10,000 sugar recipes

French meringue strips with a buttery shortbread base topped with vanilla meringue, cinnamon sugar, and chopped almonds. Elegant bar cookies that yield 8 dozen.

Herman milk sourdough starter: a sweet, milk-based fermented batter that becomes the base for Amish friendship bread, cinnamon coffee cakes, and quick breads. Pass cups along to friends; the starter never runs out.

An easy bread machine loaf with just four pantry staples: yeast, warm water, flour, and a spoonful of sugar. Add everything, press start, and walk away for a soft, lightly sweet homemade bread with no kneading by hand.

Scottish shortbread for Christmas with all-purpose and rice flour for sandy crispness. Butter-forward, only four ingredients, pressed into a jelly-roll pan for easy holiday bars.

Three-layer cookie bars with a buttery shortbread crust, gooey brown sugar pecan filling, and melted chocolate chips on top. Irresistibly rich and totally addictive.

Kolach is a soft, enriched Eastern European braided bread: a milk-and-egg yeast dough braided into glossy golden loaves, brushed with egg glaze and sprinkled with poppy seeds. A festive holiday bread worth the rise.

Chewy chocolate peanut butter chip cookies bake up soft in the center with deep cocoa flavor and a full bag of peanut butter chips folded through the dough. A drop-and-bake batch cookie ready in 30 minutes.

Old-fashioned Pennsylvania Dutch pickled pears: whole or sliced pears poached in spiced apple cider vinegar syrup with cloves and cinnamon. Traditional canning recipe for the holiday relish tray.

Salmon scampi seared in bacon drippings and finished with marsala wine, butter, garlic, and herbs. A pan-to-oven main course served over rice.

Alice's lemon pie is a heritage 9-ingredient meringue pie with a cornstarch-thickened lemon filling and powdered-sugar meringue topping. Light, tart, and finished in a deep dish pastry shell.

The ultimate batter for deep frying. Beer makes a batter for deep frying and smooths as French onion soup.

Old-fashioned lemon chess pie with cornmeal as the traditional thickener and fresh lemon juice for tang. The simplest Southern dessert: 5 ingredients, one bowl, no fuss.

Irish cream balls combine crushed vanilla wafers, toasted pecans, cocoa, and Irish cream liqueur into no-bake boozy bites rolled in powdered sugar. The grown-up holiday cookie tray staple.

Traditional giblet gravy made from turkey giblets simmered into stock, combined with pan drippings and thickened with a butter-flour roux. A rich, from-scratch Thanksgiving gravy with real turkey flavor.

Lemon meringue pie reimagined as a cake: a cloud-light, lemon-scented angel food cake split and filled with tangy homemade lemon curd, then swathed in glossy Italian meringue frosting. Airy, bright, and showy.

Classic hollandaise sauce made with egg yolks, melted butter, lemon juice, and cayenne, whisked over a water bath. Rich, silky, and ideal for trout or any delicate fish.