[2] Look for the box in the freezer section (photo Kraft Heinz).

This week we have a tie for Top Pick. Both sit in the freezer until you want them. And we want more and more of them.

1. NANCY’S PETITE STUFFED BAGELS

We received samples of Nancy’s Petite Stuffed Bagels right before Thanksgiving; and what a festive treat they were.

The bagels are stuffed with different flavors of cream cheese:

 
The bagels are kept frozen, then heated in the oven or microwave. We found microwaving worked just fine.

We enjoyed a mixed selection of them with our morning coffee or tea.

But these lovely bites will make a brunch or special-occasion breakfast all the more festive.

The marketing materials explain that the product was inspired by Nancy Mueller, a San Francisco hostess.

But surprise: The brand is owned by The Kraft Heinz Company, which produces the NANCY’S Frozen Appetizers & Entrées line.

This detail came as a surprise to us, because the product packaging and the bagels themselves seem more like a small brand labor of love than the product of a mega-manufacturer.

Bravo, Kraft Heinz. We plan to keep our freezer full of these little treats.

Petite Stuffed Bagels are available on nationwide at select grocers, at a suggested retail price of $6.99 for 16 bagels.

Each petite bagels delivers two big bites.

We have an admission: As a bagel lover who often eats a large bagel for breakfast, we are just as satisfied with one or two of Nancy’s Petite Stuffed Bagels.

You may be familiar with Bantam Bagels, the original mini stuffed bagel.

We enjoyed them for several years, fresh at their shop in Greenwich Village. But when the frozen version came out, for us it lost something in translation.

We found that microwaving produced chewy dough. While we didn’t test Bantam Bagels side by side with Nancy’s, we didn’t have this problem with the latter.

However: Bantam, we love your new Bantam Pancakes. They’re not flat, but rounded like the bagels to include a delicious filling.

The varieties include:

 
Now when you have a pancake craving, just pop one or two into the microwave.

There’s a store locator on the website, or buy them online.

They’re an innovative thank-you gifts for dinner, party or weekend hosts.

Note to our friends and family: We’d be happy if Santa brought us a few more boxes.

[4] Look for Bantam Pancakes in the freezer section.

[2] Clean the grinder regularly with bread or rice (photo courtesy Coffee & Tea Newsletter).

[3] Brush out fine grounds with a soft brush (photo courtesy Alibaba). You can also repurpose a clean makeup brush.

If you care enough about the freshness of your coffee to grind your own beans, you need give the grinder a regular cleaning.

Just as oils collect in the bottom of the coffee pot, they leave their oily residue in the well and on the blades of the grinder.

Over time, the oil becomes stale and affects the flavor of the coffee.

You may or may not notice oil on the lid or blades of the grinder. If you do, you know it’s time to act. But even if you don’t, plan to clean the grinder a few times a year. If you use the grinder daily, clean it once a month.

Here’s the technique from TODAY Home:

 
 
OTHER USES FOR A COFFEE GRINDER

 
In fact, if you have a second coffee grinder—an older one you haven’t tossed, for example—clean it thoroughly and use it for these non-coffee purposes.

Baking Christmas cookies is a tradition in many homes. While recipes abound, here’s a spin: cup cookies.

They’re notched to fit on a cup rim, an engaging way to serve a cookie with coffee, tea, hot chocolate, or milk.

You can make your favorite recipe or use refrigerated cookie dough.

Treat the family, bring a batch to the workplace, give them as gifts: It adds fun to flavor.

 
Thanks to Pampered Chef for the inspiration!
 
 
RECIPE: CUP COOKIES

Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. MIX the sugar cookie dough with the flour in a medium bowl. Roll out the dough on a pastry mat to ¼” (6mm) thickness.

2. CUT out the stars, using a star-shaped cookie cutter, and transfer to a cookie sheet. Using the releasing end of a cake tester tool or a knife, create a notch halfway up the center of the star. (In the recent past, you could buy special cookie cutters that included the notch, but we haven’t been able to find them.)

[2] Peppermint hot chocolate with a sugar cookie star (photo © Pampered Chef).