Buddy Valastro

Visually speaking, these are very cool cookies, which resemble candy canes by twisting red and white strands together like a barber-shop pole. When the holidays roll around every year, Lisa and the kids whip up a huge batch of these, then invite all the cousins over for a last-second party. These taste even better the day after you bake them, and will keep for about a week and a half in an airtight container.

All the kids in our family used to get together and make these cookies at our house every year; now we do it at the Carlo's factory.

Spices may not be seasonal, but the spices in these cookies—cinnamon, cloves, and allspice—always put me in mind of fall because they are important ingredients in so many recipes of that season. Usually, the scent of sugar rules the air at the Carlo's Bake Shop factory, but in the fall, the factory smells of those spices, which always gets me excited for the holidays.