Recipes with milk

Lemon cheese dessert bombe with cream cheese, lemon yogurt, and unflavored gelatin set in a mold. A light, no-bake mousse-like dessert garnished with fresh strawberries.

Try this scrumptious corn casserole that tastes wonderful with baked fish or grilled chicken.

Classic Girl Scout-style trefoil shortbread cookies with butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Roll-and-cut sugar cookies for the trefoil cutter, makes 4 dozen.

Award-winning gingerbread with molasses, brandy, orange juice, and four warm spices: ginger, cinnamon, mace, and nutmeg. A moist, deeply spiced loaf studded with raisins.

Southern sweet potato pie with mashed sweet potatoes, warm spices, and a brightening splash of fresh lemon or orange juice. Pecan halves on top add Southern charm. The two-stage bake delivers a custard that sets without cracking.

Graham cracker cake with blanched almonds and folded egg whites, frosted with a homemade apricot whip made from apricot puree, whipped cream, and vanilla. A vintage two-layer cake with a fruity cream frosting.

Light honey gelato made with skim milk, whipped egg whites, and unflavored gelatin. No ice cream maker needed. A fluffy, low-fat frozen dessert sweetened entirely with honey.

Cheesecake cookie bars with a buttery brown sugar shortbread crust, creamy lemon-vanilla filling, and crumbly streusel topping. Cut into squares for a portable cheesecake fix.

Oven-baked salmon cakes with sharp cheddar, cracker crumbs, scallions, and Worcestershire sauce, coated in buttered crumbs and baked crispy. No frying, just 10 minutes in a hot oven.

Creamy microwaved spinach blends frozen spinach with sauteed onion, butter, cream cheese, and a pinch of nutmeg into a rich, no-bake side dish in 20 minutes. A microwave shortcut to creamed spinach.

Sausage-stuffed butternut squash baked twice with thyme, tarragon, and egg custard. A savory fall main dish that uses the squash shells as edible bowls.

Pan-fried perch fillets in a rosemary-Parmesan cornmeal crust with garlic butter. Crispy, herby, and on the table in under 30 minutes.

Boozy whiskey cake made from a doctored box mix with vanilla pudding and walnuts, then soaked in a hot butter-whiskey-brown sugar syrup. Outrageously moist and dead simple to pull off.

Peanut butter meringue cream pie with a silky stovetop custard, a whisper of ginger, and golden-peaked meringue. A diner classic with proper technique behind every step.

Cream puff cake bakes a sheet of pate a choux as the base, then layers vanilla pudding cream cheese filling, whipped cream, and chocolate syrup on top. A pan-sized riff on the classic eclair.

Banana cream pie with a tempered egg custard, sliced bananas folded in, and fresh whipped cream on top. Old-school diner-style cream pie made from scratch with no boxed mix in sight.