Recipes with sugar

Fresh lemonade with a twist: lemon zest steeped right into the sugar syrup, so every glass tastes brighter and more intensely lemony. Fresh-squeezed, easy to make, and ready over ice in minutes.

Fresh strawberry lemonade made with pureed strawberries, real lemon juice, and club soda for fizz. A 10-minute from-scratch summer drink with adjustable sweetness.

No-bake fudge cookies with cocoa, oats, and shredded coconut. Boil, stir, drop, and done in minutes with no oven required. The coconut adds chewy texture to every fudgy bite.

Grandma's red velvet cake: a true vintage Southern recipe with cocoa, buttermilk, and vinegar reacting with baking soda to give the cake its tender, tangy crumb. Two 9-inch layers, ready in 45 minutes.

Buttery lemon drop cookies glazed with fresh citrus. Tender melt-in-your-mouth texture from egg yolk dough, rolled in sugar and baked until barely golden.

Chocolate sandwich cookies filled with melted Andes mint candies. Crisp chocolate wafers rolled in sugar with a creamy mint center, perfect for holiday cookie tins and gift platters.

Chocolate leaf pie with a flaky shortening crust and a smooth chocolate filling made from heavy cream, real vanilla bean and melted chocolate. The top crust is cut into vein-etched leaves for a showpiece finish.

This co-winner in the filled-cookie category from Gerry Cofta of Milwaukee has a great, rich flavor in the filling.

Cookie press shortbread with brown sugar, butter, cornstarch, and powdered sugar for an ultra-tender crumb. Baked low until barely golden. A big-batch holiday recipe.

Vienna crescents are flaky yeast-leavened butter cookies filled with sweet pecan meringue and shaped into delicate crescents. A traditional Christmas cookie from Austrian and Hungarian baking.

Soft orange poppy seed cookies made with cream cheese, fresh orange zest, and orange juice. Light, cakey, and bright with citrus in every bite.

Light orange sponge cake rolled with orange marmalade filling, dusted with confectioners sugar. No butter or oil, just eggs, cake flour, and orange zest.

Fresh berry filling for pierogies using blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, or strawberries tossed with sugar. A simple 2-ingredient sweet pierogi filling ready in minutes.

Braided yeast bread wreath filled with dates, walnuts, bran flakes, and cinnamon, topped with vanilla confectioner's sugar frosting. A stunning holiday bread that's worth the rise time.

Four-ingredient peanut butter shortbread with butter, sugar, peanut butter, and flour pressed into a pan and baked low and slow. Sandy, crumbly, and nutty with no mixer or rolling required.

Peanut crispies with oats, corn flakes, brown sugar, and salted peanuts rolled into balls and baked until golden. Crunchy, nutty cookies with satisfying texture.

Chocolate chip squares made in the microwave with oats, brown sugar, and chopped nuts. Chewy, no-oven-needed bars ready in under 30 minutes.

Old-school lard pie crust with egg, vinegar, and a touch of brown sugar. One batch yields four disks for double-crust pies. The flakiest crust comes from cold lard worked into the size of tiny peas.

Three-layer red velvet cake with buttermilk, cocoa, and vinegar topped with a cooked flour white icing. Old-fashioned Southern style with an ermine frosting that's not too sweet.

Oatmeal cookies with orange zest, walnuts, and yogurt for a lighter, citrusy twist. Chewy, nutty cookies with brown sugar and a hint of orange in every bite.

Kiss cookies tuck a whole chocolate kiss inside a buttery walnut shortbread, baked until just set and rolled in powdered sugar. Crack one open and the melty chocolate middle is the payoff. An easy holiday cookie that keeps for days.

Nut refrigerator cookies (icebox cookies) with brown sugar, butter, vanilla, and chopped nuts. Slice-and-bake dough that chills overnight and yields crisp, buttery cookies with caramel notes.

A flexible basic vanilla cake template using cake flour, sugar, baking powder, eggs, and your choice of mix-ins. The starting point for chocolate chip, fruit, or layer cakes.

Jalapeno chocolate cream cake with semi-sweet chocolate, Kahlua, ground almonds, and cinnamon. A rich, fudgy, intentionally underbaked cake with a slow jalapeno heat finish.

