We are fans of Nonni’s Biscotti, and even more so with the new holiday flavors.

Nonni’s limited-edition holiday biscotti are available in Gingerbread and Pumpkin Spice, both with cinnamon icing. The biscotti are individually wrapped for easy grab-and-go.

Delicious for snacking or for gifting, they also pair well with the season’s pumpkin and gingerbread lattes.

Be sure to get enough for stocking stuffers!

If you can’t find the biscotti locally, you can get them online:

 
Don’t want spiced biscotti? Try the addictive Salted Caramel Biscotti, embedded with chunks of salted caramel.

Who knew there were so many styles of Swiss Army Knife?

We’ve seen them in occasional colors beyond black and the signature red.

But there are 99 different designs, from animal prints and flowers to camouflage and skateboards.

For the chocolate lover, the Swiss Chocolate Classic SD Swiss Army Knife is the way to go. There’s a scored chocolate bar on one side; on the reverse side shows the chocolate peeled back from its silver foil.

The Swiss Chocolate Classic SD Swiss Army Knife is $17.25 and your readers can purchase it at SwissKnifeShop.com.

Engraving and gift bags are also available.

Last year we raved about the Capabunga wine cap, a leakproof, spillproof, reusable silicon wine bottle cap that eliminates the need to shove a cork back into a bottle. We loved it and made it a Top Pick Of The Week (here’s our review).

Now, there’s a version for Champagne and other sparkling wines, that preserves the fizziness in the bottle. It’s stronger than the Capabunga, to resist any built-up pressure from the bubbles.

CapaBubbles can preserve Champagne and sparkling wine for up to one week.

It’s affordable enough so that you can include one when you bring a bottle. It’s a welcome gift for a bubbly lover.

In four different designs, CapaBubbles is $15.95, gift boxed and the perfect size to sneak into a stocking, at Capabunga.com

Save that bubbly with a CapaBubbles Champagne cap. Photo courtesy Capabunga.

Why run out for one, when you can make Pumpkin Spice Latte at home? Photo courtesy Starbucks.

Sure, it’s easy to brew coffee, steam the milk and add a shot or two of pumpkin-flavored sugar syrup.

And here’s a better-for-you variation, a recipe that uses canned pumpkin instead of pumpkin-flavored sugar syrup. You get much more pumpkin flavor, plus the ability to customize the amount of sugar, honey, agave, noncaloric sweetener or no sweetener at all.

Prep time is 10 minutes.

RECIPE: PUMPKIN SPICE LATTE

Ingredients For 2 Lattes

1. HEAT the milk, pumpkin and sugar in a 2-quart saucepan over medium heat until hot (do not boil). Remove from the heat. Stir in the pumpkin pie spice, vanilla and coffee.

2. POUR into 2 large mugs. Garnish each with whipped cream, a dash of pumpkin pie spice and a cinnamon stick.
 
*Pumpkin pie filling is pre-sweetened and spiced.

†If you do not have pumpkin pie spice, make your own by combining 1 tablespoon of ground cinnamon, 2 teaspoons of ground ginger and 1/2 teaspoon of ground nutmeg. This will make about 2 tablespoons of pumpkin pie spice mix.
 
MAKE YOUR OWN PUMPKIN SYRUP

Still want pumpkin syrup in your PSL? Here’s an alternative recipe that uses pumpkin syrup that you make yourself.
 
WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LATTE & CAFÉ AU LAIT?

Café au lait is a coffee drink made with regular coffee (typically a stronger roast, like French roast or Italian roast), brewed in a ratio of 1:1 milk to coffee with sugar to taste.

Latte, also made with a 1:1 ratio, uses espresso—the strongest coffee roast. Espresso is the roast most popular in Italy; French Roast is most popular in France.

Check out the different espresso drinks in our Espresso Glossary.
  

Italian-American families often have a festive pasta dish such as lasagna at the Thanksgiving table, along with traditional Turkey Day foods.

We’ve got two options for Pumpkin Mac & Cheese, a treat throughout the holiday season. Both recipes are courtesy of Cabot Creamery, makers of our favorite supermarket Cheddar.

This first recipe is courtesy of Kristina LaRue, RD, LDN, for Cabot Creamery. It uses better-for-you whole grain pasta and flour. Note that in this recipe, you can substitute white pastry flour and conventional elbow macaroni; but in baking cookies, cakes, muffins, etc., the substitution proportions will differ.

The second recipe bakes conventional mac and cheese inside a pumpkin!
 
 
RECIPE #1: PUMPKIN MAC & CHEESE WITH BACON

Ingredients

[2] Crisp bacon strips (photo © Edwards Virginia Smokehouse | Facebook).

*The recipe used Cabot Alpine Cheddar and Cabot White Oak Cheddar, but you can substitute Sharp Cheddar or Extra Sharp Cheddar.
_____________
 
Preparation

1. PREHEAT the oven to 400°F. Coat a 13 X 9-inch baking dish with cooking spray.

2. COOK the macaroni to al dente according to package directions. Rinse and drain.

3. LINE a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil and arrange the bacon. Cook the bacon for 10 minutes and blot dry. Crumble and set aside.

4. MELT the butter in a large pot over medium heat. Whisk in the flour and slowly add the milk until the mixture is smooth and the ingredients are incorporated.

5. STIR in the canned pumpkin and continue to whisk until the mixture is thickened, about 5 minutes. Remove the pot from the heat and stir in the spices, cheese (reserve 1/2 cup for topping) and yogurt, whisking quickly to combine until the cheese is melted.

6. POUR the macaroni into the prepared baking dish and coat evenly with the pumpkin cheese sauce. Top with the remaining cheese and bacon.

7. BAKE for 20 minutes until the cheese is melted and bubbly. Allow to cool for 5-10 minutes before serving.
 

[4] Grated Cheddar (photo © S.Zakaly | Panther Media).

This recipe is baked in a pumpkin, but there is no pumpkin flesh in the recipe. Instead, you can use the recipe above for a pumpkin-in-pumpkin dish.

Ingredients For 16 Servings

 
Preparation

1. PREHEAT the oven to 375ºF.

2. PLACE the pumpkin flat-side-down or remove a thin slice from one side so the pumpkin will be stable. With a sharp knife, cut the pumpkin in half horizontally, slightly above stem, to form a bowl. Remove the fiber and seeds. With a spoon or an ice cream scoop, scrape out some of the flesh so shell has a thickness of 3/4 to 1 inch.

3. SPRAY the top edge of the pumpkin with cooking spray or brush lightly with oil; then place it cut-side down on a pizza pan or baking sheet. Bake for 45 to 60 minutes or until the pumpkin still holds it shape but the flesh is cooked and can be pierced easily with a toothpick. While pumpkin bakes…

4. COOK the macaroni according to package instructions. Drain and set aside.

6. ADD the mustard, red pepper and Worcestershire. Gradually whisk in the milk and continue stirring until the sauce thickens and returns to a simmer.

7. REDUCE the heat to low. Add 7 cups of the cheese and stir until melted. Add the macaroni, stirring until well coated; remove from the heat.

8. TURN the baked pumpkin over with oven mitts. Place it in a large shallow baking dish (from which you’ll serve it), or leave it on the baking sheet. Fill the pumpkin with the macaroni mixture and top with the remaining cheese and breadcrumbs. (Put any mac and cheese that won’t fit into another small baking dish).

9. BAKE until the filling is puffed and golden, about 40 to 50 minutes longer (a smaller baking dish will be done sooner). Let stand for about 10 minutes to settle before serving. Garnish and serve.