Holiday

When it comes to holiday drinking, eggnog is only the beginning. Many cultures and cuisines proudly claim a Christmas punch and this week we’re bringing you The Global Punch Bowl with five festive punches, each with a story of their own. When the sun starts to set at 4 p.m. and the grass is frosty in the morning, it can be difficult to look on the bright side (there are so few hours of sunlight, after all!). But there’s a silver lining to this dark and chilly season: mulled wine.

Spicy, crispy, and packed with flavor, Chicken 65 is considered an Indo-Chinese recipe; a cuisine that is hugely popular in both India and Pakistan.

You get two recipes for the price of one today! First we have cashews tossed with brown butter and sage, and then there are cocoa-dusted cashews for those of us with a sweet tooth. Neither recipe takes more than a few minutes to bring together, making this our new favorite snack for holiday get-togethers. We started out wanting to do something with sage and brown butter — two flavors we love this time of year that also love each other.

I love discovering new cocktail recipes and original ways to experience different, unique flavors with classic spirits. But, these days, discovering “new cocktails” on the internet usually means “new fandangled drinks that use a bunch of specialty liqueurs and spirits you don’t have and aren’t gonna buy a whole bottle of to try a new drink.

I was perched on the couch the other morning, catching up on food blogs and sipping a mocha when all of a sudden the urge for a warm, toasted baguette smothered with melted chocolate and a drizzle of fruity olive oil hit me. Sometimes good ideas strike at the oddest of times. This early morning craving for chocolate and bread inspired my most recent party idea: a gathering where everyone builds their own dessert!

Don’t feel like drinking your candy corns or sipping on a snickers bar? Me either, so this Halloween, I gave one of my favorite cocktails a holiday makeover that makes drinking something spooky a little easier to swallow. If you still have a Halloween party or two in your weekend plans, make sure this cocktail is on the menu. I’m a sucker for picture perfect drinks that capture the spirit of Halloween, but I find looking at them much more fun than actually drinking them.

Making caramel sauce is simple, and additions of sea salt, lavender or even chilies take a basic sauce and make it into something special. This holiday season, I made mine boozy with an infusion of maple bourbon. Maple bourbon is the most popular flavor of bourbon on the market now with big guys like Jim Beam and Knob Creek topping the list of producers. It’s a sweeter style and works well in lots of hot cocktails, after dinner drinks and desserts.

When I was kid, eggnog was a staple at every Christmas party. My mom’s punch bowl was always filled to the top with the creamy cocktail. Like with most classic cocktails, it’s fair game to finesse them to fit your taste. This year our nog gets a good ol’ Kentucky-inspired makeover. My mom always made her eggnog with spiced rum, but I’ve been on a bourbon kick as of late, so I switched up tradition.

I have been chasing this cookie for years: Something deeply chocolatey and almost brownie-like in the middle, but with a crisp exterior. Something studded with tart cherries and crunchy bits of nut. Something, well, like this cookie you see before you. Queue the hallelujah chorus and pour yourself a glass of milk — I am beyond thrilled to finally have this cookie securely in my recipe box. There are two secrets to these cookies.

I am not a holiday food purist. When my family switched our eating habits, we carried our love of vegetables and whole grains into the holidays as well. At first, the other members of my extended family were hesitant, but after a few years, they realized that while the food was heavily loaded with vegetables, it was still delicious. These simple sweet potatoes would easily grace our table during the holidays. Now, however, these potatoes are a treat only for me.

The end of the year is an excellent excuse for throwing a holiday party for your friends and family. Besides filling your home with festive decorations, wearing an assortment of goofy sweaters, and sipping on all the mulled wine you can get your hands on, you’re going to need some seasonal appetizer recipes on hand this coming month.

Mother’s Day falls during the most beautiful time of spring, when it’s just warm enough to be outside. Why not skip the gift this year and instead spend some quality time outdoors, with a picnic lunch? A little relaxation is a simple way to pamper a mother of any age, but especially one with children still at home that keep her on the go.

Mashed sweet potato recipes generally start with roasting your sweet potatoes, but this can be a tricky proposition when oven space is limited. For a stovetop adaptation, simmer those sweet potatoes in a rich cooking liquid that gets blended right in at the end. This keeps things more flavorful and less waterlogged than if you’d just boiled the sweet potatoes in water.

Ever since I was a kid, I’ve always liked my quick breads — be it pumpkin or banana — toasted and slathered with butter and a dollop of cream cheese. This recipe is the best of both worlds, with the cream cheese hiding neatly inside! Autumn is all about hearty baked goods, whether you’re selling cookies at a school bake sale or offering muffins to weekend guests arriving after a long drive.

