Chocolate walnut bar cookies cut into neat triangles with a smooth vanilla butter frosting. Fudgy, nutty, and cute enough for a cookie tray or bake sale.
Oatmeal lace cookies from a 1930s recipe with just seven ingredients. Thin, crispy, and caramelized with no flour at all. Quick or regular oats, never instant.
Peanut crisps made with crunchy peanut butter, crisp rice cereal, and just five ingredients total. Flourless peanut butter cookies with an extra-crunchy snap in every bite.
Orange peanut butter bread is the unexpected quick bread combo that works. Citrus-bright orange juice and zest balance the rich peanut butter into a tender, slightly chewy loaf for breakfast or snacking.
Potato pudding baked in a cast iron skillet with grated raw potatoes, crispy bacon, eggs, and evaporated milk. A savory, custard-like dish with crispy edges from the iron pan.
Vintage 1930s special cocoa cake: a tender chocolate layer cake made with bloomed cocoa, brown sugar, and cake flour. Old-fashioned recipe that beats most modern boxed mixes.
Cheddar meatloaf with sharp aged cheese, rolled oats, and a hint of dry mustard. Old-school comfort food with a savory cheese pull tucked into every slice.
Soft sour cream cookies with a sugar-pressed top, made from simple pantry staples. The sour cream keeps them pillowy and tender for days.
The legendary Dagwood Bumstead sandwich: a towering, impossible stack of ham, bacon, meatloaf, sausage, lobster, sardines, fried egg, cold spaghetti, and everything else in the fridge.
A Pad Thai-style stir fry with rice noodles, chicken, shrimp, tofu, eggs, and bean sprouts in a tangy fish sauce and lime glaze, loaded with crushed peanuts. Spicy, sour, and deeply savory.
A puffed, soufflé-like baked pudding with semi-sweet chocolate, ground almonds, kirsch, and whole sour cherries. Beaten egg whites give it lift while the cherry brandy brings authentic Black Forest flavor.
Here's a recipe for Chow Mein which is a pretty classic application using pan fried noodles.
Applesauce cake with whole wheat flour, brown sugar, raisins, nuts, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves baked in a tube pan. A moist, spiced cake with old-fashioned flavor and hearty texture.
Overnight yeasted buttermilk pancakes with blueberries. Mix the batter before bed, stir in berries in the morning, and cook the fluffiest pancakes you've ever had.
Pasta Rolls are four-cheese stuffed pasta roulades wrapped in cheesecloth and poached in chicken broth, then sliced into rounds and served with sauce. A dinner party showstopper.
Homemade Pad Thai with chicken or pork, shrimp, rice noodles, and a tangy fish sauce with tomato paste and dried shrimp. Topped with crispy fried basil, peanuts, and bean sprouts.