10,000 sugar recipes

Italian pastry puffs with lemon-scented biscotti dough wrapped around silky vanilla-almond pastry cream. Baked in a cupcake pan until golden, these old-school treats are worth every minute.

Meringue trifle layered with homemade meringue pieces, orange liqueur whipped cream, sliced bananas, and drizzled melted chocolate. A crunchy, creamy, no-cake trifle that's all texture.

Baked cinnamon applesauce doughnuts made with yeast dough and rolled in a cinnamon-sugar coating. Lower in fat than fried doughnuts with a tender, pillowy crumb.

Chocolate cinnamon cake roll filled with Kahlua-spiked cinnamon whipped cream. A light cocoa sponge rolled around a spiced, boozy filling for an elegant dessert.

Pretty pink jelly combining apple juice and fresh crushed strawberries with liquid pectin. Boils for just 1 minute. Seal with paraffin wax for shelf-stable preserves. Makes 3.5 cups.

Tortellini tossed in a rich Parmesan cream sauce with sautéed ham cubes. A Northern Italian staple that comes together in 35 minutes with just a handful of ingredients.

Piped allspice and poppy seed butter wafers with fresh orange-sugar, finished with a cream glaze and poppy seed sprinkle. Elegant tea cookies with warm spice and bright citrus.

Old-fashioned banana cream pudding layered with vanilla wafers and sliced bananas in a rich, stovetop custard. A Southern-style dessert that's ready in 20 minutes flat.

Portuguese corn bread (broa) for the bread machine with a high ratio of cornmeal to bread flour and olive oil. Rustic, golden, and slightly gritty with a crisp crust.

Balsamic strawberries macerated with sugar and finished with aged balsamic vinegar just before serving. A three-ingredient Italian dessert that brings out the berry's best.

Traditional Swiss Basel Leckerli: honey-spice cookie bars with cinnamon, cloves, candied peels, kirsch, and almonds under a crackly sugar glaze. Makes 50 to 60 bars that keep for weeks.

Easy cheese Danish made with crescent roll dough and a sweet cream cheese filling. Only 5 ingredients and 10 minutes of prep for a bakery-style breakfast treat.

Mrs. Fields pumpkin spice cookies with dark brown sugar, plump raisins, and toasted walnuts. Soft, cakey, and packed with warm fall spice. A copycat worth making.

Bolognese sponge cake layered with vanilla custard and rum, frosted in coffee zabaglione buttercream, then crowned with chocolate-dipped almonds and walnut sides. From Il Cantoncino restaurant in Bologna.

Cinnamon Zucchini, Chocolate, and Walnut Cookies recipe

Crunchy deviled eggs with sour cream, crumbled bacon, parsley, and paprika, topped with a pimento-stuffed olive half. A quick no-cook appetizer ready in 10 minutes.