Sparkling Red Cherry Punch

If you’re looking something easy and festive for a holiday party or family gathering, here’s a great idea. Stir together healthful tart cherry juice and orange juice, then punch it up with orange liqueur and sparkling wine.…

Scooping ice cream onto cookies

Peppermint-stick ice cream. Eggnog ice cream. Pumpkin ice cream. Just before Thanksgiving, ice cream makers roll out wonderful seasonal flavors. They’re good in a bowl or on a slice of pie, but for something different, use…

Pumpkin trifle: hard to resist

My daughter brought this recipe when she came home for Thanksgiving, and it was a big hit at our family dinner. (That’s her holding the trifle as my son mugs for the camera.)

We made the gingerbread…

Edible Ornaments

Colorful, whimsical and just plain fun, Hello, Cupcake! Irresistibly Playful Creations Anyone Can Make, by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson (Houghton Mifflin, $15.95 trade paperback, 230 pages), is one of my favorite cookbooks of 2008.

It’s filled with imaginative projects. Follow…

Hot mulled cider (Shutterstock image)

Here’s a lovely way to welcome guests to a winter gathering, be it Thanksgiving dinner, a cookie exchange party, the first night of Hanukkah, Christmas Eve, a Kwanzaa celebration, a New Year’s open house … (you…

Stuffed Chicken Breasts

Sometimes a turkey — or even a whole chicken — is just too much for Thanksgiving dinner. This festive recipe would make a nice alternative entree. It’s even stuffed, albeit with cheese, apples and almonds rather than a…