Christmas Sugar Cookies

I make these Christmas sugar cookies for the holidays every year! Cut into festive shapes, they're perfect for decorating with icing and sprinkles.

Let’s make Christmas sugar cookies! My family loves breaking out our cookie cutters to bake these cookies for the holidays every year. They’re classic cut-out sugar cookies, with crisp edges, soft middles, and a warm, buttery flavor from vanilla and almond extract. Made with a simple 8-ingredient dough, they hold their shape in the oven, which means that you can cut them into all kinds of holiday shapes. While you could enjoy these Christmas sugar cookies plain, we think half the fun of making them is decorating them. Top them with icing, plus sprinkles, colored sugar, and/or candies for a festive…

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Spritz Cookies

This spritz cookie recipe has been in my family for years! Buttery, tender, and decorated with sprinkles, they're our favorite Christmas cookies.

This spritz cookie recipe comes straight from my mom’s recipe box! My family has been making it every Christmas for over 40 years—my first kitchen memory is of baking these spritz cookies with my mom and sister for the holidays. Made with a 6-ingredient dough, these spritz cookies are buttery, tender, and scented with almond extract, not unlike sugar cookies or shortbread. What sets them apart from other cookies is how they’re made. Spritz cookies get their festive shapes from a cookie press. Their name comes from the German word spritzen, which means “to squirt,” which describes how the dough…

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20 Best Thanksgiving Desserts

Our best Thanksgiving desserts! Ranging from classic pies to non-pie ideas like cakes and bars, these delicious recipes will wow your holiday guests.

Have you chosen your Thanksgiving desserts yet? I’m still deciding. I might go the classic pie route, or I might go pie-free, creating a Thanksgiving dessert table with fall crisps, festive cakes, or even a show-stopping pumpkin tiramisu. In case you’re on the fence too, I’ve rounded up our best Thanksgiving dessert ideas below. You’ll find recipes for traditional holiday pies like pumpkin and apple, plus plenty of non-pie Thanksgiving desserts. Pick one direction, or make a mix of both. No matter which you choose, these Thanksgiving desserts will be a hit! Classic Thanksgiving Desserts Best Pumpkin Pie Pumpkin pie has…

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Cranberry Orange Bread

This cranberry bread recipe is packed with fresh cranberries and topped with a zesty orange glaze. It's a perfect easy treat for the holiday season!

I love keeping this cranberry orange bread around the house during the holidays. Packed with tart, juicy cranberries, this loaf is perfectly moist and tender. Orange juice and zest give it a lovely bright flavor, and a simple orange glaze takes it over the top. This cranberry orange bread is sweet enough to pass as dessert, but it’s not so sweet that you can’t enjoy it with an afternoon coffee or for breakfast with holiday guests. Easy to make with 10 basic ingredients, this recipe will be on repeat in my kitchen this season. I hope it will be in yours…

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35 Best Friendsgiving Food Ideas

Our best Friendsgiving food ideas! Find easy recipes for a festive fall gathering—crowd-pleasing appetizers, fun drinks, desserts, and more.

If you’re celebrating Friendsgiving this year, you’re in the right place! Below, I’ve rounded up my best Friendsgiving food ideas—bite-size appetizers, batch cocktails, classic side dishes, and easy desserts. Whether you’re hosting or just bringing a dish to pass, you’ll find Friendsgiving recipes to try. Back in the day, Jack and I celebrated Friendsgiving on Thanksgiving, because we lived far from our families and didn’t always travel for the holiday. Now, it’s more common to do both—a Friendsgiving earlier in November and a traditional Thanksgiving feast with family later on. I’m all for this, because it turns Friendsgiving into an opportunity to…

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Pumpkin Tiramisu

This pumpkin tiramisu is a stunning fall dessert! With layers of pumpkin cream and chai-spiced ladyfingers, it would be perfect for Thanksgiving.

