Tasty Snacks

Edamame roasted in a spiced soy sauce mixture makes a fantastic snack and is also incredibly easy to make.

In this imaginative party snack, addictive garlicky bread sticks and smoky, bacon-laced tomato sauce resemble french fries and ketchup.

“In these cookies, you start with a sweet dough and the sesame seeds push it over on the sweet-savory continuum,” says Dorie Greenspan. Blending ground almonds with the flour emphasizes the nutty sesame flavor.

Chef Justin Large created these ingenious and addictive squares, an Indian-spiced variation on the all-American classic.

“I’ve always been a fan of any food high in salt and starch,” Grant Achatz says, “and soft pretzels right out of the oven are awesome.” You can eat these slightly sweet, chewy, dark pretzel sticks plain or with mustard; Achatz goes for ranch dressing.

These nuts are an addictive combination of sweet, spicy and sticky-crunchy.

These Japanese-inspired potato chips are ingeniously sprinkled with nori salt.

More suited to a cocktail party than a baseball game, this riff on Cracker Jack by Atlanta pastry chef Taria Camerino is sweetened with agave nectar and spiked with tequila. Slow-baking turns the popcorn-nut mix fabulously crunchy.

These spicy olives are infused with fennel, a favorite flavoring of chef Trey Foshee. “The licorice flavor always makes me hungry,” he says.

Christina Tosi, sugar genius at NYC’s Momofuku and author of The Momofuku Milk Bar Cookbook, transforms her Halloween haul into this irresistible party mix.

Leyden, a Dutch cheese flecked with cumin seeds, inspired Laura Werlin to create this cumin-spiced Gouda fondue. Serve it with soft, warm pretzels or pickled vegetables for dipping.

After rolling out this buttery dough, stamp out all different kinds of shapes (Ginna Haravon likes making animal crackers). It’s important to chill the dough before and after rolling it out so the crackers are tender.

In a class at Point Reyes’s culinary center, students learn to top focaccia with pears and blue cheese.

A die-hard Sopranos fan, chef Ruggero Gadaldi at Beretta in San Francisco says that the TV show inspires many of his hearty Italian dishes, including these polpette (meatballs).

This delicious homemade grown-up version of Fig Newtons calls for adding red wine and anise seeds to the jammy fig filling. The crust gets even more tender the day after baking.

Chef Jeremy Sewall stashes healthy snacks, like this roasted nut mix, everywhere to help him resist other temptations.

This classic jerky gets a double dose of peppery flavor from both cracked peppercorns in the marinade and coarsely ground peppercorns on top.

Chef Ford Fry’s deviled eggs get their terrific flavor from goat cheese, Dijon mustard and cornichons, plus a topping of country ham from Benton's in Madisonville, Tennessee.

Neal’s Deli serves tender, oversize pork-and-beef meatballs stuffed into a warm hero roll with melted provolone cheese. Although Matt Neal makes his own chunky tomato sauce for the sub, it's fine to substitute six cups of jarred sauce.

This is Grace Parisi’s sophisticated version of magic bars, that chocolate-coconut bake-sale favorite. Browning the butter gives the crust a nutty flavor; cooking it in a metal baking dish makes it extra crisp. In a touch inspired by pastry chefs’ favorite new ingredient, Grace adds bacon to the filling.

This quick pickle was inspired by Japanese cucumbers dressed in sesame oil, salt and sesame seeds. Joanne Chang and her mother created the recipe together, and it’s now a customer favorite at Myers + Chang.

“I like the idea of making a healthy kind of potato chip that’s not one of those packaged, dehydrated vegetable chips,” Seamus Mullen says. He roasts kale with extra-virgin olive oil and garlic until it's crunchy.

Pecan halves sautéed with butter, sugar, and ground ginger are positively addictive. Serve them with ice cream, a selection of cookies, or fruit desserts, or on their own after dessert as petit fours. They’re quick to make and, presented in tins, are great gifts. If you prepare the pecans more than two days ahead, add another half teaspoon of ginger, since the flavor dissipates over time.

To make these addictive snacks, Jason Travi tosses canned chickpeas with flour, coriander and cumin, then fries them. He loves popping them into his mouth while he’s watching football.

These outrageously good Spanish shrimp are served in a chile-spiced garlic butter.