Recipe Sifter

Egg and watercress finger sandwiches layer creamy egg salad with peppery watercress on buttered whole-wheat bread, sliced into elegant fingers for tea, brunch, or bridal showers.

Garlic stuffed mushrooms with pecans, parmesan, and a folded-in roasted garlic bechamel, baked hot until the filling sets and the tops blush with cayenne.

Ginger honey cheesecake with crystallized ginger, golden raisins, and sour cream on a graham cracker crust. Warm spice meets creamy tang in every slice.

Granola bread with finely ground granola blended into a whole wheat and bread flour dough with buttermilk and honey. Bake in the bread machine or shape into two oven loaves.

Spooky chocolate cookies with pretzel stick legs coated in melted chocolate and sprinkles with candy eyes. These Halloween tarantula treats are fun to make with kids.

Linzer Augen are Austria's almond shortbread sandwich cookies: two tender, nutty rounds glued with apricot jam, the top cut with a little window that frames the glistening preserves under a snowfall of powdered sugar. A Christmas cookie tin classic.

Monster chunk cookies with hand-cut chocolate chunks, rolled oats, dark brown sugar, and butter baked low and slow for thick, chewy centers and golden edges.

Bring the flavor of New Orleans into your kitchen with this succulent dish made of shrimp, potatoes and yellow squash.

Niter kebbeh, Ethiopian spiced clarified butter infused with ginger, turmeric, cardamom, fenugreek, cinnamon, and cloves. The foundation of Ethiopian cooking.

Pistachio swirl fudge made in the microwave with semi-sweet chocolate, sweetened condensed milk, and a vanilla cream cheese swirl. No thermometer needed.

Curried pumpkin soup with shrimp, coconut milk, jalapeno, and lime juice. A creamy, spiced bisque-style soup pureed smooth with shrimp stirred in at the end.

Fudgy brownies made with unsweetened chocolate, cake flour, and two sticks of butter, topped with whole walnuts and a semisweet chocolate drizzle.

Buttery shortbread crust topped with sticky honey-pecan caramel that sets into chewy, candied perfection. Cut into diamonds and dust with powdered sugar for elegant cookie bars.

Rugelach roll flaky cream cheese dough around apricot preserves, cinnamon-brown-sugar, walnuts, and raisins into bite-sized crescents. A classic Jewish bakery cookie for Hanukkah and Christmas alike.

Broiled salmon plated with silky celery root puree, dry mushroom puree, and a bright parsley cream. A restaurant-style dinner worth the extra pots.

Creamy sausage leek soup pureed smooth with smoked summer sausage, fresh dill, chicken broth, cream, and Parmesan. A rich, velvety bowl with smoky depth and a cheesy finish.