Recipe Sifter

Polvorones: traditional Mexican pecan cookies made with butter and lard, spiced with cinnamon and anise seed. Sandy, crumbly, and sugar-coated.

Mincemeat bars with a chewy oat-molasses crust and condensed mincemeat filling. Old-fashioned holiday baking with a crumble topping, dusted with powdered sugar.

Bread machine loaf made with crushed buttered popcorn mixed right into the dough. A quirky, buttery white bread with a subtle corn flavor and surprisingly soft crumb.

Fat-free homemade bagels made in a bread machine: flour, yeast, water, and egg white kneaded, shaped, boiled, and baked for a chewy crust and soft interior.

Pseftokeftedes are Santorini tomato fritters mixing chopped Roma tomatoes, scallions, garlic, mint, and oregano into a pancake-style batter, fried crisp in olive oil. Vegetarian Greek meze.

Crispy Belgian apple fritters made with just 3 ingredients: sliced apple rings dipped in a light beer batter and fried golden. Serve with custard or a dusting of powdered sugar.

Venison shoulder roast soaked overnight in milk to tame the gamey flavor, then braised in a Dutch oven with tomatoes, red wine, juniper berries, and a bouquet garni. Fork-tender wild game at its finest.

What is cake flour? The other day I ran out of cake flour and needed a substitute, after searching and experimenting I came up with this replacement for cake flour that seems to work quite well.

Melomakarona (fenekia) are traditional Greek honey cookies made with orange juice, cognac, farina, and walnuts. Baked, dipped in warm honey syrup, and dusted with cinnamon.

As every angler knows, skillet-size brook, brown, and rainbow trout are never more tasty than when prepared this way. Can there be any tastier dish than the one that comes from this happy marriage of fresh trout and butter?

Rosettes are delicate Scandinavian fried cookies shaped on a decorative iron, crisp like a wafer and dusted with powdered sugar. A Christmas tradition in Nordic and Midwestern kitchens.

Green chili sauce made from scratch with diced green chiles, garlic, onion, and a simple flour roux. Ready in 15 minutes for enchiladas, burritos, and smothered anything.

Gluten-free sesame rice cookies made with tahini, honey, rice flour, and almonds. Nutty, naturally sweetened, and tender with a delicate crumb that melts on the tongue.

Crispy, golden blueberry fritters rolled in powdered sugar. Just 20 minutes and a handful of pantry staples get you a batch of 25 bite-sized treats that disappear fast.

Homemade flour tortillas with just four ingredients: flour, shortening, salt, and warm water. Soft, pliable, and ready to wrap around tacos, burritos, or quesadillas straight off the griddle.

Traditional Panforte di Siena with toasted almonds, hazelnuts, candied orange peel, citron, cocoa, and honey syrup cooked to soft ball stage. A dense Italian Christmas confection.