640 better recipes

Bartlett pear muffins fold sweet diced pears and chopped walnuts into a lemon-zested batter. Tender, fruit-studded morning muffins ready in 40 minutes for breakfast or weekend brunch.

Rosette cookies fried on a decorative iron with a thin egg-and-milk batter, dusted with powdered sugar. Crisp, lacy Scandinavian holiday cookies with a delicate snowflake shape.

Scottish Pride cupcakes from one batter, two flavors: orange marmalade and chocolate coffee. A clever two-in-one recipe that yields 30 cupcakes from a single base.

A campfire coffee cake made in a cast iron Dutch oven with charcoal. Bisquick batter over pie filling, topped with cinnamon sugar and butter. Wake up the whole campsite with this one.

Pseftokeftedes are Santorini tomato fritters mixing chopped Roma tomatoes, scallions, garlic, mint, and oregano into a pancake-style batter, fried crisp in olive oil. Vegetarian Greek meze.

Orange madeleines with fresh orange zest and juice folded into a classic French sponge batter. Light, shell-shaped cakes dusted with powdered sugar while still warm.

Fudgy peppermint brownies with crushed candy canes, unsweetened chocolate, and chopped nuts folded into the batter. A chocolate-mint treat ideal for holiday baking and cookie tins.

Pressure cooker buttermilk bread steams a tangy quickbread batter into a moist tender loaf. No oven needed for this old-fashioned steamed bread.

Refrigerator bran muffins with two kinds of bran cereal, buttermilk, and egg whites. Make-ahead batter keeps for weeks in the fridge for fresh-baked muffins on demand.

Holderkuechle are traditional German elderberry blossom fritters dipped in pancake batter and deep-fried until golden, then dusted with sugar. A seasonal springtime treat made with foraged elderflowers.

Crispy onion bhaji with chickpea flour batter, cumin, cayenne, and fresh cilantro. A classic Indian street food appetizer fried golden and served with mango chutney.

Golden, hollow popovers that puff up dramatically in the oven using just 4 simple ingredients: flour, eggs, skim milk, and salt. No sugar, no butter in the batter, and naturally diabetic-friendly. Pure baking magic.

Apricot and cardamom bars with dried apricot, apricot nectar, and unsweetened applesauce in the batter, finished with a sweet apricot glaze drizzle. Low-fat and done in 45 minutes.

European-style apple or cherry fritter doughnuts with kirsch-scented batter and folded egg whites for a light, airy crumb. Dropped by the spoonful and fried golden, dusted with sugar.

Quick crustless Spam quiche with Monterey Jack cheese and Bisquick batter baked in 30 minutes. Retro comfort food that's faster than ordering takeout.

Microwave upside-down brunch cake with ham, crushed pineapple, and brown sugar under a cornmeal batter. Sweet and savory in under 30 minutes.