This pumpkin tiramisu recipe is a show-stopping fall dessert! No offense to pumpkin pie, but it might just steal the spotlight on your Thanksgiving dessert table. It features luxe layers of pumpkin cream, chai-soaked ladyfingers, and a gorgeous dusting of warm spices. Rich, creamy, and packed with fall flavors, it’s impressive and delicious. It’s been on my list to develop for months, ever since I made this strawberry tiramisu over the summer. I thought a pumpkin version would be so fun for fall. It took me a few more tests than I expected (four, to be exact), but I can confidently…

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Easy Sugar Cookies

Craving something sweet? Make these sugar cookies! Easy to make with 8 ingredients, they have lightly crisp edges and perfect chewy middles.

Hands up if you love soft and chewy sugar cookies! If you have your hand raised, this sugar cookie recipe is for you. Adapted from my snickerdoodle recipe, it yields sugar cookies with perfect chewy middles, lightly crisp edges, and a warm, buttery flavor. Best of all, it’s super easy to make. You just need 8 basic ingredients…and you don’t even have to chill the dough. You could totally make these cookies for a holiday—roll them in red and green sugar for Christmas, or top them off with pink frosting for Valentine’s Day. But honestly, we just love them as an…

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Easy Pumpkin Cake

My family can't get enough of this easy pumpkin cake. Moist, warmly spiced, and topped with tangy cream cheese frosting, it's a delicious fall dessert!

This pumpkin cake recipe is my family’s new favorite fall dessert. I made it for my mom and my sister’s family when we all got together a few weeks ago, and it disappeared within minutes of me setting it on the table. The adults kept raving about the moist texture and rich, spiced pumpkin flavor, and the kids couldn’t get enough of the tangy cream cheese frosting on top. I’ve already posted a few pumpkin baked goods this fall, but this one was such a hit that I had to share it too. 🙂 This pumpkin cake recipe is easy…

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Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

These pumpkin chocolate chip muffins are super moist, perfectly spiced, and loaded with gooey chocolate. They're an easy, delicious fall treat!

These pumpkin chocolate chip muffins are the perfect fall treat. They’re incredibly moist, warmly spiced, and studded with melty, gooey chocolate chips. To give you an idea of how much I love them, I’ve already made them 3 times this fall, and I’m about to head to the kitchen to make another batch. On a crisp October day, they’re simply the best breakfast or snack. Like all my muffin recipes, these pumpkin chocolate chip muffins are easy to make. But they have something else going for them too: they use an entire can of pumpkin. I actually tested them with less pumpkin originally, but…

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Pumpkin Bread

If you love pumpkin, you HAVE to try this easy pumpkin bread recipe! Moist, warmly spiced, and filled with pumpkin flavor, it's the perfect fall treat.

This pumpkin bread recipe is super moist, warmly spiced, and filled with delicious pumpkin flavor. It’s one of my favorite fall recipes, and I make at least one loaf every year. On a crisp fall day, you can’t beat the smell of homemade pumpkin bread baking in the oven! I first published this pumpkin bread recipe in 2019, and I’ve since updated it to include even more pumpkin and warm spices. This version has a moister texture and richer fall flavor…and it’s completely impossible for me to eat just one slice at a time. I think it’s the best pumpkin bread…

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20 Easy Apple Recipes to Try This Fall

These apple recipes include cozy apple desserts, breakfast ideas, and more! They're perfect for making after apple picking or on any crisp fall day.

Have you gone apple picking yet this fall? I haven’t, but I’m already dreaming about all the apple recipes I’ll make once I do. I’ll toss raw apples into fresh fall salads, pile them on my morning overnight oats, and of course make cozy apple desserts like apple cake and apple crisp. In case you’re looking for fall apple inspiration, I’ve rounded up these and more of our best apple recipes below. Some are sweet, some are savory, and all of them are perfect for fall. Make one after a trip to an apple orchard…or on any cool day. Happy apple…

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A food blog with fresh, zesty recipes.
Photograph of Jeanine Donofrio and Jack Mathews in their kitchen

Welcome to Love & Lemons!

I'm Jeanine Donofrio, a New York Times bestselling cookbook author and recipe developer. I share fresh, delicious vegetarian recipes that celebrate seasonal ingredients and flavors.

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