Recipe Sifter

Southern blackberry jam cake with allspice, cinnamon, raisins, and chopped nuts in a buttermilk batter, frosted with cooked caramel icing and pecan halves. A three-layer heritage cake.

Soft iced pumpkin cookies with cinnamon, nutmeg, walnuts, and raisins topped with a vanilla cream icing. Cake-like fall cookies that smell like autumn in every bite.

Kolachkes are Polish-American cream cheese cookies: a tender butter-and-cream-cheese dough wrapped around fruit jam, walnut, or sweet cheese filling. Rolled in powdered sugar instead of flour.

Kos lemon pie, a Greek almond and honey tart in a lemon shortcrust pastry, soaked in lemon syrup and dusted with powdered sugar. An elegant Mediterranean dessert with bright citrus flavor.

Layered banana pudding made from scratch with brown sugar custard, whipped cream, sliced bananas, and optional walnuts. Rich, creamy, and no box mix needed.

Lemon chocolate bars with a cocoa shortbread base, silky lemon curd middle, and bittersweet orange ganache on top. Three layers of contrasting flavor in every rich bite.

Macadamia rum mousse pie folds dark rum, gelatin-set zabaglione, and toasted macadamia nuts into airy whipped cream over a buttery cinnamon-macadamia crumb crust. A dinner-party showpiece.

Maple pecan pumpkin pie layers spiced pumpkin custard with raisins and chopped pecans, topped with maple-scented whipped cream and toasted pecan halves. A Thanksgiving upgrade on the classic.

Mushroom bisque made from scratch with a full pound of fresh mushrooms, white wine, chicken broth, and heavy cream. A rich, velvety soup thickened with a roux and cornstarch.

Cream of mushroom soup with nearly two pounds of fresh mushrooms, dry sherry, thyme, milk, and heavy cream. Rich, chunky, and homemade in 40 minutes.

Orange dream cake with fresh orange and lemon juice baked into a tender crumb, topped with a coconut whipped cream frosting spiked with citrus zest. Chilled and refreshing.

Orange-berry bundt cake, a rich, moist citrus pound cake brightened with orange juice and lemon, made tender with heavy cream and extra egg yolks, then dusted with sugar and crowned with fresh raspberries.

Beat sugar and butter until -light. Blend in egg and -flour. Mix well and spread onto -bottom of 10-inch -springform pan. Bake at 450-degrees for 10 -minutes.

Peaches and cream pie with sliced summer peaches baked into a single-crust shell with a sugar-flour layer and pure heavy cream poured over top. Five ingredients, summer in a slice.

Peanut butter chocolate fudge bundt cake with chocolate and peanut butter chips baked in, topped with a double glaze. Rich, dense, and over-the-top.

Here's a cake for praline lovers that can be prepared as a layer or sheet cake.