Recipe Sifter

Making your own pizza dough may take you some time, but it's well worth the efforts. When you make the pizza with freshly-made whole wheat pizza dough, it's going to double the deliciousness plus it is actually packed with good-for-you goodness!

Just the thing to nibble with a cup of mulled wine or hot spiced apple cider, these simple, versatile crackers also lend themselves beautifully to cheeses, dips, and spicy spreads.

Have been making this chocolate fudge pudding cake for years, so chocolaty, and it never disappoints us. Fudge and pudding like texture well satisfies the sweet tooth.

So much healthier than deep-fried, these are baked in a non-stick donut baking pan.

Both cherries and ricotta cheese give the muffins super moist texture, fruity and creamy flavor. Fresh or frozen cherries, either of them will work well.

Banana nut carrot cake squares blend mashed banana, grated carrot, walnuts, and warm cinnamon-clove spice into moist sheet-pan bars sweetened with brown sugar and honey.

Rolled sugar cookies seasoned with ground mace, a warmer, floral cousin to nutmeg. The colonial-era twist on a basic cutout cookie. Yields three dozen.

I had a few of these pastries at my friend's place, and they were delicious. I loved that there were just 3 ingredients for the cookies and they had the most flakey and delicate texture that I adored. They were not so sweet either, which was another plus!

Chocolate mayonnaise loaf cake is a Depression-era American classic with an unbelievably moist crumb. The mayo (which is just eggs and oil) replaces butter and eggs in this fudgy 8-ingredient bake.

Almond bread machine loaf with rich almond paste folded into the dough, finished with a corn syrup glaze and slivered almond crown. Sweet, fragrant, and built for breakfast or coffee.

Crispy, paper-thin chocolate lace cookies made with melted butter and unsweetened chocolate. Only 8 ingredients, 30 minutes, and you've got 3 dozen elegant holiday treats.

Roast duck with a port wine cranberry sauce made from the pan drippings, orange juice, and brown sugar. Lemon-rubbed and roasted until the skin is shatteringly crisp.

Pink maraschino cherry cake with cherry juice in the batter, chopped cherries, and nuts folded through. A retro 1950s layer cake ideal for Valentine's Day or bridal showers.

Poppy seed roll: an Eastern European yeasted bread wrapped around a rich poppy seed filling sweetened with honey and orange-lemon zest. Holiday classic.

Bonnie Graber of Oak Creek sent this recipe for an old-fashioned kitchen sink cookie that would be good any time of the year.

Much lighter than classic cheesecake, and it is very smooth and flavorful, nice and creamy flavor from ricotta cheese and sour cream, lemon juice and zests add the refreshing citrus taste into the cheese pie; and the almond crust was flaky, nutty and tangy.