Bottles of wine and bouquets of flowers make for lovely hostess gifts, but a box of handmade candy says "thanks for inviting me over" in a much more personal fashion. This Black-and-White Sesame Brittle from Kir Jensen's The Sugar Cube is ideal to bring along to any dinner party, simple to make, impressive to gift, and a sweet treat to nibble on after any meal. More

Alice Medrich, author of Sinfully Easy Delicious Desserts has simplified the Austrian classic by making a rich, almond based dough that comes together in the food processor and never once necessitates the use of a rolling pin. More

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For those of you who aren't into the chocolate overload of the famous Tunnel of Fudge Cake, I have configured a sweet counterpart: the Tunnel of Penuche Cake. If fudge is the inspiration for the original, penuche (a "blonde" fudge made with brown sugar, butter, milk, and vanilla) is the muse for this honey-hued variation. More

Notes: Marshmallows can be very sticky. For the neatest bars, use a clean, sharp knife to cut the bars, rinsing and wiping the knife thoroughly between cuts.... More

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Rugelach are an irresistible, classic Jewish pastry which originated in Eastern Europe. Rich without being too rich, rugelach are a cross between a pastry and a cookie: flaky-crisp like a rich pie dough on the outside, and tender and buttery on the inside. More

Chewy amaretti cookies are covered in pine nuts and baked until golden. More

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This is hands down one of my favorite cookies ever. Back in 1998, when I was still the pastry chef at The White Hart Inn in Salisbury, CT, I eyed a recipe for Triple Chocolate Cookies with Pistachios on the last page of my Gourmet magazine. A chocolate cookie studded with semisweet chocolate chips, white chocolate chunks, and pistachios. Um, yum! More

[Photographs: Andrew Strenio] Colonie opened on Atlantic Avenue back in February, and the neighbors have been loving it up ever since. It's across from the Shell station in a beautiful space that has a live fern wall in the... More

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We often write about outer-borough eats or early happy hours or awesome lunch deals on Serious Eats: New York. But let's be real. Most days, you can't take a 3-hour lunch break; or make a happy hour that ends at 6pm; or show up at a new, popular restaurant early enough to get a table. But when you've got the day off, you can do all that and more. No work on President's Day? Check out some of our suggestions for food adventuring. More

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Madeira biscuits are incredibly simple. They're essentially a flat butter cookie sprinkled with raisins, though I like to make mine with a combination of raisins and Zante currants. This is an aesthetic choice as well as a culinary one: I think the currants make the cookies resemble spotted dick, another very British dessert, and they add a tang that cuts across the richness of the butter. More

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It's high time that oatmeal be given its chance to shine. Luckily, the sisters who started the adorable Brooklyn pie shop, Four and Twenty Blackbirds, came along and created a chocolate oatmeal pie. It's got a flaky all butter crust, layered with a silky, slightly melted chocolate ganache, a delicious layer of sweet, sticky oats in the middle, and a layer of caramelized, crispy oatmeal on top. More

Let's talk about Restaurant Week. If you don't dine out often, or if you're used to thinking of New York restaurants as prohibitively expensive, it can seem like a great deal. But in the New York of 2012, it's possible to get an excellent 3-course meal for $35 (the Restaurant Week rate) any day of the year. Here are 20 suggestions. More

Sometimes the simplest vegetable dishes are the tastiest. And Williamsburg Japanese spot Zenkichi does simple incredibly well. More

The King's Ginger may have only reappeared on bar shelves last year, but it technically has been in production since the early 1900s, when it was supposedly prescribed as a warming medicinal tonic for King Edward VII. It's a bit more subtly gingery than Domaine de Canton, but it also seems more natural tasting (and less sweet.) More

This unconventional shrimp and quinoa salad with Vietnamese flavorings is nutritious and light. Also, wonderfully satisfying. More

Swapped at the 2011 Cookie Swap by Ed's lovely wife Vicky Bijur.... More

Sweet and appropriately spiced for the fall season, apple butter makes great use of the bounty of apples that is currently upon us. Especially if you don't know how to control yourself at the pick-it-yourself orchards like me. More

This recipe, a big doughnut muffin cake coated with caffeine, is a little peace offering. More

After reading that the average coffee shop muffin weighs in at around 350 calories, I decided that there had to be another way to get that flavor. That's how the Blueberry Muffin Smoothie was born. This smoothie is creamy and full of blueberries, with just a pinch of cinnamon and a dash of vanilla, making it a little reminiscent of muffin batter. More

You can always recognize a fellow cereal lover. Well, perhaps "lover" isn't strong enough. Cereal obsessive? Cereal junkie? You know who you are. The conversation could really go on for hours: likes and dislikes, childhood favorites, discontinued and hard to find varieties. We never got sweet cereals as kids, we got Kashi and unfrosted shredded wheat, health-food brand O's and Fiber One. It's finally time to have that conversation here. More

The best part about summer is the search for new icy treats to try, and a good reason to venture out into this kind of heat. Last summer we went for raspados, paletas, and nieves; this year, a completely different (and slightly crazy) icy option has appeared in Flushing's New World Mall. Welcome Snopo to the Queens ice scene—shaved ice on another level. More

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These sandwiches are all about balance: sweet custard with a savory kick, rich cream made refreshing with basil and lemon. The only problem with them is that my roommates have devoured most of my supply in a fit of basil lust. More