Candy

Handmade caramel is sophisticated and soothingly sweet, especially when combined with the bold flavors of artisan chocolate. You can also dip these bonbons in tempered chocolate before you dust them to create chocolate caramel truffles.

A classic—like biting into a chocolate-covered cherry, only lower in carbs, and better!

This recipe was inspired by the idea of Aero bars. We wanted to replicate that honeycomb texture while creating something intensely delicious. This dessert achieves that. You can serve it with cookies or blood orange compote. The light texture melts in your mouth and leaves you wanting more.

What would a French or any festive meal be without a little chocolate? Françoise Tenenbaum, a deputy mayor of Dijon, shared her entire recipe book with me. When she has time in her busy schedule, she rolls these chocolate truffles at home to serve for parties. They are also perfect for Passover.

In the quaint walled town of Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, I passed the birthplace of Michel de Nostredame—called Nostradamus by most—a physician and astrologer best known for his prophecies, not for his recipes. Nearby is a small bakery called Le Petit Duc. Owned and operated by Anne Daguin and her husband, Hermann van Beeck, the bakery, which has a branch in Paris called La Grande Duchesse, specializes in Renaissance recipes. They include those of the prominent Nostradamus, who came from a Jewish family that converted to Catholicism in 1504, when he was just under a year old. When I spoke with Anne, whose mother is Jewish, she told me that she had wanted to open her shop in Saint-Rémy but felt that there was no real pastry tradition there. So she turned to old books for inspiration, and found many recipes, some by Jewish physicians like Nostradamus, who came from a long line of men skilled in mathematics and medicine. As a healer, he often used foods and herbs as treatments for various illnesses, such as this praline with pine nuts.

When I was trying to figure out how to make nougatine, I consulted pastry chef Ann Amernick, who has perfected nougatine and makes it effortlessly. This recipe is adapted from her latest book, The Art of the Dessert.

This haroset recipe originated in Toledo, Spain, before the Inquisition, and found its way to Tétouan, near Tangier, in northern Morocco, and then to Paris, where it is served today. Dates, the predominant fruit in most Moroccan haroset, are mixed with apples before being rolled into little balls. Sylviane Lévy (see page 65), whose mother gave her the recipe, says to roll them in cinnamon, then serve them in little paper cups. These balls look like chocolate truffles and taste like Passover petits fours!

This is one of the most popular and exquisite preserves. As the peels keep well in the refrigerator, you can collect them gradually. Choose thin-skinned oranges, preferably the bitter Seville type. Rub very lightly with a fine grater to remove their shine and some of their bitterness, being careful not to grate too deeply. Then, with a sharp-pointed knife, cut 6 deep lines in the peel from end to end and pull off the peel in 6 strips.

Use a natural, tart variety of dried apricots, not the sweetened or honeyed ones; they must also be soft. These keep well for weeks and are good to serve with coffee.

Here’s another sweet that, like figs stuffed with almonds, is usually made around the holidays. It is simply a caramel syrup with sesame seeds stirred in, poured onto a counter to cool in a thin layer, and cut into bite-sized candies. A smooth, nonporous surface like marble, granite, or stainless steel is best for the cooling; avoid porous wooden surfaces or Formica.

You only have to make marshmallows once to see how ridiculously easy they are to create. You'll be tempted to keep that fact to yourself, though, when your friends freak out over them. Go ahead, let them think you spent the day making these tender, airy squares of fluff, when it really only takes about 15 minutes of fun in the kitchen. To avoid stickiness, try to make marshmallows on a dry day.

Nothing smacks of the holidays quite like one of these peppermint marshmallows melting in a cup of hot chocolate!

Give your loved ones a sniffle-free holiday season. Pecans deliver ample magnesium, a mineral that helps strengthen the immune system.

Chocolaty almonds are better than a gift certificate for a facial. Vitamin E in the nuts gives skin a healthy glow, and chocolate— well, do we really need to sell you on that?

Offer your pals an excuse to snack and relax. Pistachios' potassium can lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol. Get ready to hear "Mmm…ahhh."

This recipe makes enough to serve at the party and to send home with guests. Put them in small boxes or cellophane bags, tie with pretty ribbon, and hand them out as friends and family head out the door.

Press this festive and chewy nougat between 2 sheets of edible rice paper to create a polished look.