Midwest Living Holiday Cookbook 2004

To make our cute edible snowmen, roll out shortbread cookie dough and cut into a snowman shape. Decorate with powdered sugar icing, gumdrops and colored candies.

Snowmen Shortbread Cookies

Luscious and smooth, this elegant dessert gets a swirl of crimson raspberry sauce.

Russian Creme Custard

Add a dash of color to your breakfast table by borrowing from the spa menu at Four Seasons Hotel in Chicago. Guests are pampered with a rainbow of fruit with yogurt sauce on the side.

Fresh Fruit with Orange-Honey Yogurt Sauce

It's no wonder people love smoothies. Not only are they great-tasting, but they're good for you, too. Try this one with a sliced strawberry garnish.

Sunrise Smoothie

We can't resist a good sticky roll -- especially one this easy to make. Starting with frozen bread dough, we added brown sugar, cinnamon, pecans and chocolate chips. When you turn it out, it makes its own gooey topping.

Creamy Butter-Pecan Cinnamon Rolls

Quick breads come in handy at the holidays. They're easy to make for giving as a gift from the kitchen, slicing for breakfast or serving as a break with hot tea or coffee. Choose your favorite dried fruit to add to this lemon-glazed loaf.

Cherry and Golden Raisin Bread

Three petite sandwiches -- salmon, chicken and watercress -- entice guests who order from the spa menu at Four Seasons Hotel in Chicago.

Open-Faced Party Sandwiches

Here's a delicious take on a classic side-dish salad from a Dearborn, Michigan, restaurant.

Wilted Spinach Salad with Hot Bacon Dressing

This easy-to-make layered cheesy potato dish pairs well with pork chops or ham.

Creamy Scalloped Potatoes

Bits of spinach and artichoke color this creamy chicken soup, perfect for a first course at dinner or alongside a sandwich for a holiday lunch.

Chicken Artichoke Brie Soup

At Spa Shiki at the Lodge of Four Seasons in Lake Ozark, Missouri, guests are served the meatless side-dish version of this colorful, fresh-tasting recipe. Add 2 cups cooked chicken to make it a main dish.

Spa Shiki Stir-Fry

This herbed chicken and vegetable main dish was inspired by an entree at Spa Shiki at Lodge of Four Seasons in Lake Ozark, Missouri.

Herbed Chicken with Wild Rice

The Cole family of Wadsworth, Ohio, bakes these each year for friends and family. The tradition started more than 50 years ago when Phrania (Fran) Cole and her sister, Ann, began making cookies as affordable gifts. The Coles like the Snowballs' tang of black walnut and the snowy, powdered-sugar coating. You can choose from two fillings when you bake the tiny, turnoverlike Nutjammers.

Snowballs

Nutjammer Cookies

This puffy French dessert features a batter poured over the fruit. It puffs as it bakes and falls as it cools. At the Ritz-Carlton in Dearborn, Michigan, the pastry chef uses hazelnut flour in the recipe. We substituted easy-to-find all-purpose flour.

Pear Clafouti

It's amazing how simple bread pudding is, yet how good it tastes. This version from the Ritz-Carlton in Dearborn, Michigan, packs a wonderful, full chocolate flavor with a hint of orange.

Orange-Chocolate Bread Pudding

Date-nut desserts can be cloyingly sweet, but orange juice brightens these simple bars.

Date-Orange Bars

Kim Kordich of the Cole family in Wadsworth, Ohio, likes writing words or putting holiday symbols on these little sandwich cookies. The cookies taste wonderful filled with jam, preserves and even frosting.

Kimmy's Fancy Sandwich Cookie

Kolackys (also spelled kolaches or kolaces) are a central European pastry with a sweet center. "These cookies are time-consuming, but so worth it," says the Ohio reader who contributed the recipe.

Kolackys

Our taste panel loved the tender, buttery cookie used in these preserve-filled sandwich cookies. We added dusting of powdered sugar to give them a holiday look.

Linzer Cookie Tarts

Turkey takes center stage in many holiday menus. For this moist roast bird, we created a glaze reminiscent of a sweet barbecue sauce. Serve with Cranberry-Apple Stuffing.

Holiday Roast Turkey with Cranberry-Apple Glaze

Cranberry-Apple Cornbread Stuffing

Stained-Glass Cookies

Sally Lunn Rolls

Green Beans with Bacon and Onion

Mint Brownies