Recipe Sifter

Chocolate chip and currant pound cake with Cognac-soaked currants, semi-sweet chocolate, and a hint of cinnamon, baked in a Bundt pan and drizzled with a Cognac glaze.

Dense, moist German apple cake loaded with four cups of sliced Pippin apples, cinnamon, and chopped nuts, topped with tangy cream cheese frosting. A fall baking favorite.

Lobster, shrimp, and king crab in a velvety white wine cream sauce with butter and paprika. A showpiece seafood dish that serves 12 over rice.

Classic lemon squares with a shortbread base and a tart-sweet lemon curd topping baked on a pre-baked crust. Powdered sugar dusted. Twelve squares per batch.

Slice-and-bake molasses cookies with brown sugar, ginger, and a deep rich molasses flavor. Chill the dough, slice thin, and bake until the edges crisp up beautifully.

Kolach is a soft, enriched Eastern European braided bread: a milk-and-egg yeast dough braided into glossy golden loaves, brushed with egg glaze and sprinkled with poppy seeds. A festive holiday bread worth the rise.

Bacon clam chowder is a New England-style soup with minced clams, smoky bacon and half-and-half, simmered overnight for deep flavor. Skimmed and finished with seafood seasoning the next day.

Chocolate amaretto cheesecake with a chocolate wafer crust and a lightened filling that blends cream cheese with cottage cheese, cocoa, almond liqueur and chocolate morsels. A small 7-inch springform pan dessert.

Slow-cooker poached whole chicken in herb-spiked broth, served sliced under a butter-finished cream sauce. Old-school French velouté technique done hands-off in the crockpot.

A four-layer Snickers pie: graham cracker crust, fudgy chocolate brownie layer studded with Snickers chunks, creamy cheesecake, and drizzled milk chocolate ganache on top. Decadent dessert overload.

Flour-coated chuck steak slow cooks with tomatoes, mushrooms, green beans, and a sweet-savory hit of molasses and soy sauce. Dump it in the crock pot and walk away for 8 hours.

Cinnamon Zucchini Raisin Bread: a double-spiced loaf with cinnamon, nutmeg, plump raisins, and chopped nuts folded through tender zucchini batter. Two-loaf yield for sharing.

Moravian Christmas loaf is a soft yeast bread studded with raisins, currants, and citron, topped with sliced almonds. Traditional Pennsylvania Moravian holiday bread with an overnight sponge.

Anise holiday spice cookies with anise, lemon, and vanilla extracts plus a peppery warm spice blend of nutmeg, cloves, and mace. The grown-up Christmas cookie that tastes like a German bakery in December.

Vermont apple pie with layered tart apples, gingersnap-crumb streusel, crunchy walnuts, and a final pour of pure maple syrup. A New England-style heritage pie with deep fall flavors.

Eastern European poppy seed crescents made from rich yeast dough filled with a sweet cinnamon-lemon poppy seed paste, brushed with egg wash and topped with chopped nuts.