Recipe Sifter

Medianyk is a traditional Ukrainian honey cake spiced with cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves. Whipped egg whites give it a light, airy crumb despite all that honey.

Old-fashioned headcheese from pig knuckles simmered with onion, cloves and cinnamon, then chilled into a savory aspic terrine. A heritage charcuterie.

Old-fashioned sweet chunk pickles brined for two weeks, then packed in a warm cinnamon-clove syrup and water bath canned. Crunchy, spiced, and worth every day of the wait. Makes 3 pints.

Sauteed chicken livers dusted with warm spices, deglazed with blueberry vinegar, and finished with creme fraiche and fresh blueberries. A French-inspired dish.

Mocha spice roll cake is a warmly spiced sponge rolled around billowy coffee-cocoa whipped cream, then frosted and fork-scored to look like a bark log. A holiday-ready bûche de Noël with cinnamon, clove, and allspice woven through.

Deep chocolate cookies spiced with cinnamon, ginger, and cloves, made lighter with yogurt instead of butter. Crisp edges with chewy centers at just 41 calories per cookie.

Instead of being hard, dry spice cookies, these are soft, moist spicy cookies with a medium hot disposition. Their heat is derived from ground Jamaican Scotch Bonnet peppers.

Christopsomo: a traditional Greek Christmas bread with semolina, citrus zest from oranges and tangerines, currants, golden raisins, and a warming blend of cinnamon, anise, coriander, and cloves.

Shell-on shrimp steamed with crab boil spices, mustard seeds, and apple cider vinegar for tender, perfectly seasoned seafood that peels easily and tastes like a Chesapeake Bay crab feast.

Rocks cookies with oats, brown sugar, figs, nuts, and warm spices in a bumpy, hearty drop cookie. An old-fashioned spiced oatmeal cookie loaded with dried fruit and chopped nuts.

Thin, crisp Swedish cookies brushed with egg white, dusted with cinnamon-clove sugar, and topped with a whole almond pressed into each one. Lemon zest brightens the buttery dough. Ready in 25 minutes, makes 2 dozen.

Tall honey cake (lekach) baked with 1¼ cups honey and a full cup of strong coffee for moisture and depth. Walnut-studded with warm spices, traditional for Rosh Hashanah and the Jewish New Year.

Spinach and lentil soup with bay leaves, cumin, garlic, and green onions. A vegan, high-fiber bowl that comes together with pantry basics. Hearty without feeling heavy.

Pear chutney with white raisins, sweet peppers and warm spices. Homemade fruit condiment canned in half-pint jars, ready in 60 minutes.

Dutch-style icebox spice cookies with cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves in a brown sugar dough enriched with butter, lard and sour cream. Slice-and-bake rolls keep weeks in the fridge for instant warm cookies.

Spiced blueberry jam simmers fresh blueberries with apple-grape juice concentrate, orange juice, and warm spices of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and mace. A refined-sugar-free freezer jam that captures summer with autumn warmth.