Recipes with margarine

Lo-fat holiday cheesecake made with nonfat cream cheese, lemon yogurt, and egg substitute on a graham crust, topped with cherry pie filling. Lighter classic for the dessert table.

Spumoni slice-and-bake cookies with three layered doughs: cherry pink, chocolate, and pistachio green with rum flavoring. A colorful Italian-inspired Christmas cookie.

Vegan tempeh and mushroom stew simmered with soy sauce and tomato, piled over creamy mashed potatoes. A hearty plant-based comfort dinner with rich umami depth.

Norwegian kringla cookies shaped into figure-eights with a tender buttermilk dough. Chilled overnight, baked fast at high heat for a light, slightly sweet pastry.

Baked chicken glazed with an orange juice, butter, cinnamon, and ginger sauce. Brushed repeatedly while baking for a golden, citrus-spiced finish.

Coconut lace cookies with corn syrup and brown sugar bake into thin, golden, web-like rounds with crisp caramelized edges. A fragile, old-school holiday cookie made from one bowl.

Granny's chocolate pie is an old-fashioned Southern stovetop cocoa custard pie with evaporated milk, finished with toasted meringue. The kind of pie that recipe-card heirlooms are made of.

Bow-tie pasta in a cheddar-Parmesan cheese sauce with sauteed broccoli, mushrooms, and red bell pepper. A veggie-loaded mac and cheese made from scratch on the stovetop.

Dense chocolate tube cake loaded with melted chocolate bars plus chocolate syrup for double the flavor. Crunchy pecans throughout, no icing needed for this fudgy beauty.

Salmon steaks baked en papillote with fresh ginger, served on a pool of white wine and lime cream sauce. An elegant foil-packet dinner with restaurant presentation.

Lighter chocolate and raspberry cream torte with four layers of cocoa cake, raspberry jam, and a pink raspberry whipped cream. Made with skim milk and low-fat margarine for a lower-fat celebration dessert.

Stir-fried scallops and apples combine sweet sea scallops with crisp apple chunks, celery, and bright lemon juice. A 5-ingredient seafood appetizer with surprising sweet-savory contrast.

Lady Webster's gingerbread made with treacle, brown sugar, ground ginger, and mixed spice in the traditional British style. A dark, sticky, deeply spiced loaf cake that improves with age.

Curry chicken pitas with sautéed chicken breast, onions, and an Indian-spice blend of curry powder, cinnamon, coriander, and cayenne, piled onto warm pitas. A 20-minute weeknight dinner with takeout-style flavor.

No-bake orange chiffon cheesecake with cream cheese, ricotta, and fresh orange segments set with gelatin. A light, citrusy dessert sweetened without added sugar on a graham crust.

Pumpkin cheese tart with a gingersnap-oat crust and a marbled cream cheese-pumpkin filling, finished with warm caramel sauce. A lighter take on pumpkin pie that actually holds its own on the holiday table.