Recipe Sifter

This Christmas pudding has plenty of delicious fruit and nuts, but it's really simple to make - just plan ahead and then make the warm vanilla-bean custard on the day.

Shrimp spaghetti casserole in a Swiss cheese and sherry cream sauce, topped with Parmesan and slivered almonds, then broiled until golden. Southern-style comfort seafood.

Oat bran muffin bread machine loaf bakes whole wheat flour, rolled oats, bran flakes, peaches, banana, and raisins into a hearty, high-fiber breakfast bread. Set and forget.

Sichuan-style crispy beef in chili sauce, double-fried until shatteringly crisp and tossed with garlic, dried red chilies, and a sweet-savory glaze. The takeout favorite made better at home.

Apple Danish bars layer cinnamon-spiced sliced apples between two flaky pastry sheets in a sheet pan, then drizzle with almond glaze. A sliceable Scandinavian-style coffee cake bar.

Hungarian Szeged goulash with braised pork, sauerkraut, apple cider, and sour cream. Caraway and sweet paprika build deep, smoky flavor in this hearty one-pot classic.

Fat-free pineapple upside down cake delivers all the caramelized fruit and tender crumb of the classic without butter or oil. Egg whites and corn syrup do the work, no compromise on flavor.

Henzi's seed bread loaded with sunflower, poppy, and caraway seeds, walnuts, raisins, and three flours (bread, whole wheat, rye). A nutty, fiber-rich loaf for the bread machine that toasts up gorgeous.

Quiche pastry is a flaky butter-and-shortening pie crust made for blind baking. Five ingredients yield a sturdy 9 inch shell that holds custard fillings without going soggy.

Escargot and chanterelle stew simmered in white wine and chicken stock with herbs, finished with an egg yolk and cream liaison for a silky, rich French-inspired broth.

Old-fashioned quick graham bread, a no-knead pioneer-style whole grain loaf with brown sugar, graham flour, and milk. Bakes up in an hour with no yeast or rising time required.

Jan's 1940s apple pie heaped with McIntosh and Cortland apples, finished with a quick water-rinse trick on the top crust that produces an exceptionally flaky finish.

Basic sweet dough is a rich, butter-and-egg enriched yeast base for cinnamon rolls, sweet breads, and holiday buns. One batch, endless directions.

Moravian sugar cookies rolled paper-thin and baked until crisp at the edges. Buttermilk keeps the dough tender while an overnight chill makes it rollable to 1/16-inch thickness for that signature wafer-like snap.

Best Milky Way cake melts whole candy bars right into the batter for a caramel-chocolate bundt with a moist, buttermilk-tender crumb. A Southern potluck classic made from your favorite candy.

Oatmeal apple cake with three cups of oats, chopped apples, brown and white sugar, cinnamon, and nuts. A dense, hearty cake that's more oat than flour with chunks of apple throughout.