Snack

Active time: 10 min Start to finish: 10 min

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less but requires additional unattended time.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less. Makes use of the microwave oven.

Besides serving these crunchy pumpkin seeds in our chili and chopped salad, we love to make up a batch to keep on hand as a snack.

"Before we got married, my husband, Gregg, and I were working at a small restaurant, and it kept us ridiculously busy," writes Anita L. S. Eberhardt of Beverly, Massachusetts. "Now that we have both left the restaurant business, we have a much saner schedule, although raising two kids certainly keeps us busy. My experience as a professional cook makes it easier for me to throw together a quick meal, which is good because I'm not a convenience-food mom: I try to limit fat and salt, emphasize fruits and vegetables, and use a minimum of prepared foods."

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less, but requires additional unattended time.

Sweet Butter Pastries This recipe is based on the version of the Breton classic found in Anne Willan's L'Ecole de Cuisine La Varenne. The butter-rich dough gives a result akin to Danish pastry but more rustic.

Begin making these frozen treats at least one day before serving.

Candida Sportiello writes: "As owner and chef of Il Giardino restaurant, on the tiny island of Ventotene off the coast of Naples, I've been cooking professionally for twenty-five years — but I've been cooking for pleasure for a good fifty years. As is the Italian way, most of my favorite recipes were handed down from my mother and grandmother, so they date from the early 1900s." This rich dessert is called a semifreddo ("half frozen") in Italian.

Called panadas, these little pastries make wonderful hors d'oeuvres.

This recipe is an accompaniment for Russian Walnut-Cherry Latkes with Cherry-Apple Sauce. Also delicious over Cornish game hens.

The classic — and amazingly easy — French sauce made with butter and wine gets a glamorous makeover with Champagne. Feel free to use less-expensive sparkling wine for cooking, but keep the blanc de blancs flowing as an accompaniment.

This dessert has a baked chocolate-cookie crust and a chilled light-and-fluffy filling of pureed fresh raspberries folded into whipped mascarpone cheese.