22 secret recipes

The crisp, densely chocolaty cookies, with an unusually long baking time, were an annual favorite among the 20-plus recipes that Susan Couchman of Hartland remembers were made each year by her mother, Gloria Kuchler.

Cold seafood dip built on the surprise of sea cucumber, blended into a fluffy mix of cream cheese and whipped heavy cream. Three ingredients, served chilled with potato chips or crackers.

Molasses sandwich cookies with a hidden strawberry preserves filling, spiced with cinnamon and ginger, and topped with a vanilla powdered sugar glaze. The secret is inside.

Tongue-in-cheek eggplant recipe where the real secret is ditching the eggplant entirely and reaching for Kentucky bourbon instead. A classic joke recipe for eggplant haters everywhere.

Hickory-smoked pork ribs marinated in cider vinegar and garlic salt, grilled over charcoal, then dunked in a warm BBQ-and-steak sauce with molasses. Backyard classic.

Flesh of the Pig Ala Bob Greenberg (And Secret recipe

Cracker Barrel-style biscuits use just Bisquick and buttermilk for tender, easy-split biscuits that taste like the restaurant. The double-stack trick is the secret to perfect splits.

Skinny chocolate cupcakes: deep, fudgy cocoa cupcakes made with pureed prunes instead of butter. Weight Watchers-friendly, lightning fast, and surprisingly rich. No one will guess the secret.

Reminisce Magazine's contest winning recipe. By: Oma Rollison (my mother) "'This absolutely scrumptious cake needs no icing...just a dusting of confectioners' sugar. Even though this recipe has been a 'family secret' for years, I'm delighted to share it with my fellow Reminisce readers."

Beneath a layer of ghostly whipped topping lies a chilling graveyard of cookie-crumb earth, with layers of creamy, eerie cheese filling and a tombstone of cookies marking the final resting place of your diet. Serve this spine-chilling dessert at your Halloween party, if you dare, and watch as your guests unearth the delicious secrets hidden within!

Classic oatmeal raisin cookies with pecans and cinnamon. The secret is soaking raisins in beaten eggs and vanilla for an hour, producing plump fruit and extra-chewy cookies.

Orange sweet potatoes whipped with fresh orange juice, zest, brown sugar, and a secret splash of Angostura bitters. A lighter, butterless holiday side dish.

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.

Fudgy brownies made with pureed tepary beans, carob powder, and honey instead of butter and sugar. Loaded with walnuts and raisins. The secret ingredient? Nobody will guess.

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.

Your basic burger recipe with ground beef, onion powder, salt, and pepper. The secret is a light touch when mixing and shaping. Overworked meat makes tough, dense patties.