walnuts

As much as I love biting into a piping-hot, jelly-filled, sugar-crusted doughnut, homemade sufganiyot is a lot of work to make. Since the frying cannot be done in advance, these traditional Israeli doughnuts aren't an ideal party dessert. Opt to serve rugelach, the crescent-shaped cream cheese pastry cookie, instead. Rugelach is a classic treat that must be made the morning of your Hanukkah dinner. While the buttery dough can be filled with a variety of spices and sweeteners, this recipe combines walnuts with dried blueberries, cinnamon, and blackberry jam.

The resulting bite has just the right amount of richness. Check out the recipe and read more

If you've volunteered (or been assigned) to bring a dessert to a Thanksgiving potluck, don't run to the nearest bakery. You can bake a delicious homemade treat that will impress your friends and family! Start by selecting an unexpected dessert like caramel-walnut pie. It's similar to classic pecan pie, but is made with walnuts instead. Next give yourself plenty of time to make the pie and if necessary, experiment with the recipe. Although the resulting pie, with its rich Fall flavors, is scrumptious, the technique to put it together is wildly simple.

The dough is store bought and the filling requires nothing more than a whisk, measuring cups, and a bowl. To give this easy, yet divine Thanksgiving dessert a try, keep reading.

Do you eat enough salads? I don't, that's why I'm making a conscious effort to have a huge, hearty salad for dinner at least once a week. I'm starting with this arugula, mushroom, walnut, and goat cheese salad. The recipe calls for one pound of mixed mushrooms, so use whatever mushroom type you enjoy and can afford.

Although it may seem like a lot of steps to flash-marinate and broil mushrooms for salad, it adds a necessary depth to the dish. Also, when serving salad as a main course, it's nice to have a variety of textures, flavors, and temperatures. If desired, serve with a slice of toasted bread. To look at the recipe, read more

On the weekends, I like to treat myself and eat whatever I feel like eating, be it an oversize serving of macaroni and cheese or a decadently fudgey brownie. However, that means during the week I stock up on tons of vegetables and fruits. One way to do this is to enjoy salads for dinner. The key to a satisfying salad is to select elements that have different textures. There has to be something creamy, crispy, chewy, and tangy. With its beets, goat cheese, walnuts, and balsamic vinaigrette, this recipe is just the sort of salad I'm talking about.

The ingredient list calls for bottled balsamic dressing, but I prefer to quickly whisk my own. To serve up this salad, get the recipe and read more

Last week my sister hosted a Summer cocktail party that doubled as a birthday celebration for two friends. Since I've been known to make birthday cakes in the past, she asked me if I could do two cakes for the party. Immediately I began to worry: baking and assembling two cakes requires a lot of time. Just as I was starting to panic, I remembered the ingenious invention that is the cupcake! Each birthday girl could get her own minicake topped with a candle. Inspired by our slideshow of unconventional cupcake recipes, I decided to make hummingbird cupcakes. A native to the South, hummingbird cake is a cream cheese-frosted white cake with crushed pineapple, coconut, mashed bananas, and walnuts mixed into the batter. It's sweet, moist, fruity, crunchy, creamy, and divine — quite simply, it's everything you want in a cupcake. Although the pineapple topping is extra work, it's worth it. The cupcakes wouldn't be the same without the feathery juicy dried pineapple. To take a look at the recipe I used, read more

I love both tuna and chicken salad, but I don't like any sweet stuff encroaching on tuna. Chicken salad, on the other hand, is well-served by fruit and nuts. One of my favorite recipes is this curry-flavored version made with red grapes, green onions, and walnuts, which combine to make an exciting and exotic filling for Middle Eastern-style flatbreads or pita.Better yet, this chicken salad is actually healthy: it's made with nonfat yogurt and lowfat mayonnaise. With so many intense flavors, you won't miss the full-fat mayo. Though I forgot the lettuce the first go-round, I added it the second time I made these, and it provides a nice bit of texture. Check out more photos and get the recipe.