11 nut cracker recipes

Marguerites cookies made with fluffy meringue piled on saltine crackers and topped with chopped nuts. A vintage sweet-and-salty treat browned in the oven.

Breton brittle, also known as Christmas crack: layered stone-ground wheat crackers under a brown sugar butter toffee, topped with melted chocolate chips and chopped nuts. Five ingredients, irresistibly snappable.

Graham cracker toffee bark with a buttery brown sugar glaze and ground nuts. Just 4 ingredients and 15 minutes for a crispy, caramel-coated candy snack.

Five-ingredient magic bars with a soda cracker base, coconut, chocolate chips, nuts, and sweetened condensed milk. No mixing bowl needed. Ready in 30 minutes.

Traditional Passover apple pie made with matzo meal crust instead of flour. Unique dough from soaked matzos, hard-boiled egg yolks, and butter.

This is a traditional Canadian sweet, much loved and admired. The origin of the recipe seems to be lost in the mists of time, though everyone seems to agree that it comes from the town of Nanaimo, in British Columbia.

No-bake pineapple cheesecake: a lightened version using nonfat cream cheese, cottage cheese, and Greek yogurt folded with crushed pineapple, set with gelatin on a graham and Grape-Nuts crust. Creamy tropical dessert without the oven.

Indonesian nasi goreng with pork, chicken, shrimp, fresh chilies, soy sauce, and a sliced thin omelette on top. The classic Indonesian fried rice served with shrimp crackers for crunch.

Pepper your meat loaf with this savory recipe that will find a place in your heart and your tummy.

A silky tofu cheesecake blending pureed silken tofu with cream cheese on an almond graham cracker crust. Lighter than traditional cheesecake but impossibly creamy after an overnight chill.

Timing Tip: Can be frozen for up to 2 weeks. Decorate up to 8 hours ahead. Calorie Trimmer: Use reduced-calorie margarine, vanilla nonfat frozen dessert instead of the ice cream and 2 cups thawed frozen reduced-calorie whipped topping for garnish.