Food

Cranberry-pear Crisp
Serves 6 to 8

Filling

8 ripe pears, peeled, cored and cut in slices
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 cup fresh cranberries
¼ cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Topping

1 cup rolled oats
¾ cup flour
½ cup firmly packed brown sugar
8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, softened and cut into pieces

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Toss the pear slices in lemon juice and combine with cranberries in an ungreased 9- by 13-inch baking pan; toss with granulated sugar and cinnamon.

In a bowl, mix oats, flour, brown sugar and butter with a fork until crumbly. Sprinkle over fruit mixture. Bake for 30 minutes, or until the fruit is tender and the topping is lightly browned. Serve warm, at room temperature, or chilled.

NOTE: Prefer apples to pears or cranberries? The fruit in this recipe can be mixed and matched however you prefer, even substituting apples for one of the fruits. Keep in mind that the ¼ cup granulated sugar is for the cranberries, because of their tartness; if you eliminate or decrease the cranberries, the granulated sugar should also be cut.

— From Come One, Come All/ Easy Entertaining with Seasonal Menus by Lee Svitak Dean (Minnesota Historical Society Press, $29.95)

Sweet Potato Pie

Sandra Lee from "Semi-homemade" has an easy recipe that can be made a day or two in advance.

1 frozen, deep-dish pie crust
1 24 or 32-ounce can sweet potatoes, drained
¼ cup butter, melted
1¼ cups sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 5-ounce can evaporated milk
¼ cup root beer or bourbon
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Let the crust thaw for at least 10 minutes, then prick the bottom with a fork and bake for 8 minutes on a baking sheet (this prevents spillovers). Mix sweet potatoes and remaining ingredients well, then pour into the hot shell. Bake on the sheet, for 10 minutes at 400 degrees, then reduce to 350 and continue cooking for about an hour or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for at least 2 hours before slicing.

La Bete Noire

Cake

1 cup water
¾ cup sugar
9 tablespoons (1 stick plus 1 tablespoon) unsalted butter, diced
18 ounces bittersweet (not unsweetened) or semisweet chocolate, chopped
6 large eggs

Ganache

1 cup heavy whipping cream
8 ounces bittersweet (not unsweetened) or semisweet chocolate, chopped

For Cake: Butter a 10-inch-diameter springform pan. Line bottom of pan with parchment round; butter parchment. Wrap 3 layers of heavy-duty foil around outside of pan, bringing foil to top of rim. Combine 1 cup water and sugar in small saucepan. Bring to boil over medium heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Simmer 5 minutes. Remove from heat.

Melt butter in a large glass microwave-safe bowl, about 1 minute. Add chocolate and whisk until smooth (return to microwave, if necessary, to melt completely). Whisk sugar syrup into chocolate; cool slightly. Add eggs to chocolate mixture and whisk until well blended. Pour batter into prepared pan. Place cake pan in a large roasting pan. Add enough hot water to roasting pan to come halfway up sides of cake pan. Bake in a preheated 350-degree oven about 50 minutes, until center no longer moves when pan is gently shaken. Remove from water bath; transfer to rack. Cool completely in pan.

For ganache: Bring whipping cream to a simmer in small saucepan over medium heat (or in a glass dish in microwave oven). Remove from heat. Add chocolate and whisk until smooth. Pour over top of cake still in pan. Gently shake pan to distribute ganache evenly over top of cake. Refrigerate cake in pan until ganache is set, about 2 hours. Can be made 2 days ahead. Cover and keep refrigerated. To serve, run knife around pan sides to loosen cake; release sides. Cut cake into wedges and serve with additional whipped cream. Makes 16 servings.

EDITOR'S NOTE: If you don't have a big enough roasting pan to fit a 10-inch springform, bake cake (without a water-bath) about 35 minutes, until set in center.

— From Jason Aronen, executive chef, Wilde Roast Cafe, Minneapolis, appeared in Bon Appetit magazine.

Pumpkin pie

1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
2 cups canned pumpkin, mashed
1 cup sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
1 egg plus 2 egg yolks, slightly beaten
1 cup half-and-half
¼ cup (½ stick) melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground ginger, optional
1 piece pre-made pie dough
Whipped cream, for topping

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Place 1 piece of pre-made pie dough down into a (9-inch) pie pan and press down along the bottom and all sides. Pinch and crimp the edges together to make a pretty pattern. Put the pie shell back into the freezer for 1 hour to firm up. Fit a piece of aluminum foil to cover the inside of the shell completely. Fill the shell up to the edges with pie weights or dried beans (about 2 pounds) and place it in the oven. Bake for 10 minutes, remove the foil and pie weights and bake for another 10 minutes or until the crust is dried out and beginning to color.

For the filling, in a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese with a hand mixer. Add the pumpkin and beat until combined. Add the sugar and salt, and beat until combined. Add the eggs mixed with the yolks, half-and-half and melted butter, and beat until combined. Finally, add the vanilla, cinnamon and ginger, if using, and beat until incorporated.

Pour the filling into the warm prepared piecrust and bake for 50 minutes, or until the center is set. Place the pie on a wire rack and cool to room temperature. Cut into slices and top each piece with a generous amount of whipped cream.

— Paula Deen

Fruit Salad

It simply isn't a holiday gathering unless someone makes a few chilled salads to cut through all the steamy goodness. When I grew up, that always meant a fruit salad

5 medium Red Delicious apples
juice of 1 lemon
½ cup sliced celery
½ cup chopped pecans
½ cup raisins
⅓ to ½ cup mayonnaise

Squeeze the lemon juice into a large bowl. Core and dice the apples into ½-inch cubes, but leave the peel on for color. Immediately toss into the lemon juice. Add the mayonnaise (some people like to add a little yogurt), and mix well. Gently stir in raisins and pecans.

— Laura Tutor