Best pomegranate dessert ever: melt a bowl of dark chocolate or semi-sweet chocolate chips. Toss a bunch of seeds in the chocolate to coat. Drop spoonfuls of the mixture onto a wax covered cookie sheet and put in the fridge for a bit until hardened.

Seriously. Best holiday candy I can think of.

I am particularly fond of pomegranate seeds in pilaf. There is a great recipe for a bulgar pilaf with pomegranate seeds in Barbara Ghazarian's Simply Armenian. (And, clearly this is off-topic, but this pilaf is quite nice with dried cranberries, in case you should find yourself without any pomegranate handy.)

Do you have a juicer? Home-made pomegranate juice is ten times better than the Pom stuff at the supermarket. We got a bumper crop of pomegranates this season and I plan on making a liqueur with pomegranate juice, vodka, and sugar.

I eat them on my oatmeal.

Its not really cooking with them but had this as an app at a party once for the holidays- cut thin slices of baguette toast them slightly then rub garlic on each piece followed by a smear of warm brie and sprinkle with a few seeds. It was SO good the hostess couldn't make more fast enough! They really highlighted the flavor of the seeds popping in your mouth with the cheese.

I once added them to a cranberry sauce I had made: whole cranberries, a chopped navel orange, brown sugar, ground ginger. When the sauce was cooked and thick I let it cool and then added pomegranate seeds. BEST DECISION EVER. It was fantastic and took cranberry sauce to a whole new level. Almost made it like a fruit salad that you could just eat plain, or you could eat it with turkey or ham. I'm planning to make it again this year for Thanksgiving. *NOM*

uh hannaht, that is genius. i'm totally doing that for thanksgiving to serve with after dinner drinks.

I know Trader Joe's has chocolate covered pomegranate seeds. Making them at home with fresh pomegranates must be divine.

Chiles en nogada is a classic Mexican dish using pomegranate seeds. I just bought one today myself!

I haven't tried any of these recipes but craft magazine just posted this roundup from cafe fernando: http://cafefernando.com/pomegranate-recipes/

A sliced persimmon & pomegranate salad is very pretty (though not baked).

I hope you enjoy as much as I do rebecca_f. The combination of the chocolate and the exploding seeds is a flavor/texture/experience combo that is so insanely cool. Especially good served slightly cold.

Get a persian cook book. They use them a lot.

it's not a cooked recipe either, but put toasted walnuts, minced garlic, pitted green olives and pomegranate seeds into a mortar and pestle and work into a paste, then spread over Persian barbari bread or pita. delicious!

Monica here - thanks for all the ideas! I will definitely try to find a Persian cookbook, and I plan on trying all of these suggestions. I'm trying the chocolate tonight!

SIMPLE breakfast that is la bomba! try it....
http://exclusivegenerator.blogspot.com/2010/11/fall-breakfast.html

Oh wow, chocolate pomegranate candy, pomegranate cranberry sauce... yum! I just got inspired!

You should try making Fesenjaan. It's a Persian stew (usually made with duck or chicken) that uses a walnut and pomegranate base. You can find a good recipe in New Food of Life (a great Persian cookbook in English).

Another thing, also from the North of Iran, is making a walnut pomegranate paste as a marinade for grilled meat. YUM.

Try adding cucumbers and pomegranate seeds to your next batch of quinoa. Delicious AND stunning--great for holiday meals!

This is more of a generous garnish, but I have made a winter version of Nigella Lawson's chocolate pavlova with pomegranate seeds instead of raspberries, and it was terrific (and beautiful)!

My partner used them as a topping for a yummy pumpkin-orange cake for thanksgiving one year: http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=10000000701058

I made a great Persian salad over the weekend that was the hit of my party. It's just diced English cucumbers, diced onions and pomegranate seeds. You don't need any dressing. The seeds are tart enough to make the salad delicious with no added acid. Just throw in a dash of dried mint (make sure it's crushed really fine) some salt and pepper and enjoy!

You might want to try our little pomegranate and pistachio bread recipe at the Gracious Bowl. It make a really beautiful loaf--very festive--and it uses about 1/3 c of the pomegranate seeds (arils).

http://www.graciousbowl.com/2008/12/day-11-of-12-pomegranate-pistachio.html

Happy Baking!