Recipe Sifter

Old-fashioned date cake with chopped nuts and a warm date-sugar topping poured over straight from the oven. Serve with whipped cream for a rich, sticky finish.

Deep dark chocolate cake made with cocoa powder and boiling water for intense flavor, topped with a rich chocolate buttercream frosting. Includes the frosting recipe.

Chicago-style deep-dish pizza crust, Part 1: a cornmeal-laced yeast dough shaped with high walls and parbaked for 4 minutes. The foundation of authentic Chicago deep-dish at home.

A deli-style corn rye bread with rye flour, cornmeal, mashed potatoes, and caraway seeds. Finished with a glossy cornstarch glaze for that authentic bakery look. Worth the rise time.

Cincinnati chili: thin, spiced ground beef sauce with cinnamon, allspice, cloves, and a touch of molasses, simmered low and slow. Serve over spaghetti with cheddar, onions, and beans.

Old-fashioned Pennsylvania nut cookies with walnuts, raisins, and currants in a buttery cinnamon drop cookie dough. A heritage recipe with warm spice and chewy dried fruit in every bite.

Vegan shepherd's pie with veggie burger crumbles instead of lamb, topped with mashed potatoes folded with green peas and red bell pepper. Plant-based comfort food classic.

A four-layer chocolate butter cake with ganache filling, whipped cream frosting, and a glossy dark chocolate glaze poured over the top. Bakery-level elegance made at home.

Denver grainlette is a vegan twist on the diner omelet, combining cooked lentil-grain mix with tomatoes, bell pepper, scallion, and mushrooms in a quick skillet sauté. Egg-free and hearty.

Baked chocolate souffle for two with cinnamon whipped cream and a warm fudge mocha sauce. A date-night dessert made with both semisweet and unsweetened chocolate.

Vegetarian dhansak with mixed legumes, vegetables, garam masala, turmeric, and green chili cooked in ghee. A hearty Parsi-inspired Indian lentil stew with fresh cilantro.

Diabetic-friendly cookies sweetened with raisins, dates, and apples instead of sugar. Drop cookies built around boiled fruit base with sugar substitute. Makes 3 dozen lower-glycemic cookies.

Double chocolate pecan cookies with cocoa-rich brownie-style dough, semi-sweet chips, and toasted pecans. Soft chewy chocolate cookies that taste like brownies in cookie form.

Double chocolate drops with cocoa powder dough and semi-sweet chocolate chips, using butter-flavor shortening for thick, chewy cookies loaded with walnuts. Big bakery-style cookies in 35 minutes.

Double chocolate oat cookies with melted chocolate in the batter and chocolate chips stirred in. Chewy, fudgy, and ready in 30 minutes from start to cooling rack.

Double chocolate oatmeal cookies with cocoa in the dough and semi-sweet chocolate chips throughout. Chewy, fudgy drop cookies with 3 cups of oats.