Recipe Sifter

Hearty vegetarian Indian curry with potatoes, sweet potatoes, eggplant, zucchini, turnips, and green beans in a chickpea flour gravy spiced with ginger, tamarind, and fresh coriander.

Layered pumpkin walnut pie hides a buttery brown-sugar walnut praline beneath a creamy, cream-cheese-rich pumpkin custard in a shortbread crust, crowned with baked pastry leaves. A Thanksgiving showpiece.

British-style Christmas tree biscuits made with golden syrup, mixed spice, and brown sugar, baked with a hole at the top so they can be threaded with gold string and hung as edible ornaments. A traditional Christmas cookie.

Pineapple lemon upside-down muffins with crushed pineapple, maraschino cherries, brown sugar, and lemon zest baked in whole wheat. Flip them out for a caramelized top.

I saw this recipe in the coupon section of a Sunday Oregonian, and put it aside as I read the rest of the paper. This recipe is easy and oh so yummy. They don’t last long!

Braune Zucker Platzchen, traditional German brown sugar cookies with cinnamon, cloves, orange zest, raisins, and nuts. Spiced drop cookies that store well in airtight tins.

Loaded trail mix cookies with M&M's, peanut butter, peanuts, raisins, oats, oat bran, and wheat germ. Chewy, crunchy, and packed with something in every bite.

Adorable gingerbread teddy bear cookies hand-shaped from spiced dough with cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. A fun holiday baking project for kids and grown-ups, no cookie cutters required.

Made popular back in the 1960's by a bakery in Brooklyn. Chocoholics of all ages love this rich chocolate layer cake that uses a thick pudding instead of icing.

A slow-simmered Southwestern beef chili with pinto beans, green chilis, jalapeños, and six tablespoons of chili powder. Topped with sharp cheddar and scallions. Tucson tough.

Old-fashioned three-layer milk chocolate cake with buttermilk, melted unsweetened chocolate, and brown sugar, topped with milk chocolate frosting. A towering, bakery-worthy celebration cake.

Sweet potato cheesecake on a buttery graham cracker crust with mashed sweet potatoes, cream cheese, cinnamon, and nutmeg, topped with a vanilla sour cream layer. The holiday dessert that outshines every pie on the table.

Buttery brown sugar bar cookies with chopped walnuts and a hint of rum extract, baked in one pan and cut into squares. Serve warm with ice cream or stash them in a tin for later.

Old-fashioned rock cookies packed with raisins, chopped dates, and nuts in a spiced brown sugar dough with cinnamon and cloves. Dense, chewy, and fruit-studded, these hold up for days in a cookie tin.

Crock pot sweet and sour chicken in a homemade sauce of brown sugar, vinegar, soy, and pineapple, thickened glossy and loaded with peppers and onion. A from-scratch slow cooker take on takeout.

This crisp is quick and easy to make, and the blackberries can be substituted with other berries. Our favorite dish in fall and winter.