Giant double chocolate chip cookies with melted chocolate in the dough plus whole chips folded in, sour cream for fudgy centers, and chopped walnuts. Bakery-sized at 3 inches.

Santa Claus cookies are soft drop cookies with bright lemon zest, baked then frosted and decorated into jolly Santa faces. A Christmas cookie tray classic for kids.

Holiday muffin mix blends whole wheat, white flour, cinnamon, and cloves into a DIY dry mix for gifting. Jar it up with a label for instant spiced-muffin batter.

Keepsake biscuits, old-fashioned sweet biscuits made with butter, milk, sugar, and cream of tartar. A shelf-stable, hand-shaped biscuit designed to keep for weeks.

Pumpkin cheesecake with graham cracker crust, spiced pumpkin custard filling, and a tangy sour cream topping. Holiday dessert with cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg, garnished with pecan halves on each slice.

Marbled brownies with a vanilla butter batter swirled with melted chocolate chips. Just 6 ingredients for a two-toned treat that's fudgy, buttery, and beautiful.

London strips: layered cookie bars with a buttery shortbread base, strawberry jam filling, and a bourbon-walnut meringue topping dusted with powdered sugar.

Old-fashioned Southern teacakes with shortening, vanilla, and simple pantry staples. Soft, lightly sweet, and rolled out just like Grandma made them.

Macadamia pie swaps pecans for buttery Hawaiian macadamia nuts in a classic corn syrup and brown sugar custard. Crisp salted nuts on top, gooey caramel below in a single-crust shell.

Raspberry meringues are pink, pillowy egg-white cookies flavored with seedless raspberry preserves. Low-fat, gluten-free, and slow-baked to crisp-shell, tender-center perfection.

Chocolate chip cherry drop cookies with cream cheese in the dough, maraschino cherries, and a half-cherry crown on each cookie. Holiday-bright bite-sized treats.

Sunshine cake is a tall, lemon-kissed cousin of angel food and sponge cake, leavened entirely by whipped egg whites and yolks with bright lemon zest and juice.

Funnel cakes pour pancake-style batter through a funnel into hot oil, frying into crispy lacy spirals dusted with powdered sugar. The classic state fair treat at home.

Apples and bananas poached in spiced coffee syrup with brown sugar, fresh ginger, cinnamon stick, and orange. A grown-up fruit dessert with cinnamon pastry twists on the side.

Chocolate pixie cookies rolled in powdered sugar with a fudgy center, crackled crust, and chopped walnuts. Made with melted unsweetened chocolate for intense cocoa flavor.

Southern spoonbread with fresh corn kernels, buttermilk, and cornmeal, leavened with beaten egg whites. Puffed, golden, and custardy, served straight from the oven.

Espresso nut cookies with a slice-and-bake shortcut. Buttery dough loaded with real espresso and chopped pecans or walnuts, chilled and sliced thin for crisp, coffee-scented edges.

Seared pineapple salsa caramelizes pineapple in a dry skillet, then dices and tosses with chipotle, lime, and cilantro. Smoky-sweet condiment for grilled fish, tacos, or pork.

Sharp cheddar, cinnamon-spiced apples, and crunchy walnuts bake into a savory-sweet quick bread that's perfect for fall brunches or afternoon tea.

Orange biscuits rolled jelly-roll style with butter, orange juice, and zest, then sliced into spirals and baked hot. The breakfast pinwheel that turns plain biscuit dough into citrus-perfumed swirls in 45 minutes.

Chocolate-tipped butter cookies shaped into sticks, fork-pressed, and dipped in melted chocolate chips then rolled in chopped pecans or almonds. Elegant and melt-in-your-mouth tender.

Soft iced pumpkin cookies with cinnamon, nutmeg, walnuts, and raisins topped with a vanilla cream icing. Cake-like fall cookies that smell like autumn in every bite.

Pecan macaroons with oat bran, amaretto, and almond extract folded into stiff meringue and baked until golden. Naturally gluten-free cookies with crispy edges and a chewy center.

Soft gingerbread cake with molasses, sour milk, and four warm spices in the Pennsylvania Dutch tradition. Dense, moist, and deeply spiced with ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg.