Snack
993 recipes found
Spicy Party Mix
When a recipe for a seasoned snack mix first appeared on the back of the Chex cereal box in the 1950s, people went crazy for it. Years later, a Google search for the recipe yields more than two million results for various riffs, from savory to spicy to sweet. Many call for tossing the dry ingredients with the wet, then letting the mix dry on paper towels, but baking it at a low temperature yields crisper, more flavorful results. Hot sauce gives this version a bit of a kick, but if you don’t like heat, you can leave it out. View this recipe as a template to tweak as you see fit: Use crunchy, roasted edamame or green peas in place of the nuts, substitute Thai red curry paste or Sriracha for the hot sauce, or double up on whatever ingredients you like best. Keep the dry-to-wet ratios the same and you can’t go wrong.
Sweet Cherry Upside-Down Cake
There’s a little black pepper in this cake, which provides just enough heat to enhance the sweetness of the cherries. If you’re worried about the pepper, cut back on the amount called for, but if you’re excited about it, you may want to double it. This is a sweet, rustic and rich upside-down cake that’s sturdy enough to hold up to its juicy fruit topping. Once the finished cake gets inverted onto a platter, the extra cherry juice soaks back into the cake as it cools, which means it gets better as it sits. Serve the cake with lemon whipped cream made by beating cold heavy cream with the leftover lemon juice and some sugar until stiff. It’s helpful for covering up any imperfections in the cake, too!
Beer Cheese
Some say this classic pub snack originated in Kentucky, but you can typically find it in bars all around, usually served with warm pretzel bites or vegetables. There are two different styles of beer cheese: a spreadable, thick version and a creamier fondue-style type like this one. Though optional, adding a bit of miso brings out the beer flavor and adds a bit of saltiness that eliminates the need to add any salt to the dish. Either way, make sure to choose a beer that tastes good to you.
Fresh Ranch Dip
Creamy yogurt served alongside salty chips and vegetables, like crisp Persian cucumber, never disappoints. In this superbly simple recipe, a tub of Greek yogurt is transformed into a delicious dip that’s loosely inspired by the dominant flavors of ranch dressing. Add a handful of fragrant dill and chives, brighten things up with a little lemon juice and lemon zest, and you have yourself a party for a crowd (or for one!). This dip can be made a day in advance and travels well if kept cool.
Baked Apple Cider Doughnuts
This recipe yields the classic flavor of baked cider doughnuts. For the most traditional result, a doughnut pan is recommended, but you can also bake these off in a muffin pan.
Candy Apples
Traditional candy apples are dipped in a vibrant syrup that’s tinted red. This version skips the food coloring, and instead infuses the candy coating with cinnamon and vanilla. If you're worried about your teeth, serve these by slicing them, rather than trying to take a bite, as the candy coating sets to be quite firm. Be sure to start with room temperature apples as cold apples will cause the candy mixture to harden too quickly making it difficult to work with.
Pumpkin Crumb Cake
This pumpkin-packed crumb cake is everything that is wonderful about fall baking. Warmly spiced, moist pumpkin cake topped with spicy, crispy streusel and topped with an optional but delicious glaze. It is just the thing for an afternoon snack, and just as good for breakfast the next day. You can use any pumpkin spice blend you like, but the homemade recipe included below includes a bit of cardamom, which isn’t usually included in pumpkin spice blends, but brings a hint of citrusy floral flavor. The pumpkin-spice glaze is optional, but if you have the time, don’t skip it. It adds a nice extra hint of sweetness and spice.
Apple Pie Bars
This delivers all the pleasure of apple pie — a buttery crust and topping sandwiching juicy spiced apples — without the need to roll out a dough. A simple dough is pressed into a bottom crust and squeezed into crumbles for the top. You can arrange the topping into a lattice, stripes, or other decorative pattern if you’d like. The whole pan easily serves 24 and can be cut into smaller bars if you want to serve an even-bigger crowd. These bars are best the day they are made, but they can be refrigerated for up to 2 days. Or, they can be frozen immediately after cooling and kept in the freezer for up to 1 month. Just make sure to thaw them before serving.
Charcuterie Board
A charcuterie board refers to an impressive spread of cured meats, and this festive take adds cheeses with fun accoutrements such as roasted nuts, tangy olives and fresh vegetables, which brighten the meal. It even includes a smooth pâté, decadent smoked fish and a homemade whipped ricotta that serves as both a dip and a spread. Whipped ricotta is a cinch to make, transforming the grainy, dense cheese into something light and airy. This type of grand spread is perfect for entertaining and is extremely flexible — simply curate any combination of meats and cheeses with varying textures.
