3,601 four four recipes

Christmas stollen with raisins, almonds, walnuts, lemon and orange zest in a buttery yeast dough, frosted with powdered sugar glaze. Make two to three days ahead for best flavor.

Plum cake is the grand Victorian celebration fruitcake: pounds of raisins, currants, dates, citron, and almonds bound by spiced butter cake batter. Christmas, weddings, and christenings on a serious scale.

Triple chocolate biscotti with Dutch-process cocoa, chocolate chips, and a white chocolate coating, loaded with toasted hazelnuts and a hint of espresso. A bakery-level Italian cookie.

Old-fashioned Christmas Rocks cookies bursting with candied fruit, dates, figs, pecans, raisins, and currants in a cocoa-spiced batter with a hint of coffee. Dense, chewy, and built to last.

Renaissance pizza layers a slow-simmered carrot-onion tomato sauce with sauteed broccoli, cauliflower, and mushrooms on a rectangular cake-flour crust. Fully vegetarian.

From-scratch chocolate cake with melted unsweetened chocolate and buttermilk, topped with a boiled fudge frosting beaten over ice. Deep, dark, and intensely chocolatey.

Stuffed French toast with crumbled tofu, brandy-soaked raisins, currants, and candied peel. Pan-fried golden in butter. A showstopping weekend brunch that freezes beautifully.

Dark chocolate pecan torte with a fudgy, barely-set center, chopped pecans running through every bite and a glossy chocolate glaze poured over top. Flourless-style richness with just enough flour to hold it together.

Double chocolate peanut butter cookies with melted semisweet chocolate swirled into peanut butter dough, loaded with milk chocolate chips, and topped with a whole peanut. Thick, fudgy, and bakery-sized.

Rolled calzone stuffed with pesto, ham, capicola, provolone, roasted red peppers, and pepperoncini. Homemade herb pizza dough baked golden and sliced into pinwheels.

Molasses muffins spiced with cinnamon, ginger, cloves, allspice, and nutmeg, studded with raisins. Make-ahead batter keeps in the fridge for fresh muffins anytime.

Chocolate malt cake with malted milk powder in both the batter and frosting, made with cocoa, half-and-half, and butter. A nostalgic malt shop flavor in cake form.

Southwestern sweet potato and corn soup with green chile, cumin, and red bell pepper, half-pureed for a thick and creamy texture. A naturally vegan, low-fat soup with bold Southwestern spice.

Orange chocolate crunch cake with fresh orange segments baked into the batter, topped with a crunchy layer of brown sugar, chocolate chips, and walnuts. No butter needed.

Adorable oatmeal roll-out cookies shaped and decorated like cherry trees with red cinnamon candies, green sugar crystals, and chocolate sprinkle trunks. Makes 36.

Bread machine pumpernickel with rye flour, cornmeal, whole wheat, molasses, cocoa, and instant coffee. Dark, dense, and deeply flavored with traditional brotgewurtz spice.