248 cheery recipes

Too much fruit salad is a big-batch medley of pineapple, melon, citrus, peaches, kiwi, and banana bathed in apricot nectar and chilled overnight so the flavors meld. A bright, make-ahead crowd salad.

Traditional German Rumtopf: a layered preserve of summer fruits, sugar, and rum that builds up over the season and matures into a boozy Christmas dessert by winter.

Santa's white fudge made with sour cream, corn syrup, and sugar cooked to soft-ball stage, then loaded with candied cherries and pecans. Creamy holiday candy in an 8x8 pan.

A soft bread machine loaf made with cherry yogurt, dried cherries, and applesauce for natural sweetness. Works on both regular and rapid bake cycles.

Banana Pudding Splits are a lighter take on the classic, with low-fat chocolate yogurt pudding, fresh banana, pistachios, whipped topping, and a cherry. Diabetic-friendly and ready in 20 minutes.

Halloween veggie platter with a deliberately lumpy, yellowish cottage cheese dip that looks horrifying but tastes like a savory onion dip. Gross-out party food that's secretly healthy.

A fun take on breadsticks; baked rolls that use candied cherries twisted into the shape of a candy cane. Fun and lightly sweet, my kids adore them.

This was very good. I had a 26 ounce jar of salsa and used almost all of it. I used the last 6-8 ounces at the end right before I served it.

Sweet and spicy candied pickle sticks made from dill pickles soaked in sugar with cherry peppers, celery seed, and mustard seed. No cooking, just patience. Addictively crunchy.

Flaming Slow Cooker Chicken Jubilee. This recipe is perfect for a special occasion, a fancy dinner party, or a larger family dinner.

Layers of cubed potatoes, zucchini, mozzarella, scallions, and fresh basil bake in egg substitute for this veggie-packed Italian frittata. Broiled tomatoes finish it.

This delicious dish is made with dried fruit, sweet cherries, juicy apples and seedless grapes.

Retro lime gelatin mold layered with orange sections, grapefruit, pineapple, maraschino cherries, and melon balls. A colorful vintage fruit salad.

Traditional Swiss Basel Leckerli: honey-spice cookie bars with cinnamon, cloves, candied peels, kirsch, and almonds under a crackly sugar glaze. Makes 50 to 60 bars that keep for weeks.

Festive fruit cake cookies loaded with candied cherries, pineapple, raisins, and brazil nuts with vanilla and almond extract. All the flavors of fruit cake in a quick drop cookie.

Cherry chocolate chip cookies with chopped maraschino cherries, semi-sweet chips, and almond extract in a chewy brown sugar dough. Bake 8 minutes for chewy, 13 for crisp.