17 placek recipes

Placek swiateczny is a Polish Christmas bread loaded with walnuts, raisins, orange peel, and a splash of vodka. Bake it days ahead for the best flavor.

First place chocolate chip cookies baked low and slow for thick, chewy centers with golden crisp edges. Dark brown sugar and extra vanilla make these rich and caramelly.

Award-winning ginger cookies built on a cooked sugar-and-spice syrup base. Roll, cut, paint, or hand-mold this stiff gingerbread dough into any shape, then bake into crisp golden spice cookies.

New Orleans seafood gumbo loaded with shrimp, hard-shell crab, and shucked oysters in a roux-thickened broth with okra and the holy trinity. Served over rice, Cajun style.

Award-winning shortbread with just butter, sugar, flour, and salt pressed into thick cutouts: crisp edges, melt-in-your-mouth crumb, adorable sheep shapes with chocolate eyes optional.

Award-winning thumbprint cookies with buttery dough rolled in finely chopped nuts, pressed with your thumb, and filled with ruby raspberry jam: elegant holiday baking that won first place.

The 2nd place winner in the Chicago Tribune's 1996 Annual Holiday Cookie Contest, a simple brown-sugar shortbread from Sandra Petrille of Naperville, Illinois.

These delicate desserts are so elegant, ricotta cheese gives the smooth, creamy and light taste and texture, fresh strawberries let the flavor so refreshing and the vanilla sugar adds some nice zing along with some finely grated chocolate pieces on top.

This moist, buttery and flavorful applesauce pound cake is always a winner at our place, we make it very often, sometimes after main course, sometimes we just have it as our coffee cake with some coffee or tea. It is a wonderful and delightful cake :)

A decadent scalloped potato pie. Buttery and flakey puff pastry, cheesy, juicy and tender potatoes. You just can't have enough of it.

Every year before my grandkids come over to my place, I usually bake a large batch of these cookies, and everyone loves them. I do however add some chocolate chips to the batter, and they are some great addition.

Vegan sour rye bread with caraway seeds, sourdough starter, rye flour, and gluten flour for a chewy, tangy loaf. Works by hand or in a bread machine. Freezes well.

French toast meets fruit cobbler in this overnight breakfast bake with warm apple pie spices, juicy strawberries, and sweet banana slices bubbling beneath golden bread.

Vegetarian fava bean burgers with oats, wheat germ, shredded carrots, and Italian herbs. Pan-fried and oven-finished for a crispy outside and firm, set center.

Chilled peach soup with nutmeg and lemon, pureed silky smooth and served with cream and your choice of liqueur. An elegant summer dessert soup.

Sweet summer corn can't be beat. Highlight it in this chowder along with buttery Yukon Gold potatoes and smoky Canadian bacon.