American

An elegant terrine with pretty layers of walnut praline and homemade white chocolate ice cream. Do-aheads: praline, 3 days; sauce, 1 day; entire terrine, 3 days.

Chunks of fresh cranberries and dark, milk, and white chocolate chips dress up oatmeal cookies for the holidays.

Jan Schroeder of Corvallis, Oregon, writes: "A great thing about my job is that I get to do a lot of cooking. I work for the berry industry and one of my duties is developing recipes. I often get ideas from local chefs, but it's also rewarding to see what I can come up with on my own." Ribbon-tied jars of this chutney would make a nice holiday gift.

Fresh black truffles are worth the splurge. They are available at some specialty foods stores and from Urbani Truffles (215-699-8780; urbanitruffles.com). Black truffles in jars are sold at specialty foods stores and Italian markets; the most flavorful are European winter black truffles.

The warm vinaigrette is a pan sauce that comes together in minutes.

The buttermilk in our recipe makes these airy rolls especially tender.

Healthy bonus: Fiber, vitamin C, and potassium from bell peppers; lycopene from red pepper and ketchup (this recipe has less than half the sugar of the typical store-bought kind)

Healthy bonus: Fiber and potassium from mushrooms; fiber and iron from beans; folate from avocado; potassium from corn

Tracy Jones Midland, Texas, writes: "I wanted to share a Christmas breakfast recipe given to my mother, Cherry Jones, by Ann Westerman, a lifelong friend. My family quickly adopted the tradition of preparing this dish on Christmas Eve, then baking it on Christmas morning while opening our presents." The thick slices of garlicky bread in this dish are known as Texas toast.

Ambrosia may sound exotic, but it's simply chilled fruit (typically oranges or bananas) tossed with coconut and sugar. In some homes, it is served as a salad as well as a dessert. Here, food editor Alexis Touchet put her own spin on this southern classic by bringing cake into the picture, and moving the oranges to the filling and pressing the coconut into the frosting.

Prosciutto and sage add deep flavor to tilapia, which is a mild fish. Separating the two sides of the fillet helps to keep the thinner part from overcooking.

These crab cakes are amazingly tender and moist because of the generous proportion of meat. The restaurant uses a combination of claw and backfin meat from Atlantic blue crabs.

We prefer the taste of organic canned tomatoes in this particular recipe, as they tend to be sweeter. If using other canned tomatoes, you might want to add a bit more sugar to balance their acidity.

Oysters Rockefeller were created in 1899 by Jules Alciatore of Antoine's restaurant, in New Orleans, to make use of local shellfish and greens. Named for John D. Rockefeller, this classic first course is likewise rich. Though Louisiana oysters tend to be quite large, it's best to use small ones, such as Kumamoto or Prince Edward Island, for this recipe. The oysters themselves (not the shells) should be no more than 1 to 1 1/2 inches in diameter.

Don't be put off by this recipe if you don't like the slippery texture of okra — it disappears when the okra is coated in batter.