Tiny Hasselback Potatoes and More Recipes BA Staff Made This Week

It’s no secret that BA editors cook a lot for work. So it should come as no surprise that we cook a lot during our off hours too. Here are the recipes we’re whipping up this month to get dinner on the table, entertain our friends, satisfy a sweet tooth, use up leftovers, and everything in between. For even more staff favorites, click here.

December 1

Grown-up Shirley Temple

As a kid, I had an aversion to bubbles so I was never a Shirley Temple drinker. But when I was browsing through non-alcoholic drink recipes in the Epicurious App recently, this grown-up version caught my eye. Cooking down pomegranate juice with warming spices reduces it into a bittersweet syrup that, when mixed with tonic or sparkling water, makes a fun and festive—and not too sweet!—N/A drink. I candied cranberries to serve but dried citrus slices or a twist of peel would work nicely. —Sonia Chopra, executive editor

Sheet-pan mac and cheese

With a surplus of cheddar, the solution was obvious: Rebecca Firkser’s Sheet-Pan Mac and Cheese, which I’ve been eyeing for months. Sure, it takes a little longer than the boxed stuff, but not that much longer. By the time the oven was hot, the rest of the recipe was ready. (For the sauce, I skipped the Parmesan and swapped in even more cheddar.) The result was supremely cheesy, thrillingly crispy, and wholly impressive for how little effort it took. —Emma Laperruque, senior cooking editor

Dinner party ricotta dip

Sometimes you forget you’re having people over for dinner in two hours and you need something that makes it look like you have your act together. Enter: this citrusy ricotta dip. It comes together in five minutes with ingredients you likely already have during holiday season. I tasked a friend with bringing the oranges from home, prepped the ricotta, and chopped the dates before everyone arrived. It was the hit of the night. —S.C.

Classic gingerbread cookies

The day after Thanksgiving is the official start of Christmas cookie season. I use gingerbread cookies to decorate my tree every year, and this recipe from the Gourmet archives strikes all the right notes. The centers are soft and chewy right after they’ve been baked—which is how I like my gingerbread for eating—but they firm up nicely when air dried for a day or so, and will last the whole holiday season on my tree. I double the spices to give these cookies an extra kick: Combined with the natural scent of my go-to tree (blue spruce), they make my house smell amazing. The other thing I love: Most of the dough is actually made in a pot on the stove, so there’s no need to break out the stand mixer. —Carina Finn, commerce editor

Tiny hasselback potatoes

Stop what you’re doing and make these Sour Cream and Onion Hasselback Potatoes. Seriously: Stop what you’re doing and make these Sour Cream and Onion Hasselback Potatoes. They start with itty-bitty Yukons, which, as food editor Jesse Szewczyk explains, means “a higher ratio of crunchy scored edges to tender centers.” You can mix up the sauce a day ahead, so come dinner, all that’s left is cutting and roasting. Yes—even with the chopsticks trick, which works wonders—the cutting takes some patience. But aren’t we all trying to become more patient? —E.L.