Recipe Sifter

Mom's apple cookies are soft, cake-like drop cookies with grated fresh apple, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and walnuts. Old-fashioned spiced bakery flavor from a lunchbox-friendly batch of three dozen.

Homestyle chicken barley soup with carrots, celery, onion, and thyme in a clear chicken broth. Hearty one-pot dinner that uses up leftover chicken.

Deluxe chocolate chunk walnut cookies with semi-sweet chunks and milk chocolate morsels in a chewy brown sugar dough. Bakery-style thick cookies with two kinds of chocolate.

Quick rhubarb mint chutney with lemon juice, sugar, and onion. Tangy-sweet condiment for lamb, ready in 30 minutes. Make up to 2 days ahead and refrigerate.

Cornmeal cookies blend stone-ground cornmeal with flour for a sandy, slightly crunchy crumb. Studded with dried cherries or raisins and warmed with nutmeg. An Italian-American Christmas tin staple.

Alaskan-inspired bouillabaisse loaded with halibut, clams in the shell, shrimp, and crab in a garlicky tomato-wine broth seasoned with thyme, marjoram, and hot sauce.

Golden egg bread for the bread machine with a rich, tender crumb from eggs, sugar, and vegetable oil. A challah-style loaf that's hands-off and ready in one cycle.

Mexican-style buttered corn with sauteed onion, green pepper, and pimiento. A colorful, quick side dish that goes with everything from tacos to grilled chicken.

Ground beef and potato casserole layers thin-sliced potatoes with browned beef patties and softened onions, baked together in a buttery pan jus. A five-ingredient supper that runs on pantry staples.

Spiced veal chili swaps lighter ground veal for the usual beef in a chili powder-and-cumin tomato base, finished with red wine vinegar for a brighter, more refined chili. Bean-free Texas-style.

Bread machine Italian cheese-potato bread with mashed potatoes, Monterey Jack, oregano, and eggs. Dense, savory, and loaded with flavor in every slice.

Chinese pepper steak stir-fry with thinly sliced round steak, green bell peppers, tomatoes, and bean sprouts in a savory soy sauce. Ready in 30 minutes and served over rice.

Hungarian Christmas bread (makos beigli-inspired loaf): a buttery, lemon-scented yeast bread with a sweet poppy seed and raisin filling. A bread-machine shortcut for the holidays.

Best red snapper Veracruz bakes flaky pan-seared snapper under a tangy tomato sauce loaded with green olives, capers, peppers and a whisper of cinnamon. The classic coastal Mexican pescado a la Veracruzana.

Prune corn bread with chopped cooked prunes folded into a classic cornmeal batter. The prunes add natural sweetness and moisture for a tender, slightly fruity cornbread.

Classic counting cake with foolproof 1-2-3-4-5 proportions: butter, sugar, flour, eggs, and baking powder create a tender vanilla cake that's ridiculously easy to memorize and bake from scratch.