Recipe Sifter

Original red velvet cake with old-school ermine frosting: tender buttermilk crumb tinted deep red, finished with the cooked-flour boiled milk icing that came before cream cheese took over.

Beet cake with orange cream cheese frosting uses grated fresh beets for a deeply moist, spiced layer cake with a rosy hue. Topped with toasted walnuts, it's a lighter twist on carrot cake.

Chocolate mint sticks: a three-layer holiday bar with a fudgy brownie base, a bright green peppermint buttercream middle, and a glossy chocolate glaze on top. A Christmas-cookie classic.

Authentic Sichuan beef stew with star anise, dried orange peel, ginger, and Sichuan peppercorns. Slow-simmered for three hours with hot bean paste and soy. Serve over rice.

Rabbit jambalaya with the Cajun holy trinity of onion, celery, and bell pepper, bay, garlic, white and red pepper. Slow-browned for that smoky-brown jambalaya color.

Tiramisu made with mascarpone blended with cottage cheese for a lighter, less heavy filling. Coffee-soaked ladyfingers, a cloud of whipped egg whites, and a dusting of cocoa, with no baking required.

Buffalo chip cookies are giant oat-and-cornflake cookies customized with raisins, peanuts, coconut, butterscotch, or chocolate chips. Yields 60 jumbo bake-sale cookies.

Devilish marshmallow cookies are chewy chocolate cookies topped with a melted marshmallow half and finished with a glossy chocolate frosting. Three-tier indulgence: cocoa cookie base, gooey marshmallow middle, and rich chocolate top.

Milk-poached haddock fillets in a silky butter-flour sauce with halved green grapes. Classic French sole Veronique technique applied to mild flaky white fish. Elegant in 45 minutes.

German cucumber salad with a creamy sour cream dill dressing, sliced tomatoes, and scallions. A cool, tangy no-cook side dish that improves after chilling.

Sour cream coffee cake baked in a bundt pan with a cinnamon-pecan streusel bottom and brown sugar-cinnamon topping layered through the center. Brunch perfection from a cake mix.

Apple cake with caramel sauce loaded with cinnamon, pecans, and fresh apples. A simple one-bowl batter topped with buttery brown sugar caramel poured on hot from the oven.

Multi-grain nut bread made in a bread machine with seven flours and grains, walnuts, sunflower seeds, sesame, and poppy seeds. Dense, hearty, and honey-sweetened.

Pennsylvania Peaches'N Cream-Cheese Crustle recipe

Pumpkin pecan cheesecake with a graham cracker crust, spiced pumpkin filling, and a brown sugar pecan streusel topping. A fall dessert that combines two holiday favorites in one.

A one-of-a-kind three-layer cake with cranberries, pecans, shredded wheat cereal, and orange zest, topped with orange cream cheese frosting. The name says sorry but every bite says wow.