Rolls

My mom (the "Jill" of this recipe) used to make lots of finger foods when I was younger. These were always a big hit. Easy to make, easy to love, these snacks are equally at home at a fancy dinner party as they are during the Super Bowl. You can experiment with this recipe to alter the taste: Use vegetable or flavored cream cheese, or any other kind of easily spreadable cheese (I like that Alouette herb cheese a lot).

Active time: 45 min Start to finish: 3 hr.

Cumin flavors a variety of foods, including breads, in southwestern cooking. Make the dough for these rolls one or two days ahead, and let it rise in the refrigerator.

These pretty rolls are baked side by side in cake pans. To serve, turn the rolls out of the pans, and let your guests pull them apart.

One bread that Swedish settlers brought to the heartland was limpa; these twists are a nice twist on that classic.

21st Century Recipe Today, when our far-flung family gathers for holidays, my mother, my sister, and I make this updated version of my grandmother’s recipe to go with our typical menu: grilled beef tenderloin served with a dollop of sour cream, horseradish and bacon sauce; grilled asparagus; potato casserole; a green salad with blue cheese crumbles; and pear and almond tart for dessert.

Active time: 40 min Start to finish: 2 1/2 hr

These all-American rolls are so flaky and buttery that everyone will want seconds. Be sure to begin preparing the dough a day before serving because it needs to be refrigerated overnight.

Mary Tuohy, a Cappagh, County Tyrone, native who now lives in Redbank, New Jersey, has been making this raisin tea cake for so long that she can almost do it from memory. She says, "I can't remember where the recipe came from, but we used to bake it over an open turf fire back home. It came to me on a piece of dilapidated paper, which I still have." It's a very moist cake, she says, nearly foolproof. "You can't go wrong with it."

Don't be put off by what might look like a complicated technique. It takes more time to describe how to make Parma braids than it does to actually assemble them. Slightly salty and very buttery, these savory croissants are hard to resist. Active time: 2 hr Start to finish: 18 hr

These really do taste like pretzels, but they're shaped like regular dinner rolls. Quick-rising yeast makes them a cinch to prepare, and boiling them before baking is the secret to their superb texture.

Potatoes lend moistness, and caraway seeds and onions--two ingredients favored by German, Scandinavian and Eastern European immigrants--add flavor to these traditionally shaped rolls.

A touch of cardamom lends subtle spice to these innovative crescent-shaped rolls.

Pletzel This onion bread — whether formed into individual rolls or, as we did here, into a flat loaf (similar to Italian focaccia) — can be found in Jewish bakeries all over New York City's Lower East Side. We used nigella seeds (often called black onion seeds, although that's a misnomer), with their subtle nutty flavor, for the topping instead of the more typical poppy seeds. Active time: 1 hr Start to finish: 3 3/4 hr