Holiday Hermit Cookies

Associate food director Donna Bartolini knows that busy households will appreciate having ready-for-the-oven cookies in the freezer. These are chock-full of colourful fruit and crunchy toffee nuggets. Be sure to include the baking instructions on a card inside the box. Or bake the cookies and offer them ready-to-eat in a festive cookie tin.

Choucroute Garnie

This French casserole is based on pork, sausages, sauerkraut and often potatoes. There are as many variations as stars in the sky, but the key is to find a butcher with beautiful charcuterie (such as bacon, sausages, smoked meats and wieners) and make the dish your own.

Fruit Cake Semifreddo

Zucchini and Chicken Alfredo

This pasta dinner is a fast treat for cool or rainy summer nights.  The rich, creamy sauce is lightened up with loads of lemon, thyme and zucchini.

Garlic Soup with Parmesan Croutons

The abundance of garlic might intimidate you, but just remember that roasting develops its nutty, caramelized flavour.

Classic Chili Sauce

Our retro version of this chili sauce, which first appeared in our November 1990 issue, called for canned tomatoes; here, we've used fresh instead for an intensified taste. To strike the perfect balance between sweet and spicy, you may want to add more sugar, depending on how sweet the tomatoes are.

Quinoa Salad with Almond Vinaigrette

Maple & Beer-Braised Ham

Holiday Hermits

Hermits are lightly spiced soft fruit-and-nut cookies. You can replace the pistachios with chopped walnuts, almonds or pecans, and the cranberries with Thompson or golden raisins. To expose more of the pistachio's green, vigorously rub the shelled nuts in a towel before chopping.