Nut

These date balls, which I make each year for Diwali, are nutty and fudgy—without any chocolate. In years when the celebrations for Diwali and Thanksgiving are close together, I like to make a double batch to add to our Thanksgiving spread. They fit right in. 

This dough is optimized for getting portioned, frozen, and baked right from the freezer, so you are never more than 25 minutes away from a warm, gooey cookie.

This aromatic rice pudding is flavored with cinnamon and cardamom, and gets a topping of pistachios and edible flowers.

This creamy, frozen Indian dessert gets its flavor from finely ground pistachios and a pinch of floral, earthy saffron.

These milky little doughnuts are a burnished bronze on the outside, white and cakey inside, and soaked to the core with delicately flavored rose syrup.

This recipe has one of the most un-pie pie fillings you’ll ever come across. There’s nothing moist or juicy about it, and the name itself could very well scare you off, but somehow it all comes together. If you can imagine something like a coarse graham cracker–coconut cake, that would begin to describe it. You have to try this one to appreciate it. It begs for ice cream and a drizzle of caramel sauce.

These pistachio- and almond-studded sweets are made with semolina and ghee. Eat the halva hot and soft out of the frying pan, or press it into a cake tin and cut it into squares.

With the texture of duck confit and extra-rich, deep flavor closer to pork carnitas than your average Thanksgiving bird, these turkey legs beg to fall apart with the push of a fork.

When I was growing up in India, the arrival of the red carrots in winter was always the food highlight for my family. This is not a quick dessert, but it is exceptionally delicious.

Adding egg to praline topping is a modern twist. Unlike the crumbly topping that might crown a sweet potato casserole, this treatment creates a smooth layer that melts onto the custard.

The combination of beets and ginger gives you a great spectrum of flavors, while crunchy toasted cashews and a mess of crispy sunchoke chips lend contrasting texture.

In essence, this is a sweetened cake made from cheese. I sometimes equate this dessert to the Indian version of Mexican flan because of its caramelized topping.

This super-flavorful dish spins the flavors of shish barak—lamb and pine nut dumplings from the Levant—in a pasta direction.

Bound together with honey and nut butter, these just-sweet-enough bars are sturdy enough to throw in a beach bag and substantial enough to power you through til sunset.

Zucchini keeps this cake incredibly moist, while scattered chocolate chips (or chocolate pyramids) and chopped walnuts add texture and dimension.

Whether mild, rich, creamy, grassy, or nutty, the secret to making the ultimate cheese board is, well, the cheese. Paired with gooey, sweet, salty, citric, and refreshing accompaniments, the variety of flavors offers a taste for everyone. Try this arrangement to make your next occasion magnifique.

This is a light pasta dish, filled with ribbons of fresh chard and tossed with a little garlic-infused butter and balsamic vinegar.

A simple fall dessert.

What’s better than a brownie? A brownie with a layer of peanut butter cookie, that’s what.