When it comes to decking the halls, you can be sure that your favorite Food Network stars have no-fail recipes, easy entertaining tips and party-ready menus to help you host your best holiday ever. But have you ever wondered how these chefs celebrate the season when they’re away from the cameras? Among them, which are known for an infectious Christmas spirit, and who prefers to spend a casual holiday enjoying non-traditional eats and drinks? Do they like to curl up in front of the fireplace with their families, or are they drawn to the hustle and bustle of the season? We recently caught up with Paula Deen, Sunny Anderson, Alton Brown, Bobby Flay and more Food Network favorites to find out the answers to these questions and more, and what they told us may surprise you.

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Step up your usual wrapping job this year by presenting gifts in these farmer’s berry baskets ($2.50 for six, plus $8 shipping; bakeitpretty.com). They’re just like the ones from the market and they’re the perfect size for homemade truffles or small presents like these polka-dot napkins from Anthropologie ($24 for four; anthropologie.com). The baskets are available in both pint and half-pint sizes.

(Photograph by Kang Kim)

It’s time for 12 Days of Cookies, Food Network’s annual virtual cookie swap. Each day, visit us here on FN Dish for a peek at new holiday cookies, party-planning tips and top techniques for rolling, spooning, slicing, baking and decorating delicious sweet treats to give — or keep — from your favorite Food Network chefs.

Forget about everything you know – and perhaps dislike – about traditional holiday fruitcakes because this recipe is nothing like those dense, dry loaves. Ina’s cookies, merely inspired by fruitcake, are light and moist, made with four different kinds of dried fruit, chopped pecans, golden honey and a pinch of ground cloves for subtle spice. Perhaps the best part about these cookies is that they can be shaped into logs and kept in the refrigerator for a last-minute party dessert or sweet-tooth-satisfying treat – just slice as many cookies as you need and save the remaining dough for later.

Get Ina’s Fruitcake Cookies recipe and check out 12 Days of Cookies for dozens more recipes and holiday baking inspiration. Then, join the conversation: Tell us what you’re baking this season and what your all-time favorite cookie is.

Show us your best cookie creations

It’s time for 12 Days of Cookies, Food Network’s annual virtual cookie swap. Each day, visit us here on FN Dish for a peek at new holiday cookies, party-planning tips and top techniques for rolling, spooning, slicing, baking and decorating delicious sweet treats to give — or keep — from your favorite Food Network chefs.

Leave it to the Sandwich King to take what’s perhaps the ultimate American sandwich – the PB & J – and turn it into a deliciously sweet dessert. Instead of using actual peanut butter to guarantee a nutty taste, Jeff adds peanut butter chips and crushed roasted peanuts to the buttery batter, and he opts for fruit preserves in place of jams or jellies. Depending on what your family’s favorite taste is, top the batter with raspberry, strawberry or grape preserves and use a knife to achieve a swirly effect before baking these blondies.

Get Jeff’s PB and J Blondie recipe and check out 12 Days of Cookies for dozens more recipes and holiday baking inspiration. Then, join the conversation: Tell us what you’re baking this season and what your all-time favorite cookie is.

Host your best cookie swap yet with these easy party ideas

It’s time for 12 Days of Cookies, Food Network’s annual virtual cookie swap. Each day, visit us here on FN Dish for a peek at new holiday cookies, party-planning tips and top techniques for rolling, spooning, slicing, baking and decorating delicious sweet treats to give — or keep — from your favorite Food Network chefs.

Chocolate lovers, beware: these over-the-top treats are packed with a sinfully decadent combination of bittersweet chocolate, unsweetened chocolate and a duo of white and semisweet chocolate chips. For a crunchy bite amongst the smooth chocolate, Bobby adds a cup of chopped toasted pecans to the mixture before baking. Although this recipe calls for a few teaspoons of espresso powder, the cookies won’t take on a coffee taste; the espresso simply enhances the richness of the chocolate without adding flavor.

Get Bobby’s Triple Chocolate Cookies recipe and check out 12 Days of Cookies for dozens more recipes and holiday baking inspiration. Then, join the conversation: Tell us what you’re baking this season and what your all-time favorite cookie is.

