Holidays/52 recipes

No-bake walnut chocolate rum balls rolled in cocoa powder. Made with grated milk chocolate, chopped walnuts, powdered sugar, and real rum. A rich holiday candy ready in 15 minutes, makes 2 1/2 dozen.

Old-fashioned divinity candy with holiday, chocolate, and ginger variations. The classic Southern white candy: cloud-light, melt-on-your-tongue texture, made by streaming hot syrup into beaten egg whites.

Applejack apple slab pie bakes 25 sliced tart apples with cinnamon and butter between a shortening pastry crust in a sheet pan, then drizzles with a sweet cream glaze. Crowd-feeding holiday pie.

Microwave sweet potato casserole with mashed sweet potatoes, pineapple tidbits, brown sugar, butter, and gooey marshmallows. The holiday classic side dish, ready in 25 minutes without ever turning on the oven.

Southern boiled custard eggnog made from scratch with 8 egg yolks, cream, vanilla, and nutmeg. Spiked with whiskey or served virgin, this silky holiday drink serves 12.

Hot cranberry pineapple punch brewed in a coffee percolator with whole cloves and cinnamon sticks. Serves 22 and fills the whole house with the smell of the holidays.

Fruitcake drop cookies with brandy, candied cherries, dates, candied pineapple, and nuts. All the holiday fruitcake flavor in a bite-sized cookie that bakes in 12 minutes.

None Such mincemeat cookies: a vintage drop cookie made with crumbled prepared mincemeat folded into a simple shortening dough. Bakes 4 dozen in 12 minutes for the holiday cookie tin.

Fruit ginger drop cookies made with gingerbread mix, candied fruit, and chopped nuts. A 4-ingredient holiday cookie ready in 25 minutes.

Crispy vanilla rosettes fried on a decorative iron, then dipped in vanilla icing. Scandinavian holiday cookies that look like edible snowflakes. Yields 12 cookies.

Country ham simmered in apple cider with ginger and peppercorns, then finished with an applesauce-mustard-brown sugar glaze. Southern holiday centerpiece that feeds 25.

Holiday pumpkin muffins with pumpkin pie spice, buttermilk, and a simple powdered sugar glaze. Soft, warmly spiced, and ready in 25 minutes for Christmas morning breakfast.

Microwave roast turkey with pan gravy cooks a 12-pound bird in under 90 minutes using the breast-down, breast-up method. A speedy small-kitchen solution for holiday dinner without tying up the oven.

Portuguese-American turkey stuffing with chorizo sausage, turkey giblets, and soaked bread. A bold, meaty stuffing with garlic, paprika, and parsley for a 12-pound holiday bird.

Holiday mint log is a light chocolate sponge cake rolled into a classic yule log shape. Separated eggs keep the cake airy enough to roll without cracking, baked in just 12-15 minutes.