Brandy

Coeur à la crème (cream heart) is a classic French dessert traditionally served with strawberries.

Your blender does most of the work for you to make this decadent mousse: no eggs, no double boiler, no extra fuss. It's the perfect make-ahead dessert for an impressive holiday meal.

High-quality hard apple cider—not the overly sweet stuff you might have had—is one of fall's greatest beverages. Cognac only makes it better.

This potent New Orleans nightcap is as much about the aromatic absinthe rinse as it is the Cognac and rye.

My favorite apple pie recipe comes from a friend who shares my name, and who was kind enough to share with me a recipe for an apple pie that's practically a work of art. More than a thousand words long, it features little anecdotes here and there, making the recipe valuable for the writing alone, never mind the pie that comes off its pages. We wanted to re-create the flavor of apple pie in ice cream, but pie crust didn't quite work out when tucked into custard—it got too soggy for it to be any good. Instead, we decided to keep the filling and use bits of cooked crumble topping as cookielike bites mixed in with bits of apple. Calvados is a nice way to bump up the apple flavor, but if you don't have that on hand, rum or brandy should do in pinch.

The hot toddy is not simply a mixture of hot water and booze. It's a miracle worker, a doctor, and a life coach in a cup. And although it does seem to do the trick for everything from a sore throat to a cough, it's just as good when you're healthy. This version—from Damon Boelte, bar manager at Prime Meats restaurant in Brooklyn—omits the usual honey or sugar and plays up the herbal and spicy notes instead.

These naturally gluten-free cookies are a cross between two favorite holiday indulgences: truffles and macaroons.

Baking a batch of these classic Austrian sandwich cookies is a project—but totally worth it.

This is a tiki drink disguised as an old-fashioned, so it's no surprise that it comes from Brian Miller, Death & Co's resident scalawag and expert on all things Polynesian. One night a waitress asked Brian to make something stirred and boozy, so he took one of tiki's core principles—blending several base spirits to create a new flavor profile—and applied it to whiskey and brandy. It was another breakthrough moment for the bar, and these days it's not unusual to find two or more base spirits in our drinks.

There are many stories about the origins of this cake, known as both Clichy cake and Opéra cake. Many believe that Louis Clichy was its creator because he premiered the gâteau, with his name written across the top, at the 1903 Exposition Culinaire in Paris. It became the signature cake of Clichy's shop on the Boulevard Beaumarchais. However, another pastry shop, Dalloyau, sold a very similar dessert, known as L'Opéra (in honor of the Paris Opera), and some claim that theirs was the original.

My criteria when it comes to recipes are these: Is it tasty enough that I will crave it over and over? Is it easy? And does it look pretty? This recipe hits those marks. It is moistest, richest, most flavorful pound cake I have ever made.

Black truffle butter, available online and in fine grocery stores, adds a touch of aromatic luxury to the standard turkey. Rubbing the flavored butter under the skin allows the truffle flavor to permeate the meat while keeping it moist. Wear food-safe gloves to do this job; it makes it a lot neater and easier!

Nigella seeds can be hard to find; look for them in Indian or Middle Eastern markets, or find them easily online at www.worldspice.com.

We're now obsessed with this snail-shaped pasta (which is made from scratch at Tosca).

Don't peel the peaches; simply rub off the fuzz with a damp paper towel.

Cook the figs until just softened: Overcooking or intense boiling will render them tough instead of lush.