For your New Year's Eve get-together, try a big-flavored, informal cocktail buffet. We've got recipes for dips, biscuit sandwiches, turnovers, tartlets, and even a red-wine glogg--and many of them can be made in advance.

Getting the Phyllo of It
You can buy tissue-thin leaves of phyllo pastry dough fresh or frozen. Unopened, fresh phyllo can be stored in the refrigerator for up to a month; frozen phyllo can be stored in the freezer up to a year. Air is uncooked phyllo's worst enemy, making it hard and brittle. So use opened phyllo within two or three days, and don't refreeze it.