76 church recipes

Sturdy gingerbread dough engineered for building. Stiff enough to hold its shape, deeply spiced with cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg, ready for cookie houses, churches, and edible structures.

No-bake icebox angel cake with crumbled angel food, melted marshmallow, crushed pineapple, maraschino cherries, and coconut. A retro 1950s church-cookbook classic that needs zero oven time.

Pig cake, a Southern church-supper classic with mandarin orange cake layers and a fluffy pineapple cream cheese frosting. Three-layer pastel pretty, ready for potlucks and reunions.

Fluffy whipped Jello cake with raspberry gelatin, crushed pineapple, and Cool Whip layered over angel food cake. A retro no-bake dessert that's light, fruity, and church-potluck approved.

Coca-Cola tube cake with pecan frosting bakes a chocolate cola batter studded with mini marshmallows, then gets topped with a warm cola pecan glaze. Southern church-supper classic.

Buttermilk chocolate cake is the tangy, tender German-chocolate style cake with a fine, moist crumb, made for topping with coconut-pecan frosting. A classic Southern church-supper dessert.

German chocolate pies: two pies at once, gooey cocoa-pecan-coconut filling in flaky shells. One to eat now, one to freeze. A Southern dessert for holidays and church suppers.

Pineapple muffin cookies: soft, cake-like drop cookies made with crushed pineapple and juice, warm nutmeg, and chopped walnuts. The tropical-twist church-supper cookie that's part muffin, part cookie.

A massive-batch New England clam chowder with sharp cheddar cheese, potatoes, celery, and 30 cans of minced clams. Feeds 60 people. Built for church suppers, family reunions, and community cookouts.

A thin, fudgy chocolate sheet cake baked right on a cookie sheet and iced while still hot. Feeds a crowd in 30 minutes flat. The ultimate potluck and church supper cake.

Orange coconut cake layers a tender almond-scented white cake with a tangy fresh orange filling and fluffy boiled-sugar frosting. A vintage Southern church-cookbook bake with citrus brightness throughout.

Corned beef noodle casserole layers egg noodles with canned corned beef, Velveeta, cream of mushroom soup and onion in a single 9x13 pan. The classic Midwestern church-supper one-dish meal.

Peanut butter dreams are no-bake chocolate-dipped peanut butter balls with crisp rice cereal for crunch. Vintage church-cookbook candy that yields 48 freezer-friendly bites and disappears at every bake sale.

Reduced-sugar oatmeal cake with rolled oats, raisins, molasses, and warming cinnamon and nutmeg. Egg whites and a sugar substitute keep things lean. The lighter take on a Southern church-supper classic.

Lyons spaghetti is a baked beef and macaroni casserole layered with tomatoes, fresh mushrooms, green peppers, and American cheese. Old-school church potluck food, the kind that feeds a crowd without fuss.

Old-fashioned chocolate cake with crushed peppermint stick candy folded right into the batter. A tender cocoa layer cake with a cool, pepperminty crunch. Straight out of a mid-century church cookbook.