Ken Haedrich

Cornmeal adds a pleasant crunch, while buttermilk keeps them fluffy and light.

With comforting notes of butterscotch and caramel, butter tarts are perfect when you want something small and sweet, and they require just a few basic pantry ingredients.

This pie dough is wonderfully versatile, and cookbook author Ken Haedrich uses it for both sweet and savory pies. It has great flavor, flaky texture, and is easy to handle.

This recipe has one of the most un-pie pie fillings you’ll ever come across. There’s nothing moist or juicy about it, and the name itself could very well scare you off, but somehow it all comes together. If you can imagine something like a coarse graham cracker–coconut cake, that would begin to describe it. You have to try this one to appreciate it. It begs for ice cream and a drizzle of caramel sauce.

The thought of making homemade caramel sauce is daunting for many cooks, but there’s no reason to be intimidated. It’s simple to prepare and, start to finish, takes only 15 to 20 minutes, after which you have a luscious, full-bodied sauce to drizzle on apple and peach pies, use in and on cream pies, and top off pie à la mode. No fancy equipment needed: just a 3-quart stainless steel saucepan and a candy thermometer.

This is a pretty standard all-shortening piecrust, like the one my dad used when I was a youngster. A shortening piecrust won’t have the delicate flavor of a butter crust, and the texture is typically more crumbly, less flaky. Still, this yields a delicious, tender crust that many bakers believe makes the best pies.

This is one heck of a cake on so many levels. For starters, nobody is ever going to guess there's zucchini in here, because it virtually disappears in the baking—there's not even a hint of vegetable flavor or nubbiness that you might expect from grated zucchini. What you will notice is what a moist cake this is, maybe the moistest chocolate cake you've ever had.

When you have a chocolate glaze recipe that’s as versatile and simple as this one is, it’s easy to rely on it time and again. It’s so quick to prepare that you can wait until the last minute to mix it up. Or you can make it ahead and reheat it to a pourable consistency when you need it. This makes a hefty amount, so if you don’t use all of it, just store the leftovers in a sealed container and refrigerate until needed.

If you crave the sweet maple candies sold at tourist shops, you need not wait until your next vacation to enjoy them. Maple syrup producers’ associations are eager to share these treats, and how to make them at home, to spread the gospel of pure maple syrup. This recipe is from the Vermont Maple Sugar Makers Association/Vermont Maple Promotion Board; the Massachusetts Maple Producers Association has produced a helpful video about making maple cream and maple candy. If you haven’t tried these maple candies, be forewarned: They’re like no other treat you’ve ever experienced.

Ken Haedrich, cookbook author, says, "Since moving to New England nearly twenty years ago, I've heated the house with wood-burning stoves. And because our big Thanksgiving gatherings put oven space at a premium, I've often pressed those stoves into backup duty. That's how steamed breads—which can be cooked on top of the stoves — came to be a regular part of our feast. This steamed pumpkin bread provides another way to bring good pumpkin flavor to the meal, too.

I also serve my special crescent rolls on the big day. One year, my kids let it be known that they wanted croissants on Thanksgiving, but that seemed like a bit more work than I could handle. Instead, I came up with these sesame crescents—croissant-like rolls with savory onion filling. I guess they did the trick, because nobody says much about croissants anymore. Plus, I can make the crescent rolls two weeks ahead and freeze them. That way, they don't take up any of that precious oven space."

Note that this bread needs to cook in an empty 28-ounce food can (such as the kind used to hold whole tomatoes).