Walnut

Susan Murphy of Kansas City, Missouri, writes: "My daughter and I love to spruce up boxed cake mixes with spices, nuts, or fruit. One afternoon we decided to experiment with banana muffin mix instead. We made a very moist cake, filled it with fresh banana slices, then topped it with creamy homemade frosting. It's one of our favorite creations to date."

When freshly baked, these appealing cookies are chewy, crisp, and tender all at the same time. If stored in an airtight container for a day, they are still delicious, only softer.

"Out of necessity, I've developed a love for quick cooking," writes Judy Wilkins of Tyler, Texas. "Between my musician's hours (nights and weekends as an accompanist for local choral groups) and teacher's hours (daytime piano lessons), my schedule can be nuts. When I do have the chance to cook dinner on a weeknight, whatever I make can't take too long — and it has to taste great."

Ice cream at its easiest: crystallized ginger is mixed into softened vanilla ice cream.

This dip is great with crudités or crackers, on sandwiches, or with cold meats. Active time: 15 min Start to finish: 20 min

This family recipe is wonderful for dessert, breakfast or tea.

Unlike most commercially available chocolate biscotti, these have a deep chocolaty flavor.

Whether you use store-bought applesauce or make your own, this lovely, moist cake will make it hard to stop after one piece. It's very important to beat the eggs and sugar until they are thick, as this, along with the baking powder, is what gets the cake to rise nicely. This cake makes a great gift — it can be made ahead, cooled, glazed, then frozen.

This recipe was created to prepare <epi:recipeLink ="14262">Chocolate Walnut Biscotti with Chocolate Custard Swirls</epi:recipeLink>.

Pastel de tres leches is a traditional Nicaraguan Celebration Cake usually reserved for the holiday season. In this recipe we preserve the traditional presentation, and add some typical American holiday flavors. The cake is composed of four components: Sponge Cake, Rum Milk Syrup, Meringue, and Cranberry Compote.

Packaged Near East tabbouleh mix, available at most supermarkets, is a good source of bulgur, but we don't use the accompanying seasoning pouch. Bulgur-wheat berries that have been steamed, dried, and then cracked- is also found in natural food stores.