Recipe Sifter

Buttery shortbread base topped with a honey-almond caramel, double-baked into golden bars and cut while still warm. Crisp underneath, chewy on top.

Bread cakes made from soaked stale bread mixed with flour and a whipped egg white, cooked on a hot griddle like pancakes. A Depression-era recipe that turns leftover bread into breakfast.

A rich French Breton-style apple pie with buttery, egg-yolk dough scented with dark rum and vanilla. Golden, dense, and somewhere between a cake and a tart. Utterly irresistible.

Brownie pecan pie bars combine a fudgy cocoa brownie base with a buttery pecan pie topping baked in layers. Two textures in one bar: dense chocolate on the bottom, gooey caramelized pecans on top.

Traditional Jewish cheese blintzes with thin, eggy crepes wrapped around a sweetened cottage cheese filling, pan-fried in butter until golden. Freezer-friendly.

Fluffy buttermilk pancakes with separated eggs and folded-in stiffly beaten whites for extra lift. A from-scratch griddle recipe with tangy flavor and cloud-like texture.

Polish nalesniki are delicate egg-white pancakes rolled around a lemon-vanilla sour cream pudding, baked until warm, then dusted with powdered sugar. An old-world dessert.

Chocolate cream pie with a cocoa custard filling topped with golden meringue. A from-scratch chocolate pudding pie with egg yolk custard and billowy egg white topping.

Chocolate peppermint pinwheel cookies swirl cocoa-rich chocolate dough with crushed peppermint candy dough into a spiral slice-and-bake Christmas cookie. A holiday tin classic with bracing mint and deep chocolate.

Chocolate thumbprint cookies studded with mini chocolate chips and filled with a creamy peanut butter center. The chocolate-peanut butter combo makes these vanish from any cookie tray.

Chocolate-coconut layer cake with tender buttermilk chocolate layers, flaked coconut folded through, and a rich walnut-chocolate filling between whipped cream layers.

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This cognac cream cheese filling is a rich and decadent mixture made by soaking raisins in cognac. The result is a smooth and flavorful filling with hints of tangy lemon and warm vanilla, punctuated by bursts of cognac-soaked raisins. This filling is perfect for adding a touch of elegance to pastries, cakes, or other filled desserts.

County fair banana pie with a chocolate chip layer on the bottom, rum-spiked banana cream filling, and whipped cream with chopped pecans. A blue-ribbon worthy layered banana cream pie.

Classic French apple dumplings wrapped in lemon-scented pastry, filled with a cognac-butter stuffing and baked golden. Serve warm with whipped cream or a pour of Marsala wine.

Cran-raspberry cheesecake on an almond-genoise base, topped with decorative sponge cake cutouts. An elegant baked cheesecake layered with tangy cranberry-raspberry filling.