29 secret recipes

Chocolate chip cookies with a secret in the technique: beat the margarine and sugars until fluffy and pale before anything else joins the bowl. Crisp edges, soft centers, walnut crunch.

Eugenie's baklava layers crisp, buttery phyllo with a spiced walnut filling and soaks it in a honey-lemon syrup, complete with a cook's secret for shatteringly crisp, never-soggy layers. A Mediterranean classic.

Olive Garden-style spaghetti sauce with ground round steak, stewed tomatoes, vegetable juice, onion soup mix, and a secret half cup of grape jelly for sweetness and body.

You will be wondering what's the secret to this decadent and delicious pecan pie.

Stephanie's cinnamon rolls bake up extra soft thanks to a secret in the dough: instant vanilla pudding mix. Rolled with a thick cinnamon-brown-sugar filling and cut with thread for clean swirls, they stay tender for days.

Chocolate mayonnaise cake is an old-fashioned secret for incredibly moist chocolate cake. A full cup of mayo replaces butter and adds richness without any greasy taste.

Sauerkraut apple cake with walnuts, cinnamon, and nutmeg topped with orange-cinnamon cream cheese frosting. A secret ingredient cake nobody can guess.

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

Loaded oatmeal cookies with whole wheat flour, coconut, pecans, chocolate chips, and butterscotch chips. Vanilla pudding mix is the secret to extra-soft cookies.

Chocolate red beet cake: deep cocoa cake with mashed beets baked into a moist, tender crumb you'd never guess was hiding a vegetable. An old-school secret-ingredient cake.

Competition-style Texas chili with 4 pounds of cubed round steak, 14 spices including curry and cinnamon, green chiles, and a secret weapon: milk chocolate melted in at the end.

Old fashioned gingerbread cake made with a surprising secret: tomato soup replaces the liquid in gingerbread mix for an incredibly moist, spiced cake with raisins and walnuts.

Creamy no-fail chocolate fudge with a secret ingredient: process cheese. Melts into a rich, smooth candy loaded with cocoa and chopped nuts that nobody will guess.

Friendship Fiesta Cake hides mashed pinto beans in a spiced bundt cake with apples, raisins, nuts, and a vanilla glaze. Moist, dense, and nobody guesses the secret.

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.

Cocoa brownies with a secret weapon: three cloves of garlic melted right into the butter. Fudgy inside, springy on top, loaded with walnuts and topped with blanched almonds.