Recipe Sifter

Italian chocolate cookies with cocoa, cinnamon, cold coffee, and grape jelly in the dough. An old-world recipe with no eggs that makes a huge batch of soft, cakey cookies.

Frozen raspberry souffle with strained berry puree, framboise liqueur, and billowy whipped cream. Assembled tall in a collared dish so it rises above the rim like a baked souffle.

Crisp snow peas, raw zucchini, cherry tomatoes, and toasted pine nuts tossed in a shallot-red wine vinaigrette and served chilled. A fresh, light side dish for two.

Vinegret is Russia's beloved cooked vegetable salad: roasted beets, potatoes, carrots, dill pickles, and peas in a mustard-vinegar dressing with fresh dill. A colorful, make-ahead side.

Yalanchi sarma, the traditional Armenian meatless dolma with rice, tomatoes, dried mint, allspice, and lemon juice, simmered in grape leaves until tender. A classic cold mezze dish.

Instead of cupcakes, try these fluffy, light and delicious friands that are made with egg whites, almond meal and strawberries.

Fish fumet, the quick French fish stock: bones simmered briefly with white wine, onion, carrot and herbs, then strained and reduced. The aromatic base for seafood soups, sauces and risotto.

Low-calorie applesauce raisin squares with whole wheat flour, natural bran, ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg, topped with sliced almonds. Just 61 calories per square.

Quinoa salad with fresh apricots, currants, scallions, toasted pine nuts, and bell pepper. A light Mediterranean-inspired grain salad that balances sweet dried fruit with crunchy nuts and herby alliums.

Pickled zucchini sticks canned with fresh dill, garlic, celery seed, and onion in a sweet vinegar brine. A crunchy way to preserve summer's zucchini bounty in 4 pint jars.

Pan-seared and oven-roasted duck breasts served over a silky sage-and-onion potato puree. An English-bistro style dinner for two with crisp skin and herbaceous mash.

Creme de menthe pie with a chocolate cookie crust and a fluffy marshmallow-mint filling. A no-bake frozen dessert with chocolate curls on top.

Old-fashioned eggplant marmalade with cinnamon, nutmeg, and lemon cooked to a thick, spiced preserve. A unique canning project that turns eggplant into something like fig jam.

Traditional Wiener Schnitzel with milk-fed veal pounded paper-thin, triple-breaded, and fried until the coating ripples golden. Served with lemon wedges, the way Vienna intended.

Rustic herb and barley stew with rabbit, leeks, garlic, and sage simmered until fall-off-the-bone tender. Pearl barley thickens the broth into a hearty, one-pot meal.

A jewel-red Christmas borscht simmered with beets, garlic, bay leaf, and lemon juice, then topped with cool sour cream and fresh dill. Light, earthy, and ready in 45 minutes for your holiday table.