My Go-To lemon meringue pie thickens with flour rather than cornstarch for a softer, custardy filling. High-heat meringue browning gives quick golden peaks over fresh lemon zest.
King cake for Mardi Gras, a sour cream yeast dough rolled with cinnamon-sugar butter, shaped into an oval ring, and decorated with purple, green, and gold sugars. New Orleans tradition at home.
Sugar and spice layer cake with cinnamon, cloves, brown sugar, and buttermilk in a tender two-layer round cake. A warmly spiced classic with buttercream frosting.
Curried chicken simmered with tomatoes, green peppers, and raisins in a savory broth. Served over rice, this weeknight curry comes together with pre-cooked chicken.
Shaker honey almond cake bakes a spice-warmed honey-sour cream batter under a crown of almonds, then ripens 2 days for deeper flavor. Heritage New England keeping cake.
Joe Froggers, the giant New England molasses cookies. Spiked with rum, dark with molasses, warmed with ginger, cloves, nutmeg, and allspice. Roll, cut big, bake.
Layer cookies with a buttery shortbread base topped with a crisp brown sugar meringue and chopped nuts. The egg yolks go in the bottom layer, the whites become the chewy topping.
Crispy Chinese-style honey chicken with cornstarch batter, double-fried until golden, drizzled with ginger-garlic honey sauce. Restaurant takeout flavors at home with wok technique.
Chinese toffee-coated apples and bananas with crispy batter and caramel sesame coating. Deep-fried fruit dunked in ice water creates a shatteringly crisp candy shell.
Rich, fudgy brownies made with real unsweetened chocolate, butter, and pecans, topped with a homemade chocolate icing. Baked in a jelly-roll pan for thin, chewy squares.
Meltaway coconut shortbread cookies with butter, shortening, and flaked coconut, sliced from a chilled log and dipped in powdered sugar. Crumbly, tender icebox cookies.
Pan-fried softshell crabs in butter with a white wine cream sauce finished with Dijon mustard and fresh chives. Golden, crispy shells give way to sweet crab meat under a tangy, herb-laced pan sauce.
Southern gems muffins made with cornmeal, graham flour, and brown sugar for a sweet, hearty quick bread. A classic Southern recipe that bakes up golden in just 25 minutes.
Old-fashioned griddle spice cakes made with sour milk, nutmeg, and baking soda, stacked with butter and sprinkled with cinnamon. A heritage breakfast treat served pie-style in wedges.
Old-fashioned yeast ferment bread with a simple dough of flour, sugar, salt, and shortening. Double-risen and baked hot for a crisp crust and chewy crumb.
Sugar-free white layer cake made with artificial sweetener, almond extract, and folded egg whites for a light, airy crumb. A diabetic-friendly two-layer cake that's ready to frost.