Recipe Sifter

Fudgy cocoa brownies with crispy edges and a tender center prove you don't need fancy chocolate bars when quality cocoa powder delivers the goods.

Slow-simmered beef stroganoff with red wine, mushrooms, and fresh dill, finished with sour cream and served over buttered noodles or rice. Hearty Sunday-supper take on a Russian classic.

Gumdrop fruit salad: a retro church-potluck classic with pineapple, grapes, marshmallows, gumdrops, and pecans bound in whipped cream and a cooked pineapple-lemon dressing.

Award-winning ginger cookies built on a cooked sugar-and-spice syrup base. Roll, cut, paint, or hand-mold this stiff gingerbread dough into any shape, then bake into crisp golden spice cookies.

Granny's ham and potato gratin for a crowd layers parboiled potatoes, diced ham, and Swiss cheese with a mustard-garlic bechamel. Feeds 24, bakes in under an hour, and can be assembled a day ahead.

Beef meatballs braised in Burgundy wine with mushrooms, pearl onions, and carrots. A one-skillet French-inspired dinner that's ready in 45 minutes.

Mocha swirl pound cake: a buttery, coffee-spiked pound cake batter marbled with melted chocolate and baked in a tube pan. Tight, tender crumb shot through with bittersweet ribbons.

German-style veal and pork meatballs served over braised red cabbage and potatoes with a lemon-caper pan sauce. A rustic one-skillet-and-pot Bavarian dinner with Worcestershire-spiked gravy.

Pineapple crisp with a brown sugar oat topping, cinnamon, and nutmeg. A tropical twist on classic fruit crisp using canned pineapple chunks for an easy year-round dessert.

Sugarless apple cookies sweeten naturally with dates, apples, and raisins instead of refined sugar. Diabetic-friendly drop cookies that taste like soft fruit-spiced bars without the sugar crash.

Victorian jewels, glistening mini fruitcakes: brandy-soaked candied fruit and raisins in a spiced walnut batter, baked as bite-size muffins and glazed with melted jelly so they shine. A jewel-like holiday gift.

Honey-sweetened bread machine loaf spiced with coriander, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and a hit of fresh orange zest. Dump, press start, and let your kitchen fill with warmth.

Buttery brown sugar pecan cookies rolled in cinnamon sugar before baking. Slice and bake from chilled or frozen dough for warm, spiced cookies anytime you want them.

Old-fashioned fig-filled cookies with a honey-sweetened butter dough, rolled into strips or sandwich rounds and baked until golden. Makes 5 dozen with two shaping options.

A delicate almond cookie bar to serve with, or after, dessert.

A densely spiced cake loaded with chopped dates, walnuts, and hot applesauce, finished with a brown sugar base that bakes into moist perfection.