Holiday entertaining is all about wringing maximum impact from minimal effort. It’s pretty hard to beat a towering pile of caramel-drizzled profiteroles for drama alone, but the mighty croquembouche isn’t a low-effort joint — unless you use your microwave.

Non-enzymatic browning gives us many gifts. The crust on a loaf of bread, the umami-rich taste of browned onions, the nutty wonder that is browned butter - all of these things are deeper, more flavorful versions of themselves. You've probably been browning your butter for some time now, but the good people at Serious Eats have figured out how to give cream the same treatment, with delicious results.

Tahini is a sesame paste most commonly used in hummus, baba ghanoush, and salad dressings, but it can add moisture and nutty goodness to a whole variety of sweets.

Rich, nutty caramel doesn't exactly scream "summer" but, when made with watermelon juice, the sticky sweet sauce makes for a fruity, ripe and bright tasting dessert topping.

Caramel is an amazing thing. It's the Maillard reaction in play, and it turns simple sugar into something complex and delicious. This video from Bon Appetit shows you the secret to making the smoothest, silkiest caramel ever: A dash of cream of tartar.

A crispy, tart and sweet apple, lovingly coated in either a shiny candied shell or rich robe of caramel, is a quintessential treat that is both easy to make, but also fairly easy to mess up. To make sure your toffee apples are the best they can possibly be, there are a few factors you need to keep in mind.

When you think of making caramel, you usually think of melting it on the stove until it turns into a thick, rich, flavourful liquid -- but you can actually caramelise sugar while keeping it in its solid, granulated form.