These lovely confections — which happen to be my father’s favorite Christmas cookie — go by many names: thumbprint cookies, Swedish tea cakes, and bird’s nest cookies, to name a few. But whatever moniker you give them, you will surely call them delicious.

I don’t know about you, but thanks to the fast food nation we now live in and the proficient marketing of processed food, when I hear the word “breadsticks,” unfortunately my mind conjures up thoughts of greasy, doughy, bloated blocks of bread sandwiched together in a pizza box, served with a side of one or another variety of mysterious dipping sauce. Or the one of a billion, store-bought, frozen, oven-ready breadsticks — akin to the upscale breadstick that you might expect to find at the average pasta franchise — which, although quick and easy, are quite generic and filled with preservatives and artificial flavors.

When I think Christmas cookies, I think ginger crackles.

Oh, of course there are shortbread, sugar and gingerbread (wo)men cookies, too. Not to mention Swedish tea cakes… but ginger crackles are one of a few cookies that I only make during the holiday season. There’s something about their chewy, gingery bite, their crackled top and sugary sparkle, and the warmly fragrant aroma that fills the house when ginger crackles are in the oven — it just feels like the holidays.

Okay, so I had to use up the last of a seemingly endless supply of pumpkin puree, created from one modest “pie” pumpkin, one soft pear, and half of very ripe banana. Yet another case of necessity giving rise to invention; and muffins seemed like just the ticket to fill the order: portable, moist, healthy and flavor-packed.

Crisps are pretty easy, as desserts go, but blueberry crisp takes simplicity to a new level. With no peeling, coring or slicing required, this cozy and irresistibly delicious dessert is a cinch to make any time of year (thanks to frozen blueberries). In fact, you could whip up this dessert half-way through dinner and serve it steaming hot from the oven, just in time for guests to dig into it for last course.