Snack

These balls will definitely get any party started. Buffalo's finest bar food minus the bones is the perfect food to serve for the big game, a surprising appetizer, or even passed as a fancy hors d'oeuvre. It's the best part of hot and spicy wings with none of the mess. If you like your balls extra spicy, you can always add an extra tablespoon or two of hot sauce to the recipe. Make one batch and you'll know why these are a staff fave and top seller at the Shop. Serve with Blue Cheese Dressing.

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

The monounsaturated fats in this dessert's hazelnuts are super satiating. Trust us: You'll want seconds—but maybe not until tomorrow.

No yolk: Egg whites and meringue cookies are virtually fat-free, making way for heavy cream in this chocolaty dish. And yet each portion comes in at only 234 calories.

Berries and orange juice are top sources for vitamin C, which may help you blast up to 30 percent more fat during exercise. Suh-weet!

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?

Pumpkin and pumpkin seeds are high in fiber, which helps keep your insulin levels low and in turn may shrink fat cells. Good gourd.

Savoring dark chocolate daily is linked to lower levels of cortisol, a stress hormone that can lead to excess belly fat. Chocolate and flat abs? Fab.

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."

Even the girl who has it all could use an energy boost. Walnuts' protein will keep her going strong.

SOY-FREE
Can be made NUT-FREE by omitting almonds Honey cake is a traditional dessert at Jewish celebrations, whether formal holidays or not, and is a fixture in the Ashkenazic Rosh Hashanah repertoire. In this recipe, dark agave nectar and maple syrup are combined to create a truly authentic flavor.

One rule of thumb governing utensil purchases is to consider the cost of the item in relation to how often you'll use it. Since cherry season is so short, a pitter scores pretty low on the price-use ratio. But the formula is badly flawed, not taking into account how this gadget affects your life when you put it to use. By that reckoning, if owning a cherry pitter moved you to make this soup just once a year, it'd be worth the ten dollars or so you can expect to pay for it.

NUT-FREE Thanksgiving dinner without pumpkin pie is almost unimaginable to most people, no matter what their dietary bent. To that end, I present two versions of this iconic dessert. Still, though it’s hard for us pumpkin pie fans to imagine, there are plenty of people who don’t care for it. (“Je n’aime pas le citrouille,” said the Parisian mother of my niece-by-marriage at a recent Thanksgiving gathering. My brother-in-law concurred, “I’m not a big pumpkin pie fan.”) Since I have two pumpkin pie naysayers in my family, I’m sure there are others out there. For them, I’ve provided a trio of additional desserts to choose from. This is just as good made with butternut squash as it is with sugar pumpkin. Once the pumpkin or squash is baked, which you can (and should) do ahead of time, the pie comes together quickly. It goes down very easily, which is why I recommend making two pies for practically the same effort as one.

These cinnamon buns are well worth the extra effort to make. They're so moist, sticky, cinnamon-y, and delicious you'll never miss those sugar-laden ones sold at malls. P.S. These smell even better than "those" when they're baking...and they don't have a million calories. Make them vegan by using butter and milk substitutes.

Without exception, this was the most sought-after recipe at my restaurant and bakery. You would never believe these incredibly fudgy brownies are made with beans but no flour. The beans provide great body and fiber without a "beany" taste. Keep the brownies in the refrigerator. They will slice much better if refrigerated for several hours or overnight. Find natural coffee substitute at natural food stores.

Here's a nondairy vegan alternative. Delish.

Upgrade the old-school party staple with this colorful 2011 mix. It can be made up to 1 week ahead.

The recipe for this cocktail-hour snack was inspired by one from contributing editors Melissa Hamilton and Christopher Hirsheimer.

You'll be cackling with delight as you roll bread dough into these shockingly realistic gnarled fingers. Turn them into the centerpiece of a Halloween party.

Look for shichimi togarashi, a Japanese seasoning mix, at Japanese markets and savoryspiceshop.com.