Recipe Sifter

Greek semolina honey cookies (melomakarona): torpedo-shaped orange and cinnamon cookies soaked in a warm honey-cinnamon syrup and dusted with sesame or walnuts. Traditional Christmas tradition.

Old-fashioned bourbon fruitcake packed with golden raisins, candied cherries, pineapple, citron, pecans, and coconut. Baked low and slow in a tube pan for rich, dense results.

Irish curd cake: a traditional sieved cottage cheese cheesecake in a shortbread crust with lemon zest and a sugar-butter glaze. Light alternative to heavy American cheesecake.

Lemon butter wafers are thin, lacy butter cookies scented with fresh lemon zest and ground almonds. Perfect with tea or sandwiched with raspberry jam.

Moist wholemeal zucchini cake topped with sliced apple, crunchy walnuts, and warm allspice. Baked in a ring tin, this one's brilliant warm or cold with a cuppa.

Festive lebkuchen cookies made with honey, brown sugar, allspice, and lemon. A traditional German Christmas cookie decorated with white icing.

Creole bouillabaisse layers fish, shrimp, and oysters into a roux-thickened broth with tomatoes, white wine, and cayenne. A New Orleans take on the French seafood classic.

Curried cold asparagus soup with chicken broth, egg yolks, and cream, lightly spiced with curry powder and brightened with a squeeze of lemon. Elegant chilled spring soup for first courses.

Rolled sole fillets stuffed with spinach-nutmeg mousse and a whole shrimp, baked in white wine, then draped in a mushroom cream sauce. Dinner party elegance at its finest.

Buttery lemon-scented shortbread base spread with cherry pie filling and dotted with flattened dough rounds on top. A cobbler you can eat with your hands.

Brandy-laced bundt pound cake served with a saffron-tinted lemon curd. The classic 1-1-1 pound cake gets a boozy lift, while saffron steeped in lemon juice turns the cream sunset gold.

Topsy turvy apple pecan pie flips out of its pan like a tarte tatin, revealing a caramelized pecan-and-brown-sugar top crust over cinnamon-spiced Granny Smith apples. A Thanksgiving showstopper.

Blueberry drop cookies fold fresh blueberries and bright lemon zest into a soft cake-style dough, then bake into pillowy, fruit-studded rounds. A summer cookie that's halfway to a muffin top.

Lemon almond madeleines: classic French shell-shaped tea cakes with ground almonds and fresh lemon zest, finished with powdered sugar. Twenty-four buttery cookies for tea time.

Chicken piccata with mushrooms, lemon, and white wine sauce. Thin-pounded chicken breasts pan-fried golden then simmered in a bright, reduced pan sauce.

Veal ragout with red pepper braises cubed veal in white wine, plum tomatoes, and herbs, then finishes with sweet bell pepper and a bright lemon-garlic gremolata over fresh fettuccine.