18 softy recipes

Puffy sour cream drop cookies topped with cinnamon sugar before baking. Soft, cakey, and lightly golden around the edges. Simple pantry ingredients, 30 minutes start to finish. Makes 18.

Soft fresh German egg noodles. Spätzle, literally translasted means "little sparrows". This style of of noodle is also called Spätzli or Chnöpfli in Switzerland or Knöpfle or Hungarian Nokedli, Csipetke or Galuska. These type of noodles are commonly found side-dish from the cuisines of southern Germany and Austria, Switzerland, Hungary, Alsace, Moselle and South Tyrol.

Grandma's soft molasses cookies, an old-fashioned drop cookie with dark molasses, warm ginger and cinnamon, and a splash of cold coffee for tender old-school spice cookie flavor.

Roll-out molasses cookies with eggs and cream of tartar that chill overnight before baking into soft, pillowy rounds. The baking soda foams in the molasses for extra lift and tender texture.

Soft gingerbread cake with molasses, sour milk, and four warm spices in the Pennsylvania Dutch tradition. Dense, moist, and deeply spiced with ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg.

Philadelphia-style soft pretzels with a chewy, dense bread interior and a glossy egg-washed crust crusted with coarse salt. Four ingredients, baked in a hot oven for street-cart authenticity at home.

Pillowy soft almond cookies made with almond filling for intense flavor, topped with sliced blanched almonds. Lightly golden, tender, and fragrant. Makes 2-3 dozen.

Soft shell crabs simmered in a white wine tomato sauce with scallions, fresh mint, garlic, and red pepper flakes. An Italian-style seafood dish for two, ready in an hour.

Soft gingerbread cake with lard and butter for tender crumb, spiced with ginger and cinnamon, baked until edges pull away from the pan.

This bread machine nut bread stays unbelievably soft thanks to cottage cheese and sour cream. Loaded with walnuts, raisins, oats, and whole wheat, it fills your kitchen with warm cinnamon fragrance.

Soft molasses cookies spiced with ginger, cinnamon, allspice, and cloves. A classic LA Times recipe that bakes up thick, cakey, and deeply spiced.

Crispy flour-dredged soft-shell crabs served on a pool of creamy tomato sauce with creme fraiche, cumin seeds, celery seeds, garlic, and shallots. A restaurant-worthy crab dish with a make-ahead sauce.

Soft gingerbread cookies with separated eggs folded in for airy texture, spiced with ginger and cloves, ready in just 10 minutes of baking.

Noodles and cabbage: a rustic Italian Alpine-style baked casserole layering fettuccine with savoy cabbage, potatoes, melted soft cheese, and brown butter perfumed with sage. Vegetarian comfort food from the mountains.

A whole pumpkin stuffed with herbed rice, sauteed mushrooms, spinach, and bell pepper, then baked until the flesh turns silky soft. A vegetarian showstopper.

Whole green apples cored and stuffed with sauteed sausage, garlic, and onion, topped with brown sugar and bacon, then baked until the apples are soft. A savory-sweet brunch dish or hearty fall dinner.