Recipe Sifter

Double fudge brownies loaded with both melted unsweetened chocolate and a full bag of chocolate chips, with sour cream added for an extra moist, fudge-like crumb. Bakes into 24 dense squares with serious chocolate intensity.

Sourdough starter with potato uses starchy potato water to feed wild yeasts faster and more reliably. Builds in 2 days at 85F with active dry yeast as a jumpstart.

Cheese scones with sharp cheddar, whole wheat flour, and dry mustard rubbed with cold butter. A British-style savory scone that bakes tall and golden in under 10 minutes.

Milk-enriched pizza dough that bakes up tender and softly chewy with a deep golden crust. The milk swap turns standard pizza dough into a pillowier base for any topping.

Mock cherry pie made from halved cranberries and raisins simmered with sugar, vanilla, and butter. The Depression-era trick gives you a tart-sweet ruby filling that fools nearly anyone hunting for the real thing.

Ale Bread: a no-yeast quick bread leavened with a bottle of ale and baking powder, optional green onions and sharp cheese baked in. Hollow-tap-test crust, ready in under an hour.

Pecan turtle bars with a buttery shortbread crust, bubbly brown sugar caramel layer, whole pecans, and swirled milk chocolate on top. Addictively rich cookie bars.

Deep-fried apple fritters with diced apples in a simple egg batter, served with a homemade maple-brown sugar syrup. Crispy outside, tender and fruity inside.

Wespennester (wasp nests), a rare traditional German fried pastry from the Oberallgau region. Batter layers are built on wooden spoon handles and filled with honey.

Batter Fried Sage Leaves (Salbey Zu Backen) recipe

Old-fashioned rabbit pie with slow-stewed meat topped with buttermilk biscuits and served with homemade gravy. A hearty country supper for a crowd.

Almond-raisin biscotti, twice-baked until crisp, with toasted almonds, plump raisins and bright orange in two forms. A coffee-dunking Italian cookie made airy by folding in whipped egg whites.

Soft-centered cookies loaded with semisweet and vanilla milk chips plus slivered almonds. Brown butter dough with almond extract creates bakery-style treats.

This recipe is a tradition in my husband's Swedish family. It makes enough cookies to feed the Swedish Army.

Buttery, sweet, sour, fruity, and nutty, you can find all these yumminess in this apple tea cake. Feel free to use other fruits to replace apples.

Use this recipe with peaches, sour cherries or pineapple with equally good results.