Fruit

Meet our new favorite stuffing: two kinds of bread give it a deep earthy flavor, vinegar-spiked raisins lend sweet-tart high notes, and bacon makes it irresistible.

A Thanksgiving-worthy dessert that can be baked in your toaster oven? Yes, please!

Some almond paste is sold in a tube; other brands will be in a can in the baking aisle. If you don't have a scale, measure 1/2 cup, packed.

Dates and bananas naturally sweeten this wholesome breakfast smoothie.

You will need to start the brining process two days ahead.

Coming soon to a kitchen near you: an escapist fantasy set under the sun, starring spicy-fruity glazed chicken. (Spoiler alert: Your opinion of pineapple could change forever.)

TIP: To ripen bananas quickly, put unpeeled bananas on baking sheet and bake at 350° 15 to 20 minutes or until skins have blackened. Slice skins open and scoop out banana.

Crunchy, bitter, acidic, juicy: If these words don't make you think of salad, this gorgeous dish is about to expand your vocabulary.

Walnuts add a bitter, earthy element to this simple dessert—and a scoop of vanilla ice cream wouldn't hurt.

Don't let the humble name fool you. These little cookies are bursting with flavor. They're reminiscent of those fig cookies you had as a kid-raised to the third power. The cream pastry is tender and flaky, and the honey-kissed filling, just sweet enough, is deepened by plump Medjool dates. They're also bite-size and adorable.

Earthy and rich without being heavy or filling, this creamy vegetable dip is just the thing to whet the appetite without ruining it before a big holiday meal.

Appalachian apple stack cake is communal cooking at its finest. Originally, each layer was baked at home by individual cooks, likely in cast-iron skillets, then brought together and assembled for church suppers and gatherings. Instead of the spongy cakes we're used to today, these layers are more like cookies—firmer, so they slowly soften beneath liberal applications of apple butter and cooked apples. This recipe stays mostly true to those principles. Instead of individually baking the layers one skillet at a time, though, use a cake pan to trace a pattern on parchment paper and trim circles of rolled dough to fit it. Bake two layers simultaneously (more if you have a convection oven). The edges of the cake layers won't be as perfectly neat as if you'd baked them in skillets or cake pans, but that's all right. This is a rustic cake.

You can't beat the classics when it comes to desserts, and this is one of my best. Zesty, creamy and light-as-air, this cake is completely heavenly. It's impossible to stop at one slice!

Be on the lookout for collards with smaller, tender leaves. If using more mature bunches, cut into thin ribbons instead of tearing.

Sandwiching the puff pastry between two baking sheets ensures that the pastry rises perfectly even.