Learn how to decorate cookies like the pros

It’s time for 12 Days of Cookies, Food Network’s annual virtual cookie swap. Each day, visit us here on FN Dish for a peek at new holiday cookies, party-planning tips and top techniques for rolling, spooning, slicing, baking and decorating delicious sweet treats to give — or keep — from your favorite Food Network chefs.

A classic Italian Christmas cookie, the pignoli is made with just a handful of ingredients and takes only 35 minutes to prepare. Anne mixes up a light batter of almond paste, smooth powdered sugar and warm cinnamon, as well as lemon zest, which offers a bright, fresh flavor. After you’ve piped the dough into 1-inch balls, top them with crunchy pine nuts — pignoli — and bake for just 12-14 minutes until these two-bite cookies are a golden hue.

Get Sunny’s Anne Burrell’s Pignoli Cookies recipe and check out 12 Days of Cookies for dozens more recipes and holiday baking inspiration. Then, join the conversation: Tell us what you’re baking this season and what your all-time favorite cookie is.

Get recipes for past cookies

It’s time for 12 Days of Cookies, Food Network’s annual virtual cookie swap. Each day, visit us here on FN Dish for a peek at new holiday cookies, party-planning tips and top techniques for rolling, spooning, slicing, baking and decorating delicious sweet treats to give — or keep — from your favorite Food Network chefs.

Just when you thought that timeless chocolate chippers couldn’t get any better, Sunny delivers these dressed-up beauties, made with crushed red or green candy canes and a pinch of fragrant pumpkin pie spice. The cool, minty flavor of the candy canes is balanced by the taste of the seasonal spice, which Sunny says “should be added to any of your chocolate chip cookie recipes for an added hit of warmth and flavor.”

Get Sunny’s Chocolate Chip Candy Cane Cookies recipe and check out 12 Days of Cookies for dozens more recipes and holiday baking inspiration. Then, join the conversation: Tell us what you’re baking this season and what your all-time favorite cookie is.

Get more top holiday cookie recipes

It’s time for 12 Days of Cookies, Food Network’s annual virtual cookie swap. Each day, visit us here on FN Dish for a peek at new holiday cookies, party-planning tips and top techniques for rolling, spooning, slicing, baking and decorating delicious sweet treats to give — or keep — from favorite Food Network chefs.

Not quite cookies but every bit as deliciously indulgent, these rich chocolate bites are made with just four everyday baking ingredients: cream, dark chocolate, vanilla extract and cocoa powder. Tyler’s truffles can be made a few days ahead of time, so look to his recipe if you need an easy yet elegant party-ready dessert or an edible holiday present that can easily be packaged and gifted to friends and family.

Get Tyler’s Dark Chocolate Truffles recipe and check out 12 Days of Cookies for dozens more recipes and holiday baking inspiration. Then, join the conversation: Tell us what you’re baking this season and what your all-time favorite cookie is.

Learn how to decorate cookies like the pros

It’s time for 12 Days of Cookies, Food Network’s annual virtual cookie swap. Each day, visit us here on FN Dish for a peek at new holiday cookies, party-planning tips and top techniques for rolling, spooning, slicing, baking and decorating delicious sweet treats to give — or keep — from your favorite Food Network chefs.

Perhaps the only thing better than a gingerbread cookie is a pair of gingerbread cookies stuffed with ice cream. In these next-level ice cream sandwiches, Guy combines fragrant spices like cinnamon, ginger and cloves with sweet molasses to create sugar-rolled gingersnap cookies, then layers them with a disk of cool, creamy vanilla ice cream. Be sure to let these double-decker desserts freeze for 30 minutes after you assemble them, so that the ice cream doesn’t melt into a milky pool as you’re eating the sandwiches.

Get Guy’s Gingersnap Stackers recipe and check out 12 Days of Cookies for dozens more recipes and holiday baking inspiration. Then, join the conversation: Tell us what you’re baking this season and what your all-time favorite cookie is.

Show us your best cookie creations