At this time of year, everyone’s a cook. People who never bake are baking. We’re all on the hunt for festive recipes to make for parties or cart to potlucks. So I gathered a few of my own holiday favorites for your consideration. I make almost all of these dishes at some point between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day. They are tried, retried and true. The best gougères. The best panforte (beautiful on a cheese board). The best pumpkin cheesecake. My opinion, of course, but I hope you’ll try some of these recipes and let me know what you think. All are party-ready and cheesy or intended to accompany cheese.
Read moreMargrit Mondavi’s Blini
I’m looking forward to lowering the curtain on this no good, very bad year. At my house, we’ll be celebrating quietly with Margrit Mondavi’s blini and a bottle of bubbles. I had the pleasure of collaborating with Margrit on two memoirs, and her buckwheat blini recipe is in one of them. The wife of vintner Robert Mondavi, Margrit was a fine cook but, by her own admission, not a patient one, so she made her blini with baking soda, not yeast. She put crème fraîche on top, but I have labneh in the fridge and like the tang.
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