25 Cozy and Festive Recipes You Should Cook This December

This is great to serve alongside heartier dishes. To save time, use a handheld slicer for the sprouts and onion.

Scoop up these spiced carrots and seasoned yogurt with freshly toasted pita chips.

Think mac ‘n’ cheese—but with vegetables instead of noodles. This gratin is a warming winter side dish, though it’s so good you might be tempted to call it dinner.

San Francisco Bay Area chef Chris Cosentino’s take on the classic Shrimp Louie is the perfect party appetizer and captures the throwback essence of Tomales Bay restaurant Nick’s Cove. This recipe easily doubles to serve more guests.

The combination of fresh Pacific oysters and the umami-rich beurre blanc creates a harmonious balance of flavors. This elegant recipe is perfect for impressing guests at a dinner party or enjoying a special meal at home.

Says Sonoma chef Kelly Mariani of this recipe: “When I think of a classic ‘California winter’ salad, this is what comes to mind. It celebrates how special California is. Our coldest season is still amazing.”

These crab rangoons can be made ahead and frozen, then cooked when guests arrive. Set out several dipping sauces, as everyone seems to have a favorite.

This easy fruit salad looks especially striking made with multiple varieties and colors of blood oranges and grapefruit, but it’s just as delicious with a single kind of each. You’ll have enough syrup left over for flavoring sparkling water or lattes.

A beauty to look at, this hearty vegetarian soup will brighten any winter table.

This beautiful, nourishing platter needs only some warm flatbread and a pot of herb tea to make you feel energized to face the world.

Browning the ribs and adding cocoa powder, cranberries, ginger, and orange zest make the stew sing.

“Every holiday I think of lamb,” says Queen Street Raw Bar & Grill chef Ari Kolender. “Grandma used to make rack of lamb with mint jelly every winter when I was growing up. This version swaps the Ninja Turtle–colored condiment for an anchovy-spiked salsa verde. The lamb can be braised well in advance and will hold in the fridge for a few days if need be. That way, all you need to do is grill or sear the meat to heat it back up during the rest of your busy holiday celebration.”

Western farmers grow all manner of lentils, including the green ones called French or lentilles du Puy, which cook up firm and nutty. Combine them with root vegetables, kale, and squash for a deeply satisfying winter meal.

Curry paste is a prime example of the kitchen adage that from scratch is always best. The aromatics are unrivaled when using fresh ingredients, plus using a mortar and pestle is a great way to get out your pent-up frustrations. If you haven’t yet utilized krachai, a pungent medicinal rhizome also known as fingerroot, now is a fantastic time to start. The root, which resembles a hand, can be found in many Asian supermarkets, and of course ordered online.

Savoy cabbage is mild and tender even when raw, making it ideal for this light accompaniment to rich sablefish. The recipe is also excellent with 4 boned trout fillets, and the slaw tastes good with chicken or pork too.

Instant polenta and sliced mushrooms help get this hearty, intensely flavorful dinner on the table in well under an hour. You can ladle the ragout over pasta or thickly sliced toast too.

No roast is more epic than a goose–it is, after all, the bird Charles Dickens forever immortalized in A Christmas Carol. A goose is all dark meat and very rich. The fat that drips from it is excellent for roasting potatoes and vegetables, and the skin turns golden and crisp, the poultry equivalent of pork cracklings.

Thomas McNaughton, the chef and co-owner of Flour + Water, named this hearty, well-structured lasagna for its biggest fan—his daughter, Lucie. “Make this lasagna the way you like it and to fit the seasons,” he says. “If you like aged Gouda, use that instead of parmesan. Or use thyme in the winter instead of basil.” It’s also an ideal make-ahead dish for a laid-back dinner party, since it tastes even better when assembled the day before. To keep track of ingredients as you layer the lasagna, cross each one off as you go—and don’t be deterred by the longish prep time. It’s worth it.

Pomegranate molasses, a staple ingredient in the Eastern Mediterranean, gives this one-pot dish a delectable tang.

Mapo tofu is such a cozy, comforting dish with a nice kick—perfect for colder nights.

If you can manage to wait, Arnold Eric Wong of Raison d’Être bakery in South San Francisco recommends serving his moist brownies a day after baking because they develop an even fudgier texture and mintier flavor.

These cakes have the sweetness of fig and all the spices of the holiday season (gingerbread, cloves, and cinnamon).

Semifreddo spiked with chai spices is a luscious counterpoint to pears poached in wine and orange juice. This is a wonderful autumnal dessert.

“This pie is famous in our household,” gushes chef Ari Kolender. “My grandmother used to airmail it to me when I first moved to California, and has been making it so long, she couldn’t (or wouldn’t) tell you where she got the recipe. I’m led to believe that she invented it!“

The valley oaks that dot central California’s golden hills were the inspiration for this spin on the French holiday dessert. Guests are sure to be impressed, but the dessert is pretty easy to pull off if you start a day ahead. You’ll need a jelly roll pan; a small offset spatula and small fine-mesh strainer are also helpful.