Candy

Wrapped in colorful cellophane, these chewy caramels make a great gift for friends with a sweet tooth.

This recipe was created to prepare Chocolate Hazelnut Torte with Frangelico Whipped Cream .

(GERMINUS) Sardinia has many interestingly named sweets, and these cookies called germinus are the most famous of all. They are flatter and chewier than classic meringues and get a crisp accent from the nuts.

These are based on the wonderful pecan pralines of noted cookbook author and columnist Marion Cunningham.

This recipe makes more meringue than you'll need for 8 servings. You can pipe the extra into sticks and bake them to eat as a snack. Active time: 45 min Start to finish: 2 1/2 hr

This recipe was created to be used in the preparation of Almond Praline Ice Cream Cake.

Arrange the candy cups in single layers in decorative boxes lined with tissue paper.

Boxes of matzo farfel, very small pieces of matzo (about 1/4 inch wide), turn up in markets around Passover. Farfel is usually used in soups or for stuffing. This brittle can be eaten as candy or sprinkled over ice cream.

When making candy it's important to have all your equipment meticulously clean, because even the slightest trace of oil can adversely affect texture. Watch carefully for visual cues to doneness, using our cooking times merely as guidelines. And it is essential to do the soft-ball test (see below), as well as taking the temperature of the syrup, since some thermometers can actually be off by a few degrees.

Great to give as gifts in pretty boxes or tins or to have on hand for unexpected company.

Panforte — a cross between a cake and a candy — is a classic Italian Christmas treat. It's a very dense, rich confection loaded with nuts, dried fruit, and spices (hence its name, which means "strong bread"). This recipe yields much more than you'll need for the party, but it keeps so well that you'll have delicious leftovers long after the holiday season. Active time: 40 min Start to finish: 4 hr (includes cooling)

This recipe is an accompaniment for Maple Walnut Bûche de Nöel . Active time: 15 min Start to finish: 30 min

The fudge can be cut into three wide bars. Wrap each in cellophane and tie with ribbon, adding a butter knife to the bow.

Another name for this kind of creamy caramel fudge is penuche ("puh-noo-chee"), derived from panocha, a Mexican raw sugar. We think the texture of this one is most unusual: the combination of confectioners' sugar and brown sugar results in a particularly smooth, lush, velvety quality. We adapted a recipe from Pinkie's Bakery, in Souris, Prince Edward Island; the writer Marialisa Calta brought it back from a trip to the Canadian Maritimes.

The combination of salty, sweet, crunchy, and smooth gives these confections a special place in my heart. That, added to the fact that they made an appearance at every bridge and mahjongg game my mother ever hosted, elevates their status to serious nostalgia food. You can find cans of Chinese chow-mein noodles in the Asian food section of the supermarket. The ones you want are cooked and ready to eat like crackers.

For convenience, these can be made up to three days ahead.