It is truly the most wonderful time of year — for caterers, that is. D.C. knows how to feast. Between all the holiday/non-denominational/winter solstice parties for every single nonprofit/government/lobby/press room in town and our own personal holiday events, the humble art of bringing a homemade dish to any event has fallen by the wayside. Personally, I’ll be bringing a dozen Krispy Kreme jelly doughnuts to a Hanukkah party this weekend.

On the other hand, there is something about the holidays, according to local washingtonpost.com food blogger Kim O’Donnel, that compels even the most novice of cooks to pick up a whisk and chef’s knife.

"They're out of practice yet embark on complicated cooking endeavors that stress out the nicest, easy-going people," O’Donnel said.

In her new book, A Mighty Appetite for the Holidays: Kitchen Tricks for the Feasting Season, O’Donnel tries to take the stress out of this cooking season. Her compact 80-page book is a collection of food tips and a few dozen recipes gleaned from the past eight years of her WaPo blog, A Mighty Appetite, and live web chat, What’s Cooking. A library of how-to videos are also available online.

O’Donnel will be at home design store Tabletop tonight from 6 to 8 p.m. to sign copies of her book amid a chocolate truffle and sparkling wine tasting.

The book is broken up into two sections, the first dealing with setting up the already-past Thanksgiving day feast (turkey, squash puree, stuffing, mash, etc.), while the second looks at the rest of the holiday season with recipes and pointers scattered throughout. An emphasis on seasonal produce — all hail the pomegranate — makes the book not just a compilation of recipes, but rather a seasonal guide.

Below is her recipe for cranberry-pistachio biscotti. The recipe is taken from the book, but notes from our cooking experience are added.

You’ll need:
1 ½ cups granulated sugar
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
4 eggs, plus an additional beaten egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 ½ cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup dried cranberries
1 ½ - 2 cups unsalted pistachios, unshelled and chopped (pre-shelled nuts make life easier)

(Makes about 40 pieces, so we reduced the recipe in half)

Recipe:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Using a food processor or electric mixer (we used a wooden spoon), cream sugar and butter lighter in color and a bit fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla until blended.

Add flour, baking powder and salt. Pulse until mixture is just combined. Transfer dough to a large mixing bowl. Add dried cranberries and pistachios and mix with hands to integrate.

Shape dough into logs at least 12 inches long and at least two inches wide; think oblong, not round (we made two logs and flattened ours out a bit).

Place on parchment paper lined baking sheets. With a pastry brush or rubber spatula, lightly coat the top with beaten egg.

Bake until half-done, about 25 minutes. If the center is still doughy, return to oven. (Due to the size of our two logs, the first 25 minutes was enough before cutting)

Cool slightly, using a serrated knife, into approximately ½-inch slices.

Turn slices so that they are lying down and spread evenly on baking sheets. Return to oven to finish baking for 15 minutes.

Cool completely before storing. If stored in an airtight container, biscotti can keep for a few weeks.