Recipe Sifter

Holiday spice cookies roll out paper-thin from a molasses-and-spice dough with cinnamon, cloves, ginger, nutmeg and allspice. Crisp cookie-cutter cookies for the December tins.

Southern hush puppies with creamed corn, chopped onions, and cornmeal batter. Drop by spoonfuls into hot oil, fry until golden for moist, slightly sweet cornbread fritters.

Ground almonds and cinnamon fold into stiff meringue to create these chewy Italian amaretti cookies where lemon zest and vanilla cut through the sweetness with bright, aromatic notes.

The Gravy used to be made fresh with the Cracklings. Now it comes in a pouch and all you have to do is add water. Thank god for modified starch products.

Koloketes: traditional Cypriot pumpkin hand pies with bulgur, onion, and warm cinnamon in a crisp olive oil pastry. Authentic Greek Cypriot mezze or snack.

Fat-free cinnamon-raisin biscotti made with egg whites. Twice-baked Italian cookies that crunch hard, dunk well, and skip butter and yolks entirely.

Apple pie topped with marshmallow meringue instead of a top crust. Cinnamon-spiced apples baked in a flaky shell, finished with fluffy marshmallow cream and egg white topping browned to golden.

Apple pie with a marshmallow meringue topping. Egg whites whipped with marshmallow creme spread cloud-soft across cinnamon-spiced apples and brown into golden peaks. A retro 1950s twist on classic apple pie.

Buttery pecan snowball cookies rolled in powdered sugar. No eggs, no leavening, just six ingredients for a crumbly, melt-in-your-mouth shortbread-style cookie.

Melting moments cookies made with just 4 ingredients: flour, cornstarch, powdered sugar, and margarine. Baked low and slow, they crumble and dissolve on your tongue.

Banana bread made with Grape-Nuts cereal for crunch, egg substitute, buttermilk, and corn syrup. A lower-fat banana loaf with nutty texture and no butter or oil needed.

Lemon poppy seed cake mixed right in the baking pan, no bowls needed. A one-pan, no-egg, no-dairy snacking cake with bright lemon zest and crunchy poppy seeds.

Mom's cocoa macaroons: chewy coconut mounds with a soft cocoa note, bound with whipped egg whites instead of condensed milk. A simple seven-ingredient drop cookie that makes four dozen.

Mom's brown stew with beef cubes simmered for two hours in a Worcestershire and lemon-spiked broth with potatoes, carrots, and pearl onions, finished with a flour-thickened gravy.

Hearty yeast-raised dog treats packed with 5 whole grains, kelp powder, and beef broth bake into nutritious biscuits. A labor of love for pampered pups.

Low-fat brownies made with cottage cheese instead of butter, egg whites instead of whole eggs, and real unsweetened chocolate. Fudgy and rich with far less guilt.