Recipe Sifter

Sauerbraten is a classic German pot roast marinated 2 to 3 days in a spiced vinegar brine with peppercorns, bay leaves, and cloves, then braised until fork-tender with a sweet-sour gravy.

Soft gingerbread cake with molasses, sour milk, and four warm spices in the Pennsylvania Dutch tradition. Dense, moist, and deeply spiced with ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg.

Old-fashioned drop cookies with dark molasses, chopped tart apples, and warm spices like cinnamon, cloves, and ginger. Soft, chewy, and they make 60 cookies from one batch.

Spice beer cake loaded with raisins and walnuts, made with brown sugar, cinnamon, allspice, and cloves. Beer adds moisture and malty depth to this old-fashioned tube pan cake.

Spiced applesauce cookies with cinnamon and cloves bake into soft, cake-like drops sweetened with thick unsweetened applesauce. Makes 3 dozen tender old-fashioned cookies in 30 minutes.

Pinto bean muffins with raisins, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. Beans puréed into the batter add moisture and protein without anyone knowing. Ready in 40 minutes.

Spicy tamale pie with simmered beef chuck and pork shoulder, dried chile gravy, raisins, and olives under a cornmeal masa-style crust. Tex-Mex history on a plate.

A warm-spiced apple loaf cake with mini chocolate chips baked in, a buttery streusel crumb topping, and a drizzle of melted chocolate. Fall baking at its coziest.

Swedish ginger cookies (pepparkakor) made with dark corn syrup, cinnamon, cloves, and ginger. A spiced roll-and-cut dough that bakes thin and snappy for the holidays.

Veal fricassee with capers and dill: tender veal in a creamy white wine sauce enriched with egg yolks, brightened with briny capers and fresh dill.

Viennese cookies with pecans, chocolate chips, lemon zest, cloves, and cinnamon in a buttery brown sugar dough. Tiny, crisp drop cookies baked in under 8 minutes.

Fat-free carrot muffins with grated carrots, raisins, cinnamon, cloves, and orange zest. Weight Watchers-friendly with no oil or butter and just 6 tablespoons of flour.

A moist, warmly spiced Bundt cake made with yogurt and applesauce instead of heaps of butter. Loaded with raisins, cinnamon, and cloves, then drizzled with a tangy yogurt glaze that seals the deal.

Dave's light pumpkin pie uses artificial sweetener, skim milk, and nonfat evaporated milk for a holiday-classic flavor with significantly less fat and sugar. Thanksgiving dessert you can serve guilt-free.

Easy ginger spice cookies with no sugar in the dough: cinnamon, ginger, and cloves rolled and cut into rounds, then tossed warm in a sugar-substitute cinnamon coating. A diabetic-friendly cookie.

Eastern European chocolate poppyseed cookies with milk-soaked poppy seeds, melted unsweetened chocolate, raisins, lemon zest, and warm cinnamon-clove spice. A tea-time treat unlike any other cookie.