Make Ahead

This recipe starts with our favorite sugar cookie dough. Using a simple watercolor painting technique, it’s easy to brush and splatter them with festive patterns.

Make this recipe your thing. Serve this vibrantly hued cured salmon with an assortment of easily assembled herbs, pickles, seedy breads, and schmears.

This turkey roulade recipe is perfect for a crowd, but is easily halved to feed a smaller crew.

This rich gravy gives a boost of extra flavor to vegetable broth thanks to an earthy thyme-garlic oil and umani-rich cremni mushrooms. Spoon it over #Vegducken, stuffing, or use it as a base for your next veggie pot pie.

There’s no maple syrup in this pie recipe (not a mistake), but the finished product will remind you of maple-sugar candies thanks to the caramel notes in the brown sugar.

The spirit of a Key lime pie in the guise of a luscious cranberry curd. The contrast between the snappy press-in crust and the tart filling in this recipe is pure genius.

Brushing the underside of the dough with egg wash for this pot pie recipe creates an airtight seal so that steam will push the pastry lids into a dramatic dome during baking.

If you’ve ever asked if mashed potatoes can be cooked ahead, the answer is this recipe. The texture is like that of a twice-baked potato.

If using frozen cranberries, which are just as good for this recipe, don’t bother thawing them first.

If you see other types of citrus at the market, feel free to combine them in this simple five-ingredient (cranberry-free) relish recipe.

This holiday-worthy recipe was inspired by bread pudding and ended up somewhere between a strata, a gratin, and a traditional Thanksgiving stuffing.

This crackers recipe features a variety of seeds, and the combination of colors and textures is impressive, but you can use fewer types—just make sure total volume stays the same.

Maple syrup pumps up the flavor of puréed sweet potatoes and provides a sweet glaze for extra-peppery candied pecans in this classic Thanksgiving side.

Creamy chocolate ganache, sweetened with earthy molasses, and crunchy candied pecans add texture and richness to this eminently shareable dessert.

Zhoug is a spicy herb sauce of Yemenite origin that you find in Syria and Israel. It’s often the go-to condiment for falafel and is eaten with bread for those who want heat with every bite. It’s a must with Shakshuka, and you’ll probably find yourself stirring it into scrambled eggs, spreading it on a sandwich, mixing it with Greek yogurt to make a dip, or just eating it by the spoonful.

This fresh new take on classic horseradish sauce makes a lot, but you’re going to want extra. It’s the perfect companion for both our Porcini-Rubbed Beef Rib Roast and our Crispy Baby Yukon Gold Potatoes.

Takes the fear out of frying with a foolproof explanation and a universally loved snack as your reward.

I like spreading Quark on my morning slice of bread and topping it with jam, but you can also mix it with salt and herbs and dollop it next to boiled potatoes for a light meal. Using buttermilk will result in skim Quark, which is best for baking recipes. If you want a creamier Quark to eat as is, simply stir a little heavy cream into the Quark to loosen and enrich it. (Mixed with high-quality fruit preserves, this makes for a luxurious little snack.)

While you can make a very nice vanilla sugar by simply plunging a vanilla bean into a jar of sugar and leaving it there (for a really, really long time), I actually like to make a slightly fancier version by processing vanilla and sugar together until the bean is all broken down and the sugar is speckled with countless tiny beans and specks of pod. The sugar is more intensely flavored than regular vanilla sugar. Packaged in a pretty glass jar, it also makes for a great gift.

Also known as advieh, this aromatic blend comes from Persian cuisine. It’s fragrant, a little sweet, and gently warming. It is delicious mixed with sugar and sprinkled over baked goods, donuts, and rice pudding or added to dried fruits that are cooking into jam. It straddles the sweet and savory world because it’s also great for flavoring rice pilaf with toasted nuts, lentil soup, lamb meatballs, braised chicken, or vegetable stew. It’s a blend that is shared by chefs and pastry chefs. Use it to make Persian-Style Carrots and Black-Eyed Peas.