These pies are so good, even Mom can’t complain that they’re ready-made. The pies arrive frozen, ready to be baked. Each month brings a different seasonal fruit in a handsome and delectable crust. The current month’s selection, Apple Cranberry Pie, is simply heavenly.

The pies are nine inches in diameter, two pounds of heaven.

Santa, please enroll us!

• Individual Pie Gifts are $29.95

Pies so good, they’re better than homemade.
Photo courtesy Harry & David.

• Heritage Pie Club Membership: 3, 6 & 12-Month Memberships for $85.00, $170.00 & $330.00, respectively

Purchase online at HarryAndDavid.com. All memberships begin in December.

Find more of our favorite cookie and dessert gifts for Holiday 2010.

We topped a rice cracker with roasted
red pepper, a bocconcino (mozzarella ball)
and pesto. Photo by Melody Lan THE NIBBLE.

• Skewer: Take long toothpicks and make a skewer of bocconcini (1″ mozzarella balls—the word means “mouthfuls” in Italian), red roasted pepper or sundried tomato, a small basil leaf and a pitted picholine olive. For a vegan dish, substitute cubes of tofu for the mozzarella.
• Canapé: Spread thin slices of baguette or flatbread with soft goat cheese, top with a marinated roma tomato (more tender and mild than a sundried tomato, which can be substituted), and garnish with baby arugula.
• Bruschetta: The toasted bread topped with a tomato “bruschetta” sauce and basil leaves is a perennial crowd pleaser.
• Stuffed Peppadew: Bright red peppadews can be stuffed with goat cheese or cream cheese, skewered with other veggies and/or cheese and used to decorate food platters.

*The French spelling places the plural “s” at the end of “hors,” not “d’oeuvre.”

EDITOR’S NOTE: We regret that this video has been discontinued by its producer.

Root vegetables have sustained mankind through millennia of winters, because they last for long periods in cool temperatures.

Root vegetables are plant roots eaten as vegetables. Beetroot (beets), carrot, ginger, Jerusalem artichoke, jicama, parsnip, potato and sweet potato, radish, rutabaga, salsify, turnip, wasabi, water chestnut and yam are just a portion of the long list of root vegetables consumed in the U.S.

A gratin (grah-TAN) is a method of food preparation in which a protein, vegetable or starch is served with a browned crust of grated cheese. The crust may also include breadcrumbs, egg and/or butter.

Gratin originated in France and is usually made in a shallow baking dish. The main ingredient can be baked (roasted) in the oven or cooked on the stove top. In the latter case, the toppings are then added and the dish is finished in the oven or broiler. The baking dish is usually brought to the table piping hot.

For winter entertaining, one of our favorite dishes is a root vegetable gratin of carrot, parsnip, sweet potato and turnip, made in our favorite red Le Cresuset baking pan. Even people who don’t like veggies succumb to the melted Gruyère cheese topping.

In this week’s cooking video, Martha Drayton of Whole Foods Markets shows us how to make a gratin with potato, sweet potato and celery root (celeriac)—an enhancement of the popular dish, potatoes au gratin.

If you’d like to substitute other root vegetables:

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