us.

The delicate sweetness of Alaskan king crab is front and center in this easy-to-make appetizer. The crab legs come already cooked and need only be cracked to extract the pink-flecked succulent meat.

If you've been looking for a chocolate sugar cookie that doesn't wimp out, delivering the dark chocolate hit you crave, this is the one for you. The thin coating of melted bittersweet chocolate, along with a festive sprinkle of crushed candy canes, only enhances the depth of flavor inherent in the cookie's deep brown color.

When it comes right down to it, the simplest holiday cookie is, hands down, this sugar cookie. No rolling pin or sheets of wax paper are required.

The Linzer cookie, thought to have originated in the city of Linz, is based on the Linzertorte, one of the most famous and beloved confections in Austria. The cookies are like mini versions of the torte, which consists of a buttery dough, rich with ground almonds or hazelnuts, spread with jam—usually raspberry or apricot these days, but originally with black or red currant jam or jelly—and then topped with a lattice of more dough before baking. You don't see Linzertortes often on this side of the Atlantic because the Linzer cookie is so much easier to make and delivers the same wonderful interplay of flavors. With its snowy dusting of confectioners' sugar and glistening red raspberry jam filling, which peeks out from the center of the sandwich cookie, it definitely screams "holiday."

If you choose to bake only one cookie from this collection, make it these bites. The crisp cookie base provides the perfect contrasting setup to the luscious caramel-flavored dulce de leche—caramelized milk—hidden under the creamiest cheesecake layer. The final snazzy drizzle of dulce de leche is not essential, we know, but it makes the bites downright irresistible.

A supermoist chocolate cake encased between layers of rich chocolate frosting is at once both a decadent treat and one of life's simple pleasures. And "simple" is an important descriptor here. Because it's an oil-based cake—like carrot cake—it doesn't involve equipment any more complicated than a whisk and a bowl. Two stealth ingredients make this dessert different: unsweetened coconut milk and instant espresso powder. The former is amazing in its ability to add richness to the cake and stand in for cream in the ganache without overwhelming the dessert with coconut flavor. Espresso powder in the frosting magically highlights the depth of the chocolate. Because this cake happens to be dairy-free, it's perfect for Hanukkah, and a godsend for anyone dealing with lactose intolerance. But the cake is so incredibly delicious, no one will notice the lack of cream and butter. They'll be too busy asking for seconds and thirds.

This pretty-in-pink punch is a festive and delicious way to kick-off your holiday celebration. If you prefer a punch that's less sweet, use fresh squeezed pomegranate juice instead of bottled (see Cooks' Notes).

Think of these as the best part of French onion soup minus the broth. Better yet, they're in a form that's much easier to eat than the soggy wet bread, weighed down with cheese, that usually tops crocks of onion soup. Don't be surprised if these disappear before you get a chance to sample one yourself!

Olives, garlic, herbs, tomato, and wine come together in this short rib dish, a nod to the warm and sunny flavors of Provence. A shower of freshly grated orange zest at the finale brightens the rich braised beef with a citrus zing. This recipe makes a deeply satisfying main dish for Hanukkah or any other celebratory occasion.

This vegetarian take on a traditional Mexican red pozole—pozole being the name not only of a type of stew, often made with pork, but also of the large dried corn kernels (hominy) integral to the mixture—is rich and satisfying. The accompaniments are an essential and fun part of the dish, adding some fresh crunch to the toothsome bite of hominy, beans, and vegetables. It's the perfect meal to have waiting on the back of the stove for family and friends as they straggle in from near and far for a holiday weekend.

You only have to make marshmallows once to see how ridiculously easy they are to create. You'll be tempted to keep that fact to yourself, though, when your friends freak out over them. Go ahead, let them think you spent the day making these tender, airy squares of fluff, when it really only takes about 15 minutes of fun in the kitchen. To avoid stickiness, try to make marshmallows on a dry day.

Nothing smacks of the holidays quite like one of these peppermint marshmallows melting in a cup of hot chocolate!

A spectacular gravy begins with pan drippings, but the true flavor base comes from a good stock. The real selling point of this stock is that you can make it way in advance of Thanksgiving. And any leftovers of the stock will enhance the soups and sauces that follow the big feast.

For all those who can't wait to nibble at the skin when the turkey comes out of the oven, these cracklings are for you. You won't believe how insanely delicious they are as the star of this salad. Don't be surprised if you start buying turkey thighs on a regular basis, just to make cracklings.

A cobbler is the easiest way to get to something similar to a pie—meltingly tender and juicy fruit with a crusty topping—without having to make, roll out, and crimp pie dough. Biscuit dough, in general, is easy and fast to assemble, but the cream dough below is a real cinch because you don't even have to blend butter into the flour mixture; you just pour in heavy cream and stir, then pat it out with your hands. A round cutter is your default shape but feel free to rummage through your cookie cutter collection for something fun, such as a leaf or diamond.

When you've got a native berry that's the foundation for a must-have sauce on every Thanksgiving dinner table across the country, you can count on lots of variations. Just check the Internet. This cranberry chutney is essentially a classic sauce, jazzed up with the more vibrant flavors of pineapple juice, pepper flakes, and clove. The good news is that while it's supermarket-friendly—not hard to find ingredients—it tastes remarkably more complex and nuanced than the short ingredient list would lead you to believe. Aim to make it several days ahead so that the flavors have time to mingle and mellow.