Winter

You'll need two dozen lemon leaves or camellia leaves to make the chocolate decoration. If you don't have unsprayed leaves from your own or a friend's garden, get them from a florist.

This dough can also be formed into crescent shapes and coated with confectioners' sugar while still warm, as is done in many eastern European countries.

This dish is similar to classic Peking duck in the way that it is eaten: Slices of breast meat, crisp skin, scallion, and hoisin sauce are rolled inside pancakes. In a traditional rendition the meat from the duck legs would be stir-fried with vegetables, but here the duck legs are served whole. Be sure to allow three days for this duck to dry in the refrigerator.

Rose Ann Pescheff of Watertown, Connecticut, writes: "My husband and I went to a friend's birthday dinner at Carmen Anthony Steakhouse in nearby Waterbury. The entire meal was good, but the bread pudding was outstanding — the perfect finishing touch. Since bread pudding is one of my husband's favorite desserts, I'd like to make it for him at home." The liqueur-flavored sauce turns this rich dessert into something wonderfully decadent.

So many German settlers carried their gingerbread treats to small towns around this country that the sweetly spiced cakes and cookies have become an all-American tradition. Coated with a chocolate ganache glaze, the homey cake of holidays past is transformed into a special-occasion dessert.

Active time: 1 hr Start to finish: 4 hr We think all turkeys are improved by brining (soaking in salted water), but it's a cumbersome process that few holiday schedules can accommodate. We found kosher turkeys, which are salted during the koshering process, to be just as flavorful and succulent as brined ones, without all the fuss. However, if you'd like to try brining, just stir together 8 quarts water with 2 cups kosher salt in a 5-gallon bucket lined with a large heavy-duty garbage bag, and soak turkey, covered and chilled, 10 hours. If you don't have room in your refrigerator, executive editor John Willoughby recommends brining in a large plastic cooler, using freezer packs to keep the water cool and replacing them as needed.

Regular oranges work just as well, but they won't impart the same fiery sunset color.

Candied-Fruit Honey Wafers Dipped in Chocolate You might be tempted to bake 2 sheets of cookies at a time in the upper and lower thirds of the oven. Don't give in to this urge — the cookies must go in the middle of the oven to cook through and brown evenly.

The vinegar in this gravy gives it an appealing tartness. Round off the meal with cranberry sauce and steamed broccoli. Watch how to prepare and carve your bird with our streaming video demonstration.

(LOU MIAS AVEC COMPOTE DE CERISES NOIRES) Traditionally, this cake—a Christmas specialty of the town of Séguret in the Vaucluse — is made with goat's milk (look for it in the supermarket dairy case), but feel free to use cow's milk.

Pomegranate seeds are a colorful, tangy garnish for this salad. The season for pomegranates comes to an end by mid-February, so plan ahead and buy one now (they keep for several weeks in the refrigerator). Active time: 20 min Start to finish: 20 min

These pastries are best when freshly baked, so if you plan on giving them to someone who may not be able to serve them within a day or two, you should deliver them frozen, along with the baking instructions.