Apple Snow with Preserved Ginger

Apple Snow is a classic of old-fashioned Canadian cooking. Its light airiness and creamy smooth custard sauce make it a favourite of all ages. Because the apples are cooked unpeeled and then pur?, it's essential to choose bright red apples, as juicy as possible. McIntosh, Spartan, Rome Beauty, Ida Red and Snow apples would be the pick of the crop.

Apricot Sesame Thumbprints

Sesame seeds add the perfect amount of savouriness to these otherwise sweet cookies. For a pretty finish, use your fingers to pinch together any cracks in the dough after you've formed the thumbprints.

Dark Christmas Cake (nut-free)

This recipe is an adaptation of the Canadian Living Dark Christmas Cake from their 2004 Holiday Cookbook. Due to allergies in my husband's family, I had to remove the nuts from the original recipe, and substituted the dates instead. As well, I am not a fan of a lot of candied fruit, so substituted dried fruit for a lot of the candied stuff. It took three tries to come up with the recipe below (which is simply Dark Christmas Cake, 2006 recipe in my cookbook), but my family, in-laws, and coworkers certainly like this one. Hope you do too.

Brown Butter Trout and Broccoli en Papillote

This sophisticated French cooking method of baking fish in a sealed parchment paper packet makes a great impression and leaves little mess to clean up, so it's perfect for a busy weeknight. If you don't have parchment paper, you can use foil instead. Serve with steamed brown rice.

Christmas Tartan Brownies

This playful take on our classic brownie formula creates a peppermint-flavoured square with a festive tartan-patterned top. Disposable piping bags are easy to use and don't require tedious washing; choose ones with narrow tips for thin, elegant lines. Leave one of these delicious treats by the chimney for Santa.

Classic Tarte Tatin

Smoked Spiced Pork Loin

This roast is delicious sliced and served with potato salad or on a bun with your choice of mayonnaise and mustard, sauerkraut, coleslaw or corn relish.

Chocolate Espresso Torte

Cocoa powder gives this soft, fudgy cake deep colour and intense flavour. The cake may sink slightly in the centre. If this happens, just turn it over before garnishing with strawberries and chocolate syrup.

Lebkuchen Cutout Cookies

These invitingly spicy glazed German cookies, which can be baked ahead, are what many holiday cooks like best. Roll and cut out rectangles, fun gingerbread folk, trees, stars, or — in the northern European holiday tradition — hearts.

Orange Slice Cookies

Fool friends and family with these trompe l'oeil cookies.