10,000 sugar recipes

Aunt Catherine's Italian Cookies: a heirloom cookie with almond extract, cinnamon, and chopped nuts, finished in pastel-colored powdered sugar icing. Stores for months in tins.

Sweet monkey bread made with canned buttermilk biscuits rolled in cinnamon sugar and drenched in a melted brown sugar glaze. Pull-apart, sticky, and ready in 40 minutes.

Bachelor buttons: traditional English shortbread-style cookies made with butter, flour, sugar, and a hint of nutmeg. Tender, pale, walnut-sized teatime classics.

Edible cake-decorating roses and leaves shaped from a marshmallow-and-powdered-sugar fondant. A budget-friendly alternative to professional gum paste for birthday and wedding cakes.

German filbert cookies shape buttery hazelnut dough into delicate crescents and dust them in powdered sugar or dip in chocolate. Holiday cookie classic with deep nutty flavor.

Rum-flamed bananas sauteed in butter with powdered and brown sugar, then ignited with a full cup of rum for a dramatic tableside dessert. Serve over vanilla ice cream.

Old-fashioned jelly cookies: buttery shortbread rounds sandwiched with red raspberry jelly and dusted in powdered sugar. The kind that gets softer and better as the jelly soaks in.

Chewy no-bake apricot balls bright with orange zest and lemon juice, simmered briefly then chilled and rolled in granulated sugar. Tangy, jammy, and built from just four pantry staples.

Monkey bread made with canned buttermilk biscuits tossed in cinnamon sugar and baked in a Bundt pan with a buttery cinnamon glaze. An easy pull-apart treat in about an hour.

Orange shortbread bars with fresh orange zest and cornstarch for a melt-in-your-mouth sandy texture. Score before baking for clean, even cuts.

Frozen lemon mousse terrine with whipped cream, beaten egg whites, and gelatin, sliced and served with a vibrant black currant sauce. Light, elegant, and make-ahead friendly.

Buttery walnut cookies made with toasted ground walnuts, piped and baked low and slow until pale golden, then dusted with powdered sugar. Tender, crumbly, and freezer-friendly.

Best candy apple pie: a classic cinnamon-spiced double-crust apple pie crowned with a bubbling brown sugar, cream, and pecan caramel poured right over the top. Apple pie meets pecan praline.

Kataifi pastries: shredded phyllo rolls stuffed with walnut, almond, and spice filling, baked golden, and drenched in lemon-cinnamon honey syrup. A Greek-Middle Eastern classic.

Italian tiramisù cake with three layers of sponge brushed in espresso and rum, layered with mascarpone cream, and dusted with cocoa. Make-ahead Italian dessert.

Grandma's mincemeat cookies are a Christmas tradition: spiced dried-fruit filling folded into a tender shortening dough, dropped by the spoonful and baked golden in about 12 minutes.