Dairy

Chocolate-lovers, rejoice!

Oh, eggnog — you devilish seasonal treat, you. We love you in our morning lattes and we love you spiked with bourbon before going to bed. You make the most delicious French toast ever, and even our favorite cake is sending you love notes. Is there anything you can’t do? Truly? This holiday season, I say let’s skip the store-bought cartons and additive-laden jugs, and have our eggnog the old-fashioned way: with real eggs.

And it's only five ingredients.

It’ll surprise you how easy they are to make.

Bonus: You can assemble it ahead of time.

Milk, lemon juice, and about a half-hour of your time — that’s all you need to make a batch of fresh, creamy homemade ricotta. You’re not going to believe how easy and foolproof this is! And trust me — once you make your own ricotta cheese, it’s hard to go back to the stuff from the tub.When I say this only takes a half hour, I should clarify that most of that time is actually hands-off.

If creamy pasta makes you weak in the knees, white lasagna is going to be right up your alley. Unlike lasagnas made with marinara, you won’t find a drop of red sauce in sight. Here you get layers of hearty pasta, ricotta cheese, mozzarella, Italian sausage crumbles, and an entire pound of fresh spinach.But what makes white lasagna so special is the creamy white sauce that’s blanketed throughout the casserole.

Who doesn’t love crispy cheese?

A Ritz cracker’s best friend.

Even lettuce loves it.

Two cookies for the price of one.

Bonus: You also get a luscious sauce.

If your refrigerator is anything like mine, half of the space is jam-packed with condiments. Those tubs of miso, sticks of butter, and bottles of salad dressing can add something special to simple weeknight meals. Instead of buying more sour cream from the store, I like to make the tangy, creamy condiment from what I already have on hand. It helps keep my grocery bill in check (something I prioritize as much as flavor when it comes to meal planning), and it avoids food waste.

It’s everyone’s favorite.

It's tropical and coconut-y.

You might know it as Yorkshire pudding, you might have had it as a popover — whatever you choose to call it, the impressive cloud-like creation that emerges from the oven is always as delicious as it smells and looks. The crispy shell gives way to a tender, eggy interior, and the best way to eat one is to just tear it apart with your fingers. Whether you choose to make one big one or individual ones, here’s how to do it using everyday pans that you already have.

When I think of Italian American bakeries, I envision piles of biscotti, rainbow cookies, cannolis, and trays and trays of an array of cookies decorated with colorful sprinkles —including ricotta cookies. Super-soft and cakey, thanks to the ricotta cheese, these cute little cookies remind me a bit of Lofthouse sugar cookies (which are often made with sour cream or yogurt). Want proof of their deliciousness?

No one has to know how easy it is to make.

Say goodbye to soggy crusts.

Inspired by the cookies I grew up eating.

Even better than baked Brie.

Linzer cookies might look like another pretty sandwich cookie, but these sweet-tart cookies have a rich, tender crumb, thanks to a nearly invisible ingredient. Almonds turned into almond flour make an everyday sugar cookie dough a tender, melt-in-your-mouth treat, fragrant with the warm notes of toasted nuts. Two cookies serve as the bookends to the sweet and sticky jam of your choice to transform into a holiday cookie made for customization. Here’s how to make them.

It’s flawless.

It's such an easy way to please a crowd.

Pommes Anna is a French side dish made of just three simple ingredients: potatoes, butter, and salt. It’s classic and elegant all at the same time; potato slices are arranged in overlapping concentric circles, creating layers upon layers into a round cake that resembles a flower. The outside is golden-brown and crispy — like the fanciest hash browns you’ll ever have — and makes a satisfying crunch when you slice it into wedges.

I am very worried, friends. Worried that the fear of pie crusts may be keeping a great many of you from making your own pies at home. Is this true? Does this sound like you? Do debates over butter vs. shortening or tender vs. flaky make you want to run and hide? Well, take a deep breath and grab your notebook — today we’re going to go over how to make a pie from start to finish, one step at a time. Here’s your first lesson: Homemade pies do not have to be perfect. Really.

My mother-in-law isn’t a baker, but she has a serious sweet tooth. When she pulled out a chocolate-smudged cookbook on our first shared Thanksgiving holiday, she turned straight to the chapter on pies — and specifically, a recipe for whipped cream-topped chocolate pie. Ever since, I’ve accepted chocolate pie as a welcome addition to any holiday spread.The version I’m sharing here is one I know she’d be proud of.

Who knew it was this easy?

Dinner party plans stressing you out? Puff pastry cheese straws are here for you. These crispy, flaky, cheesy twists require just two ingredients and a few minutes of your time, and yet they deliver big — real big — out on the buffet table. Make puff pastry cheese straws for your next holiday party or serve them with cocktails for happy hour at home.These cheese straws are really an equal-opportunity appetizer. They go just as well with a glass of wine or a pint of beer.