This recipe makes a crinkle cookie just like the ones I spent my childhood baking and eating. They’re soft, tender, and just a little bit chewy, with a delicate exterior that’s coated with a thick layer of powdered sugar. Crinkle cookies get their well-deserved name from the way the cookie splits and cracks along the sugar-covered top and sides as it bakes. And while they look pretty, what makes these cookies stand out is their robust chocolate flavor.

It’s mid-December, which means it’s time for some holiday sweets. You won’t find wheat flour in any of these sweets, but it’s one ingredient you’ll never miss. Whether you follow a gluten-free diet or not, these desserts from cookies and candy to cakes and edible gifts, will make your holiday season complete. It’s hard to resist the addictive combination of buttery pecans and chewy homemade caramel nestled under a creamy milk chocolate shell.

I finally cracked the code on a gluten-free Dutch baby with delicious buttery, crispy edges, and a light and airy pancake! This is big news in my pancake-loving household. To make things even more exciting, it’s infused with seasonal flare by incorporating eggnog in both the batter and the whipped cream. Can we say perfect holiday breakfast? Yes. Yes we can. If you have any leftover eggnog lurking in your fridge after a holiday party (and really, who doesn’t?

I can’t imagine getting through the holidays without the sweet and spicy flavors of gingerbread. Unfortunately, the holidays are busy and I don’t always have the time or patience to bake up a big ol’ gingerbread house. So instead, I’ve crafted this wonderfully spiced granola that’s easy to throw together and will still give you all the gingerbread house nostalgia, with next to none of the fuss.

Dream of having cookies for breakfast? Now you can. This luscious spread, made from gingerbread cookies, is a riff on the classic speculoos cookie butter. Slather it on toast for a sweet start to your day. The recipe for this gingerbread cookie butter couldn’t be easier: Simply blend gingersnaps, butter, sweetened condensed milk, and evaporated milk in a blender. If you make the cookies from scratch, the warmth from the just-out-of-the-oven cookies will help the mixture blend easier.

Looking for an edible treat to gift to loved ones, coworkers, and friends this year? How about these chocolate-almond clusters? They only require three ingredients, a microwave, and about 10 minutes of your time. This recipe calls for just three ingredients: almond bark, whole raw almonds, and flaky sea salt. According to the author of the recipe, almond bark is a type of baking chocolate you can find near the chocolate chips at your local grocery.

Don’t you especially love the parties and get-togethers that happen just after Christmas? I do. The stress is lower, the gifts have been given, and the vibe is all about hanging out with family and friends and welcoming in the new year. I’ve already picked up a few boxes of wine for the holiday season — some for sipping, some to cook with, and some to use as a cocktail mixer.

Valentine’s Day is synonymous with all things pink, sparkly, and festive. Whether you plan on sipping something fruity and bubbly first thing in the morning with your sweetheart, enjoying a small round of tipples with friends at brunch, or serving an entire tray of libations at an evening get-together with your closest, I’ve got the perfect cocktail for you. It’s sweet, straightforward, and uncomplicated. And isn’t that all we really want on Valentine’s Day?

In Chinese homes, dumplings (or jiaozi in Mandarin) are a traditional must-eat food on New Year’s Eve; families wrap them up and eat them as the clock strikes midnight. Dumplings symbolize longevity and wealth; their shape resembles gold shoe-shaped ingots, an early form of Chinese currency. From Polish pierogito to Italian raviolito to pan-fried Japanese gyoza, dumplings are universal comfort food.

Tong yuan, sweet stuffed rice balls, is a popular dish during holidays such as the Lantern Festival, when round, moon-shaped foods are eaten for auspiciousness, and at weddings and other celebrations. After all, yuanis a homophone for the Chinese word for “reunion,” symbolizing harmony and togetherness. When offered as a last course, these rice balls are frequently served in a sweet, clear soup.

More than 8,000 miles separate Sichuan, the province in Southwest China where I was born, and New Orleans, the city where I spent my formative years. And yet the food — and the cultures that shape these cuisines — have remarkable similarities and parallels. Growing up with Sichuan parents in New Orleans has given me a truly singular experience of the two. Food as an event and as a way to show your love for friends and family is intrinsically ingrained in both cultures.

Red-colored meats are eaten for good luck because red is the color of fire, a symbol of good fortune and joy. “Red cooking” is a Chinese method of stewing or braising with both dark and light soy sauces and caramelized sugar; it imparts a red color to the prepared food. Despite its appearance, dark soy sauce is actually not as salty as the light variety, and it is often the soy sauce of choice for hearty dishes like stews that require added body and color.