Caramel Apples
An easy recipe for making homemade caramel apples, this can be doubled or tripled easily to make more. Once dipped, the apples can be rolled in chopped nuts, candy, or drizzled with chocolate for a little extra flair. Be sure to start with room temperature apples as cold apples will cause the caramel mixture to harden too quickly making it difficult to work with.
Sweet Potato Casserole Pie
This showstopping dessert, which is inspired by the classic Thanksgiving side dish, is really a pie baked in a springform pan. (Don’t try it in a pie pan because the filling will likely overflow.) What makes this dessert a winner is the textural contrast between the creamy sweet potato filling, the crisp pecan crust and the gooey marshmallow topping. Here are a few tips for best results: Roast the sweet potatoes instead of boiling them because it enhances their flavor, and use smaller sweet potatoes because they are naturally sweeter than larger varieties. Also, it may seem fussy, but chilling the cooked potatoes, then aggressively whipping them aerates them, resulting in a silkier texture. Once baked and cooled, refrigerate the pie until right before it’s time to serve.
Ube Pie
Ube, a purple yam native to the Asian tropics, is a common ingredient in Filipino desserts. It’s no surprise that colorful dishes made with ube have done well on Instagram, prompting the invention of drinks, custards, cakes and sweet breads in cities across the United States. This recipe is adapted from Café 86 in Artesia, Calif., where co-owner Ginger Dimapasok serves an ube chess pie that’s particularly popular around Thanksgiving. The earthy, vanilla flavor of the yam adds color and depth to the sweet, buttery filling. You can find frozen mashed ube — and ube flavoring, which ensures a deep purple hue — at Filipino markets. Okinawa sweet potatoes, or Japanese purple sweet potatoes, can also be substituted.
Upside-Down Lemon Sponge Cake With Lemon-Maple Butter
Warm desserts are the quintessential Christmas treat. This one is made even more special with the charred lemon slices, which give it just the right amount of sharpness to cut through all the sweetness. Be sure to take the butter for the cake out of the refrigerator well in advance, as it needs to be fully softened at room temperature before you make the batter. This cake also reheats quite well; just give it a quick steam to warm through or pop individual portions into the microwave in a sealed, heat-proof bowl.
S’mores Blondies
These messy-in-a-good-way blondies capture the essence of s’mores — toasted marshmallows, gooey chocolate, malty graham cracker flavor — in a home oven. The blondie base replaces some of the flour with graham cracker crumbs, and is studded with large chunks of chocolate and marshmallow. Use chopped bar chocolate rather than chocolate chips, which contain stabilizers and don’t fully melt (though substituting chips will still result in a delicious blondie). As the blondies finish baking, they’re topped with a layer of marshmallows and another round of chocolate; messy and delicious, just like the real thing.
Maple Pecan Monkey Bread
Maple syrup gives an autumnal feel and subtler sweetness to traditionally sugary monkey bread. Any grade of maple syrup works: B and C will give you a more robust maple flavor, while Grade A will deliver a more delicate, refined sweetness. Here, the syrup is mixed with brown butter and used to glaze extra-rich brioche dough rounds and toasted pecans. It all caramelizes together into a fluffy yet chewy pull-apart bread punctuated with the crunch of nuts. If you prefer a rustic look, you don’t have to roll the pieces of dough into balls. Just cut them into even pieces and coat with the cinnamon sugar. This recipe is at its soft and gooey best the day it’s made, but it can be kept at room temperature overnight and reheated in a 350-degree oven for 10 minutes.
Apple Butter Quick Bread
Apple butter gives this bread a deep autumnal flavor and helps keep it moist for several days after baking. Whole-wheat flour adds a bit of heartiness to the batter, which can be made using only one bowl and a whisk.
Applesauce Cake With Cream Cheese and Honey Frosting
This super-simple cake, which requires one bowl and one cake pan, comes from Julia Turshen's cookbook "Now & Again," and it's so easy to make you find yourself doing so often, especially throughout the fall when apples are on your mind. (It'd be especially great for Rosh Hashana, the Jewish new year, or for novice or time-pressed Thanksgiving bakers.) The cake's texture and appeal are similar to those of banana bread; if you like, you can stir a large handful or two of raisins, nuts or both into the batter just before you scrape it into the pan. And although you can use homemade applesauce for this, know that store-bought is just fine.
