Christmas

Christmas cooking should feel festive, not frantic, so this collection focuses on Christmas recipes you can pull off between school concerts and gift wrapping: 10-minute holiday appetizers, edible gifts, Christmas party snacks for kids, and desserts that double as table decorations. My favorites are the ones that look like you spent hours when you really spent minutes, which is why tree-shaped appetizers and no-bake treats show up again and again here. Most of these recipes are designed for potlucks, cookie exchanges, and holiday movie nights rather than formal sit-down dinners, because that is how most families actually celebrate through December. For an appetizer that always gets photographed before it gets eaten, try this Christmas tree cheese board, and let the kids take over the reindeer chocolate bark.