Cinnamon Sugar

Don't waste your money on kitchen tools you'll rarely use. Former Chowhound Senior Food Editor Jill Santopietro shows you how to improvise if you don't own a rolling pin. Armed with this knowledge, see the best pie recipes for Thanksgiving, and how to make your sugar cookies taste better.

Peeps are probably the most iconic Easter candy, and even if you don’t actually like eating them, they’re undeniably adorable in their brightly colored marshmallow chick and bunny guises. To learn how to make these little creatures from scratch, Guillermo visited chef and author, Michelle Doll at NY Cake, where sugar magic happens every day. Marshmallows are a really fun type of edible craft, and Michelle is an expert at creating beautiful treats. Beyond Easter (or any other holiday for that matter), when you're making edible marshmallow art, shapes and colors go as far as your creativity will take you.

If you want to spend more time caroling, and sipping wine instead of hanging in the kitchen, watch Chef Jansen Chan (International Culinary Center). make colored sugar, the easiest way to make basic sugar cookies shine on your holiday table.

Chef Jansen Chan (The International Culinary Center) teaches us two great baking decorating techniques in one (royal icing and sprinkles). Nothing says you care more than decorating your Friendsgiving cookies or cake with your own homemade sprinkles.

This carrot cake is incredibly moist and tender, and fragrant with cinnamon and nutmeg. Speckled with raisins and nuts (or not, if you prefer yours plainer), the cake is topped with a rich, tangy-sweet cream cheese frosting. Get the recipe.

Get the highest-quality bone-in smoked ham you can find, trim off just enough of the fat, and then gild that porcine lily with a sweet and savory honey-mustard glaze featuring brown sugar and butter too. An easy recipe that yields a juicy, beautifully shiny, and crisp-edged centerpiece for any festive table. Get the recipe.