Apple Cider
To understand the difference between apple cider and juice, think of it like this: Unfiltered cider is a complex dark brown multigrain, whereas filtered apple juice is a plain sweet white bread. There’s a place for both, but to fully savor the fruit, make raw, fresh cider. Benford Lepley, the co-founder of Floral Terranes, a small-batch cidery and winery on Long Island, suggests using a mix of apples, ideally fresh ones grown in your general area, but Pink Lady is a supermarket favorite. Adjust the variety based on your preference of sweet to tart, then crush and press. (This recipe calls for a blender or food processor and a cloth-lined colander.) Drink and repeat all season long.
Maple Pecan Caramel Corn
Made from a combination of maple syrup and brown sugar, the rich, buttery caramel on this popcorn has a brittle, candy-like crunch that’s heightened by plenty of toasted pecans added alongside. (Cracker Jack fans can substitute roasted, salted peanuts.) A small amount of baking soda keeps the caramel from becoming sticky, but note that you’ll need an instant-read thermometer to yield the best result. If you’d rather use an air popper to prepare your popcorn, you can — just skip Step 2. The caramel corn will keep in an airtight container for at least a week.
Rooti Farmaajo (Honeycomb Cheese Bread)
Rooti farmaajo is a pillowy and sweet, soft-cheese-stuffed bread that is a popular Ramadan staple in many Somali households. This dish translates from Somali simply as “cheese bread,” but is distinguished by its honeycomb shape and its creamy filling. Rooti farmaajo shares some similarities to khaliat al nahl, Yemeni honeycomb buns, but the similarities end when it comes to toppings: While khaliat al nahl is topped with syrup or honey as well as nigella and sesame seeds, rooti farmaajo is drizzled with condensed milk and topped with shredded coconut. While this bread is a popular treat during Ramadan, it’s worth making year round — and makes a good accompaniment to coffee or tea.
Yakgwa (Honey Cookies)
These not-too-sweet Korean honey cookies, fried and then soaked in gingery syrup, are uniquely soft and chewy on the outside and flaky on the inside. Called yakgwa (yak meaning “medicine” and gwa meaning “confection”), these treats originally from the Goryeo dynasty (918-1392) are seeing a resurgence in popularity from Seoul to the world, thanks to social media. Traditionally served on Korean festival days like Chuseok and Seollal, birthdays and ancestral rites like jesa, the anniversary of a loved one’s passing, yakgwa are also an encapsulation of Korea’s dessert history. At a time when sugar was not a main sweetener, sweetness was achieved with ingredients like rice syrup and honey, paired with ginger and cinnamon. Enjoy these on their own with a cup of tea or try them with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or whipped cream, which lends balance to the sticky sweetness. For a vegan option, the honey can be swapped with maple syrup for incredible results.
Ham and Cheese Quick Bread
This is the kind of savory cake that you make once and then play around with for years to come. In this version, there are chopped roasted red peppers, small chunks of ham, some herbs and three cheeses (mozzarella, Parmesan and fontina). The cheeses could be Cheddar and Gruyère and a semisoft, easily meltable cheese of your choice. The batter could have chopped Calabrian chiles or pepperoncini (go easy on these hot peppers), a different mix of herbs, scallions or shallots for the chives and pancetta or bacon bits for the meat (or you can skip the meat). Cut the cake into fingers to have with wine or serve it alongside soup or salad. And if it goes a little stale, simply toast it.
Skillet Gingerbread Cake With Apple Butter
Apple butter is the surprise ingredient here. Along with molasses, it makes the gingerbread moist, flavorful and a good keeper. The cake’s got a mix of traditional spices — ground ginger, cinnamon and cloves — as well as crystallized ginger, which has a soft, chewy texture and adds a bit of heat. If your ginger is hard, steep it in hot water for 30 seconds, drain and pat it dry. The gingerbread is sweet, but not very, so it’s as good with ricotta, yogurt, a swish of cream cheese or even a slice of Cheddar as it is with whipped cream, ice cream or hot fudge.
Cranberry Spice Bundt Cake
This tall and tender Bundt cake pulls off the trick of being cozy and zingy at the same time. It gets its soft crumb from yogurt (although you could use sour cream or buttermilk) and its pop from puckery fresh cranberries and a mix of cardamom, coriander and ginger. It’s festive with a cranberry icing and classic with a dusting of powdered sugar. And it’s a cake that can go through the seasons — think about swapping the cranberries for dried fruit in the winter and berries in the summer. It’s great with blueberries.