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Recipes
What to cook during the week ahead, from Post Food editors.

By Becky Krystal

Good morning, friends. It's the end of quite a week, and I'm feeling so many things right now — elated, tired, relieved, grateful and nostalgic. And it's all about cookies.

In the fall of 2005, I was a newly-minted college graduate, working at a small newspaper in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley. My boyfriend (now husband) started dropping hints about what I should expect for my birthday present. Yes, it would be delivered to my house. No, I wouldn't have to be there for it. It was not big. It was not edible.

It was a subscription to The Washington Post.

It was the perfect gift in many ways and ended up giving me so much more, including, I'm convinced, a leg up when I was eventually hired here as an editorial aide in 2007.

But, you see, 2005 was also a big deal because it's a direct line to where we are today: That December, the Food section shared its inaugural collection of holiday cookies. I saved that first issue — and every one since.

I've been lucky to carry on the tradition for six years, and in this, our 20th holiday cookie package, we're introducing 10 new recipes – and cracking 400 total in our archives. Our goal, as usual, was an inclusive, delicious, colorful and fun collection that spans old and new, familiar and fresh, simple and stunning. You'll find recipes for people who love chocolate, spices, fruit and more. Not only do we have recipes developed with vegan and gluten-free diets in mind, for the first time we have cross-tested the other recipes in the package with substitutions and variations to meet those needs. Check out the whole lineup below.

If you enjoy spending a few hours working on an impressive bake, you're going to love this year's cookie project. Lauren Dozier's Quilt Block Sugar Cookies will blow you away with their appearance and melt-in-your-mouth texture. The beauty of this recipe is that while the cookies may look intimidating, they require more time than skill. Mix together a simple dough, color it four ways, and then just cut out squares and triangles that you piece together, all facilitated by our detailed step-by-step instructions, complete with photos.

Of course, you can't live on cookies alone (or so I've told myself), so we have plenty of other recipes to fuel you. In fact, I developed my Triple Tomato Soup when I had a brief respite in all the cookie madness, because I wanted a comforting, quick and tasty meal for cold days. The combination of sun-dried tomatoes, tomato paste and canned whole tomatoes is hard to beat. Said one reader: "Really good! I paired the soup with the Triple Garlic Bread and my husband said he felt he was lunching in a fancy restaurant."

Raves are also already rolling in for Aaron Hutcheron's Skillet Chicken Thighs With Preserved Lemon and Orzo, a one-pan, 45-minute meal that is a delightful mix of salty, sour and savory. "What a wonderful dish! My husband declared it 'a keeper.'" "This is very tasty!"

Daniela Galarza's Panang Curry Pumpkin Noodle Soup similarly zigs and zags across an array of sweet, sour and spicy flavors. It leans on canned or jarred curry paste, which is a great way to add instant depth to a variety of dishes.

And because it's that time of year, we had one more soup-adjacent recipe this week: Ellie Krieger's Manhattan Seafood Stew. This riff on the classic tomato-based Manhattan clam chowder is bulked up with white fish and scallops (or shrimp) for a dish worthy of a dinner party.

Whether you want to talk about holiday entertaining or cookies, or anything else on your mind, I will be hosting our live weekly chat Wednesday at noon Eastern while Aaron's away. Submit your questions now, and then come back when I kick things off.

Until then happy cooking and, of course, baking.