My favorite cookbook that was a gift was Thomas Keller’s French Laundry Cookbook. His recipes are daunting in their complexity, but inspiring enough to try; it’s also inspirational to read of his joy of food and passionate pursuit of the best, most flavorful ingredients.

Ah, such a classic! I have fond memories as a child of decorating cookies like this using various bright sprinkles. Great for a family gathering activity!

These do sound interesting - I’ve had buckwheat bread and pancakes, which I do like, but not something sweet with buckwheat like cookies. Will have to try!

These look like great holiday treats! It seems like other fruity or nutty liqueurs could be used instead of kirsch?

I should try this version - a friend makes something similar, but it uses dates instead of figs. The spicing looks so aromatic!

These look tasty, but don’t look like they’d ship well, as they’d be too brittle.

What a wonderful version of this recipe! I think I’ll use hazelnuts...

Tasty after dinner treats! Recipe works well with other nuts, too, like almonds or walnuts.

Truffles are so easy, tasty and wonderful! For dipping chocolate, which is higher in cocoa butter, you can always melt regular chocolate and add a bit of food-grade cocoa butter to thin it for dipping.

This looks wonderful and easy! It also seems like a lot of variation could be made on the basic Apricot filling, in that a variety of nut and preserve combinations would work for this recipe.

This recipe looks delicious! I’d serve ‘em with tea or hot cider.

Look delicious - I’d use double-strength Madagascar vanilla extract for these.

A friend made these recently; it can be hard to get the texture right, but once the process is perfected they can be wonderful! She dusted them with cocoa, which was excellent.

Oh my! I live in Boston, but just happen to be going to New York City this coming weekend. I would love love love to have this opportunity to go and compare the finest of chocolates! I must, i NEED to know which is the best!