Recipe Sifter

Pizza crust made in the food processor with flour, cornmeal, yeast, and olive oil. Quick to mix, easy to handle, and yields two 12-inch crusts with a slightly crisp, slightly chewy bite.

Tiny, pillow-soft silver dollar pancakes made with sour cream, eggs, and just a whisper of cake flour. They puff up like little soufflés on the griddle. A Bridge Creek brunch legend.

Fig fruit cake with dried figs, candied cherries, pineapple, walnuts, brandy, and unsweetened chocolate. A spiced holiday loaf baked low and slow for dense, sliceable richness.

New Orleans-style French Market beignets cut into squares, deep-fried golden, and buried in powdered sugar. Make-ahead yeast dough that chills overnight and improves over a week in the fridge.

Bread machine coffee cake made with semolina flour, graham cracker crumbs, and a triple hit of coffee flavor. Slice thick, spread with mocha buttercream, and top with chocolate coffee beans.

From-scratch German chocolate cake with sweet chocolate melted in boiling water, buttermilk batter with folded egg whites, and a coconut-pecan frosting cooked on the stovetop.

Cream cheese butter cookies topped with fresh strawberry halves. A simple thumbprint-style cookie with a tender, melt-in-your-mouth shortbread base and bright berry on top.

Raspberry pecan thumbprint cookies spiced with cinnamon and allspice, filled with seedless raspberry jam and topped with chopped pecans. Better the next day.

This Bialy recipe turns out chewy with just the right amount of onion filling; it freezes and reheats brilliantly.

Food processor walnut bread made with bread flour, whole wheat, brown sugar, and toasted walnuts. The processor kneads the dough in under a minute.

Maple syrup and brown sugar pie with a buttery crumb topping. Old Quebec-style dessert with a gooey molten filling and a nutmeg-warmed streusel cap.

Mocha nut butter balls: melt-in-your-mouth Russian tea cake-style cookies upgraded with cocoa, instant coffee, and toasted walnuts. Rolled in powdered sugar while warm for the signature snowy coat.

Choco oatmeal peanut butter dreams bake chewy peanut butter oat cookies, then top each with melted chocolate and chopped peanuts. A 3-flavor cookie ready in 40 minutes.

Moist applesauce cake spiced with cinnamon and cloves, spiked with instant coffee, and topped with a creamy coffee buttercream frosting. A one-bowl spice cake that bakes in 30 minutes.

Southern chess pie with a custardy filling of eggs, sugar, butter, and a splash of vinegar, thickened with cornmeal in a pre-made pie shell. Old-school Southern dessert.

Old-time beef stew simmers floured chunks of stew meat with carrots, potatoes, and a secret splash of lemon juice and a pinch of allspice. Stovetop in 3 hours or crockpot all day.