35 secret recipes

Raisin bran bread is a soft brown sugar yeast loaf that uses your morning cereal as the secret ingredient. Bread machine or hand-shaped, this bakes up tender with embedded raisins and a hint of bran nuttiness.

The secret to making the cucumbers crunchy is to salt them first and let the salt draw out excess moisture before use.

Vanilla is the secret ingredient in this cross-cultural sauce, which is also delicious served with grilled or roasted meats, poultry or seafood.

Irish cream fudge uses mashed potato as the secret binder, giving a smooth, silky chocolate fudge spiked with Bailey's-style liqueur and crowned with a walnut on each square. A quirky candy-shop classic.

No-bake coconut candy with a secret ingredient: mashed potatoes bind coconut and powdered sugar into tiny haystacks, then get dipped in dark chocolate. Old-fashioned and surprisingly addictive.

Bread machine rye bread with caraway seeds and a secret ingredient: sauerkraut for extra tang and moisture. Three-flour blend for a dense, chewy crumb.

Fluffy homemade biscuits with pureed kidney beans baked right into the dough. Extra protein, whole wheat fiber, and golden-brown tops. Nobody will guess the secret ingredient.

Halloween veggie platter with a deliberately lumpy, yellowish cottage cheese dip that looks horrifying but tastes like a savory onion dip. Gross-out party food that's secretly healthy.

Creamy chocolate tofu pie in a homemade graham cracker crust, sweetened with honey and vanilla. Dairy-free, egg-free, and so silky nobody will guess the secret ingredient.

Homemade marinara sauce with crushed plum tomatoes, mushrooms, and a secret trio of steak sauce, barbecue sauce, and ketchup for unexpected depth. Vegetarian and ready in 45 minutes.

French hazelnut meringue biscuit with finely ground filberts folded into whipped egg whites. Baked hot and fast for a light, nutty base layer that's a pastry chef's secret weapon.

Fudgy brownie flavor meets chewy cookie texture in these chocolate-studded treats loaded with toasted pecans. The secret? Cocoa powder and chocolate chips team up for double-chocolate intensity.

Mexican black bean soup with a secret hit of Mexican chocolate, serrano chile, and finished with red wine vinegar and olive oil. Authentic depth from a long slow simmer.

Potato fudge uses mashed potatoes as the secret binder in a chocolate candy rolled in coconut or walnuts. A Depression-era confection that works better than it has any right to.

Three-ingredient cheese bread broils up bubbly and golden in 5 minutes. Parmesan whipped with mayo and slathered on French bread, the lazy cousin of garlic bread that secretly outshines it.

Moist, low-fat chocolate cake made with pureed prunes instead of butter and topped with a tangy orange glaze. Deeply chocolatey with barely any fat, and no one will guess the secret ingredient.