❄rosemary pecans makes 4 cups

These are challengingly spicy for kids (cut back on the cayenne if you like), but satisfyingly salty-sweet for grown-ups. Feel free to experiment with other nuts if your family is not as devoted to pecans as ours is.

1 pound unsalted pecan halves
2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
½ teaspoon cayenne
2 teaspoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 tablespoon melted butter

Heat oven to 350 and toast nuts on a cookie sheet, stirring every so often, until they’re golden and toasty, about 10 minutes. Combine the other ingredients in a large bowl, then toss in the nuts to coat.

❄ Nuts to You Okay, you can’t shake them out of this sugar pourer ($4, amazon.com), but they sure look sweet. We decorated with aqua parfait ribbon ($5 for 10 feet, papyrusonline.com) and some mini bows ($4 for 100, papermart.com).

chocolate lollipops
makes 14 to 25
❄ Pop Star

We slid the lollipops into cellophane bags (part of a kit that comes with sticks and ties, $3 for 18, wilton.com) and planted them in 2-inch foam balls to anchor them in clay pots (we got ours at Michaels; go to michaels.com for a store near you). Then we added some grass (paper shreds, $3, containerstore.com) and aqua ribbon (.5-inch organdy, $6 for 11 yards, kates paperie.com) for extra festivity.

If you have lollipop molds, by all means use them, but we like to make these freehand. Cover 2 or 3 baking sheets with foil and arrange 6-inch lollipop sticks on them, a couple of inches apart. Pour an 11- or 12-ounce bag of milk or dark chocolate chips into a ziplock bag, zip the bag nearly closed, leaving about 1 inch open, and microwave until chips are melted, checking the bag every 30 seconds or so. (Or melt the chips in a bowl for a minute, stir, then microwave for another 10 to 15 seconds and scrape into the bag.) Let chocolate cool for 30 seconds, then snip a quarter inch off of one corner of the bag and let your child squeeze a nice, thick circle of chocolate atop each stick (we do the outline first and then fill it in), rotating the sticks as you go to secure the chocolate to them. Decorate with colorful sprinkles (jumbo sprinkles, $6, and nonpareils, $4 per color, both at kitchenkrafts.com) while the lollipops are still melty, then chill until firm, 15 to 20 minutes. ●●