Recipe Sifter

Gin-marinated smoked salmon with brown sugar, pickling spices, and star anise. Bruised spices create complex flavor in this 2-hour cold-smoke recipe.

Crisp-edged spice cookies with warm cinnamon, ginger, cloves and allspice folded into buttery dough, then flattened with sugar for a crackled golden finish.

Quick sweet and sour prawns in an orange juice, soy, ginger, and brown sugar sauce thickened with cornstarch. Ready in 20 minutes, served over rice with beansprouts.

Buttery spiced cookies with chocolate chips and walnuts, rolled in powdered sugar for a crinkled, snow-dusted finish. Warm cinnamon and ginger in every chewy bite.

The ultimate sweet-and-salty cookie: buttery dough loaded with butterscotch chips and crushed potato chips. Crispy edges, chewy centers, totally addictive. Makes 5 dozen.

Baked sweet risotto with arborio rice, ripe bananas, brown sugar, cinnamon, and creme de cacao. A creamy, hands-off rice pudding dessert that bakes covered for one hour.

Browned pork chops baked low and slow in a tangy pineapple, brown sugar, and soy sauce glaze with onions and green peppers. Fork-tender in under 2 hours.

British tea loaf with raisins and sultanas steeped overnight in cold tea, baked with brown sugar and self-rising flour. A no-butter fruit bread that's moist and dense.

Lamb, bacon, pineapple and dried California figs threaded onto skewers and glazed with a soy-pineapple-ginger marinade. Broiled until sticky and served over hot rice for a sweet-savory feast.

Mesquite-smoked beef brisket on a gas grill rotisserie, rubbed with paprika and cayenne, then basted for hours in a beer-spiked barbecue sauce. Slice it thin and watch it fall apart on the cutting board.

A self-saucing chocolate cake that creates its own gooey pudding layer as it bakes. Pour the cocoa-brown sugar topping right over the batter and let the oven work its magic. One pan, zero fuss.

Rich Thai red curry with prawns and butternut squash in coconut milk sauce, ready in 60 minutes for weeknight Thai dinners with authentic restaurant flavor.

Toasted coconut cookies with oats, walnuts, and flaked coconut baked until golden brown. A chewy drop cookie with nutty, tropical flavor from toasted coconut and toasted walnuts in every bite.

Toffee bar dessert cake with a brown sugar buttermilk batter topped with a crumb streusel, chopped Heath bars, and nuts. A crunchy-topped sheet cake baked in a 9x13 pan.

Buttery brown sugar shortbread cut into triangles, topped with a glossy chocolate dollop and a crunchy shower of toffee bits. Makes 8 dozen bite-sized treats for holiday platters.

Banana rum sherbet made with yogurt, dark brown sugar, lime juice, nutmeg, and chopped almonds. A tropical frozen dessert churned in a food processor, no ice cream maker needed.