Pecan

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

You don't have to be in the kitchen at the crack of dawn to prepare a terrific breakfast. In this recipe the French toast is soaked overnight like bread pudding — in the morning all you need to do is add the topping and pop it in the oven. Serve it with coffee, juice, and fresh fruit and you've got a well-rounded way to start the day.

Michael McLaughlin, cookbook author, says, "Green beans amandine used to be the festive vegetable of choice at any number of my family's holiday celebrations. Over the years, a few of us have improvised here and there, resulting in this easy side dish, a real family heirloom. For a change of pace, orange peel can replace the lemon."

The recipe for these melt-in-your-mouth pecan crescent cookies has been in my family for years," says Marilynn Bonecki of Marengo, Illinois. "They can be made a couple of weeks in advance, but it's hard to keep them in the house that long." Be sure to chill the dough overnight before shaping and baking the cookies.

This fluffy Lady Baltimore cake is layered with toasted pecans, dried figs, raisins, and frosted in a thick, luscious Swiss meringue.

This simple apple salad got its name from the luxurious Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York. Invented in 1896 not by a chef but by the maître d'hôtel Oscar Tschirky, the Waldorf salad was an instant success. As often happens, many variations evolved—some with raisins, some with chopped nuts. This one has green apples and red seedless grapes.

These ultra-rich and chocolaty sandwich cookies have creamy, coffee-spiked centers.

Active time: 35 min Start to finish: 35 min

Toast a slice of this bread, and serve it with butter or cream cheese for breakfast.

Tart cranberries provide delicious contrast to the rich nut filling.

Offer these with cocktails before dinner, or sprinkle them over holiday salads.