A Simple Gingerbread Cake

By Ben Mims
For Cooking Newbie, a blog for beginner cooks

This time of year, even folks who’ve never touched a skillet get the baking itch. And how can you resist? The smells of cinnamon, gingerbread, chocolate and everything pumpkin spice wafting in the air instantly make us happier and eager to fill our own homes with that feeling.

In that spirit of conviviality, I wanted to leave you newbie cooks with a ridiculously simple, exponentially more satisfying, and comforting cake for the holidays. I’m hard-pressed to find someone who doesn’t love gingerbread, but maybe rolling out cookies or the heavy molasses flavor of dark gingerbreads isn’t everyone’s cup of tea.

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Trifle, an Easy Christmas Dessert

By Sandy Hu
The latest from Inside Special Fork

What’s your favorite holiday dessert? In our house, it’s bûche de Noël or trifle. We alternate them from year to year. I love the French yule log cake but it’s much more time-consuming to make than the traditional English trifle.

Trifle is a fitting Special Fork recipe because it’s mostly assembly: layering prepared sponge cake, raspberry jam, macaroons and drizzling with homemade custard that seeps between the layers of cake to make a pudding. Then the whole thing is topped with a layer of toasted slivered almonds and clouds of whipped cream.

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Make Glögg to Serve or a Mix to Give as Gifts

By Sandy Hu
A new video for Video Friday

All this week, Special Fork bloggers have been featuring some of their favorite holiday entertaining recipes. Today’s recipe doubles as a fragrant and warming drink to serve at your holiday party or to give as a gift if you’re going to a party.

Glögg is a Scandinavian mulled wine drink; we’re preparing the seasoning mix. The recipe was developed when I was a PR representative for the California Raisin Advisory Board in the heyday of the Dancing Raisins campaign.

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A Simple Holiday Party Dip

By Marilyn Hunter
For The Family Table, a blog for busy families

The holiday season is here and social calendars are quickly filling up. Between decorating, gift shopping and card writing, it can be an overwhelming time. Last weekend, I needed an appetizer in a hurry to bring to a luncheon and made this delicious green olive dip.

When I need a fast and simple appetizer, it’s impossible to go wrong with this recipe. With only three ingredients, it’s a snap to prepare and requires no cooking. The red and green colors of the pimento-stuffed olives make it the perfect choice for a holiday table. I serve it as a dip with vegetables or as a spread for crackers, sliced baguette or crostini. The boys, of course, prefer to eat it with chips but love to use it in place of mayonnaise on their sandwiches, too.

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A Seasonal Salad

By Lori Powell
For One or Two Bites, a blog for singles and couples

If you’re planning a holiday dinner party this year, think salads. A salad makes the perfect first course. It’s a light and fresh beginning for the richer main course to follow, and you can do all the prep in advance, tossing the ingredients just before serving.

I eat salads all year long and rarely have a dinner that does not involve a small plate of greens, either pre- or post-dinner, with a bit of cheese. So the recipe I made contains both and achieves all the notes that I desire in taste and texture.

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