10,000 bitter recipes

Buttered rum pound cake: a tall, tender sour cream pound cake with vanilla and lemon notes, lightened by whipped egg whites folded in at the end. A Southern holiday classic for slicing and sharing.

Seafood soup with garlic and ginger features tender shrimp and scallops in a clear chicken broth infused with sweet leeks, scallions and fresh aromatics. Light and warming.

To use up an abundance of garden zucchini, try these wholesome soft-textured cookies. They are very flavorful and easy to make. I like to make cookies and put them in the freezer, they thaw quickly for unexpected guests.

A rich creamy chowder with corn and sausages -- This chowder is a variation on a family recipe from an old roommate of mine. (She makes it without the sausage, and with more water). It goes very well with most seafood.

Intensely fudgy brownies with a crackly, craggy top loaded with melted chocolate chips and chopped nuts. These one-bowl bars are rich, chewy, and dangerously easy to make.

Chocolate cake with coffee syrup: a moist, fine-crumbed chocolate butter cake with cocoa bloomed in boiling water, brushed with a Kahlua-spiked sugar syrup that deepens the chocolate. Bakery-quality at home.

A rich and scrumptious casserole made with fresh squash, creamy soups and pimentos.

No-bake strawberry lemonade bars: a creamy, tangy filling of cream cheese, marshmallow creme, and fresh strawberries over a graham crust. A cool, no-oven summer dessert.

Potato cheddar and ale soup built on a base of Irish ale, sharp cheddar, russet potatoes, and a whisper of fennel seed. Pub-style comfort that turns a bag of potatoes into the best bowl on a cold night.

Grandma Riel's apple pie heaps tart Granny Smiths over a flour-and-sugar bottom layer, then dots with butter under a sugar-crackled crust. A heritage double-crust pie that bakes thick and never weeps.

Buttermilk pound cake with lemon and almond extracts, baked in a 10-inch tube pan or two loaf pans. Tender, fine-crumbed, classic Southern pound cake recipe.

Flaky buttermilk biscuits with fresh parsley, chives, and oregano. Cold butter cut into flour creates tall, layered biscuits with an herb-flecked crumb.

Buttery brown sugar pecan cookies rolled in cinnamon sugar before baking. Slice and bake from chilled or frozen dough for warm, spiced cookies anytime you want them.

No one can resist this decadent cake made with hot applesauce and a pinch of cinnamon.

Glazed raspberry fudge cake is a flourless-style chocolate cake brushed with raspberry preserves, then coated in a glossy rum-chocolate glaze. Dense, moist, and finished with fresh raspberries for the ultimate dinner-party showstopper.

Victorian honey cakes from an 1872 recipe, made with butter, honey, and egg yolks, topped with heather honey and ground almonds. Light, tender, and warmly sweet.