They're not the same as gratin.

If you struggle to get your guests out of the kitchen while you’re focusing on the roast turkey and Thanksgiving stuffing and are desperate for no distractions, I suggest you casually place a platter of these deviled eggs in the room you’d like your family and friends to gather in. I guarantee they’ll be like bees to honey, fleeing your workspace and helping you to not freak out in the eleventh hour.

Brown butter and sage are a classic couple that will never steer you wrong. Whether you use the sauce to dress a bowl of pasta or add another dimension to a simple risotto, it’s instant success with very little effort!The process of browning butter consists of gently heating it in a skillet until the water evaporates and the milk solids begin to brown, at which point it acquires a wonderful flavor complexity and a pleasant toasty note that makes it a real treat.

It's butter but better.

Is there nothing more comforting and delicious than mashed potatoes? This warm, creamy, dairy-laden starch might be more of an indulgence than everyday fare these days, but even if you only have them once a year (Thanksgiving!), I say go all out and do it right. Read on for our method for classic mashed potatoes, with recommendations for potato type, dairy additions, and mashing methods. Potatoes: The best potatoes for mashed potatoes are Russets and Yukon Golds.

Pumpkin cheesecake has become a fall and winter dessert classic for good reason. The lively, familiar spices of classic pumpkin pie are balanced by the cool and creamy goodness of a New York-style cheesecake. The combination makes each bite memorably delicious and worthy of any celebration — especially Thanksgiving. Even if you have never made a cheesecake or pumpkin pie before, this is a dessert that is within your reach.

A creamy, dreamy mac & cheese that you can prep days ahead of time and just pop in the oven.

Say bye-bye to the blue box.

Without all the hard work.

Editor’s Note: If you’ve cooked this beloved recipe before, it might look a little different these days! We recently improved it to make it even easier to follow and more delicious.Anyone else grow up heating bread and cheese in the microwave on unsupervised afternoons at home?

All too often I buy a carton of heavy cream for a recipe and, after using a small portion, the leftovers get pushed to the back of the fridge and forgotten about. Sound familiar? I’ve learned that the best strategy for making sure I use up the leftovers is keeping a roster of easy ideas of what to do with heavy cream. It’s an extremely versatile ingredient, and can be used in a pretty wide variety of sweet and savory recipes.

Baked brie in puff pastry takes “rich and luxurious” to a whole new level. Add a few friends and some good tunes playing in the background, and you’ve got yourself a bonafide party situation. When I make this appetizer as part of a big holiday gathering or for a cocktail party with lots of other nibbles, I often like to bake it in a pie plate instead of on a baking sheet.

It's even great for beginners.

It’s a classic.

Good bread is a must.

The silky texture of traditional fettuccini Alfredo is created by a balanced emulsion of grated Parmesan cheese, butter, and starchy pasta water. But if mealtime calls for serving the garlicky Parmesan cream sauce without pasta (or its cooking liquid!), you need a new approach. Don’t tell my Italian in-laws, but a dose of dairy is the secret to my five-ingredient, everyday Alfredo sauce. It’s a weeknight staple.

A roux, pronounced “roo,” is one of the building blocks of cooking. It’s a fundamental technique for new cooks to learn, and one of the first things taught in culinary school. It’s the secret to making silky sauces, rich gravies, and luscious mac and cheese. In fact, if you’ve ever made a homemade cheese sauce before, chances are you’ve made a roux — even if you didn’t realize it.

Pumpkin and butternut squash seem to get all the attention this time of year, but when it comes to orange-hued vegetables, I actually prefer the humble sweet potato. I’ll take sweet potatoes any which way, but at my Thanksgiving table I prefer mashed sweet potatoes. Some mashed sweet potato recipes call for baking the them in the oven first, then slipping them out of their skins and mashing them. Other recipes call for boiling the sweet potatoes in water.

No other recipe compares.

Everything’s bigger in Texas.

A big bowl of classic mashed potatoes make any meal a little better. Sadly, I come from a long line of mashed potato forgetters. A familiar cry heard each Thanksgiving was, “The mashed potatoes!” This could mean one of three things: Someone forgot to start them, someone forgot they were cooking, or someone forgot them in the kitchen and they were cold by the time they hit the table. This always bummed me out. I mean, we’re talking mashed potatoes here.

I could eat it every night.

Meet your new go-to cake.

So rich, so gooey.

Nothing beats this classic.

Yee-haw!

Editor’s Note: If you’ve cooked this beloved recipe before, it might look a little different these days! We recently improved it to make it even easier to follow and more delicious.From here on out, creamy chicken soup from the slow cooker shall be known as change-your-life chicken soup. Try to imagine all the goodness of chicken soup — moist, tender chicken, bites of sweet carrot and peas — but wrapped in a creamy broth flecked with black pepper.