10,000 batter recipes

Pasta Fontina is a five-ingredient Italian linguine dish tossed with grated Fontina and Asiago, browned butter, and fresh parsley. Nutty, rich, and on the table in under half an hour.

Lemon-yogurt coffee cake baked in a bundt pan, with tangy yogurt for a tender crumb, plenty of fresh lemon, and whipped egg whites folded in for lightness. A bright, buttery cake for brunch or with tea.

Soft, chewy banana cookies loaded with chopped pecans and a hint of molasses and cinnamon. This drop cookie recipe makes 3 dozen and disappears even faster.

Homemade butter toffee with walnuts and chocolate topping. Cooked to hard crack stage with baking soda for a light, snappy texture, then topped with melted chocolate and pecans.

Rosky's (Czech rohlíky): cream cheese pastry cookies filled with apricot, dusted with powdered sugar. The Old World holiday cookie your grandmother kept on the tin every Christmas.

Rich Brazilian chocolate cake baked in a tube pan with two kinds of chocolate melted into strong coffee. Intensely fudgy with a tender crumb, finished with a simple dusting of powdered sugar.

Sugarplum cookies with dried or candied fruit hidden inside each ball of vanilla sugar cookie dough. Topped with creamy frosting and colored sugar for Christmas cookie trays.

Sauteed beef tips with shiitakes: pan-seared tenderloin cubes with earthy shiitake mushrooms, shallots, spinach, white wine, and a cream-butter pan sauce. 20-minute restaurant plate.

Turning now to cooking with cheese, here's a recipe for a yummy spinach and cheese soufflé. This recipe comes from Lynne Kaplan, a chef who owns the Victoria House Bed & Breakfast in Spring Lake, NJ. For a gourmet B&B check them out at victoriahouse.net.

Baked turkey empanadas with a flaky cornmeal crust filled with cubed turkey, cheddar cheese, and green chilies. A great way to use leftover turkey.

Upside-down potato tarts layered with creamy Brie, prosciutto, and herbs get topped with puff pastry and baked into elegant French-inspired appetizers.

Fettuccine Alfredo done traditional Italian-style: fresh egg pasta tossed with butter, cream, and Parmigiano-Reggiano. Three ingredients, pure silk on a plate.

Pan-fried red snapper fillets in a brown butter sauce with garlic, lemon juice, and parsley. Restaurant-quality fish dinner ready in under 25 minutes.

Bay scallops with pasta shells in a fresh tomato cream sauce made with white wine, shallots, basil, and reduced heavy cream. An elegant 45-minute seafood pasta dinner.

Wine-marinated venison chops stacked with green pepper rings, rice, onion, and tomato slices, then oven-steamed in a garlicky tomato sauce spiked with Angostura bitters. A complete one-dish meal.

Fluffy white layer cake made with egg whites only, butter creamed light with sugar, and a tender milk-based crumb. The classic wedding and birthday cake base.