Cream Cheese

Three gifts in one: a mini cheesecake, the pan it comes in, and a jar of homemade caramel sauce on the side. Keep in mind that the cakes need to chill overnight.

The recipe for these tender, rich cookies came from a cook who worked for my great-grandmother. They were always a family favorite. Decorate them with sanding sugar or nonpareils.

The intricate swirls are attained with a specific kitchen skill: slice and bake. You'll get a little sweet pastry and a little fig filling in every bite.

Make this luscious dessert a day ahead.

Testers refused to believe that chef Terry Conlan's ultra-creamy cheesecake was low in fat — but we triple-checked the numbers, and they're gloriously correct. Calories are still a bit high, but light butter and fat-free cream cheese drop the fat count to only 20 percent of the recipe's calories (less than half that of a regular slice), and goodies like caramel sauce and chocolate chips maximize the taste.

We prefer Nova salmon for this particular recipe because it's the mildest and least salty. Although Nova has become a general term for smoked salmon, it really describes the delicacy made from fish descended from wild Nova Scotia salmon.

Check your local farmers market or Chef's Garden (800-289-4644) for the geranium leaves or experiment with other leaves such as fresh basil or mint.

Crostata con Crema di Formaggio e Marmellata di Arance Amare Florentines aren't big dessert-eaters, so many menus have a limited array of sweets. Not so at Zibibbo. Chef Vitali's delicious selection includes this cream cheese tart, which is one of the restaurant's most popular desserts. What to drink: An estate-bottled Vin Santo. Try: Capezzana Vin Santo di Carmignano.

Joe Dion of North Charleston, South Carolina, writes: "Because I work in a restaurant (I'm a chef at a place called Slightly North of Broad in Charleston), I don't let my cooking at home get too complicated. I'm at the restaurant five days a week and often work on weekends, but whenever I have the chance I enjoy getting together with friends and cooking for them." Frozen puff pastry simplifies this dessert.

Bake the cheesecake at least one day ahead so that it has enough time to chill.

Begin preparing the cake one day ahead.

Fredricka Schwanka of Terryville, Connecticut, re-created her grandmother's recipe for these pastrylike cookies. This dough is extremely tender — if at any time during the filling process it gets too soft to work with, chill it on wax paper on a large baking sheet. You will have leftover filling, which is wonderful spread on toast or an English muffin.

These savory rugelach are made with a cream-cheese-based dough, which softens very quickly. If the dough becomes tricky to work with, chill it until firm, then continue with the recipe.