158 wood ear recipes

Grape starter for sourdough bread uses wild yeast from red grape skins to build a tangy, fruity base with just flour and water. A 6-day fermentation process creates a living starter you can maintain for months.

Pear-apple mincemeat pie: a lattice-topped classic with homemade or jarred pear-apple mincemeat, extra sugar, and buttery pastry. Old-fashioned holiday dessert at its best.

Almond Roca bars layer a buttery shortbread base under melted Hershey chocolate and chopped almonds. The classic potluck cookie that mimics the famous toffee candy in cookie-bar form.

Deep-dish pear pie with Anjou pears in a creamy yogurt custard filling, topped with a cinnamon streusel crumb. Nutmeg and vanilla round out this lighter take on a fruit pie.

Bartlett pear muffins fold sweet diced pears and chopped walnuts into a lemon-zested batter. Tender, fruit-studded morning muffins ready in 40 minutes for breakfast or weekend brunch.

A treasured memory of Christmas at Great-Aunt Elizabeth's house was a cookie that I never learned to eat in moderation. Although my mother warned me not to say anything, one of the first things I would say upon arrival was, "I'm hungry" hoping that these cookies would appear. Much to my delight they usually did, and in fact, began also to appear at Easter, the Fourth of July, Thanksgiving and any other time we got together to celebrate.

Almond shortbread bars baked in a jelly-roll pan with chopped almonds pressed under an egg-white wash. Buttery shortbread base, glossy nutty top, and a single bake from start to finish.

Turn frozen bread dough into warm, garlic butter breadsticks topped with Parmesan in under 30 minutes. Just slice, bake, brush, and dip into marinara.

Fall pear pie with thinly sliced fresh pears, nutmeg, and quick-cooking tapioca in a double crust, brushed with egg wash and finished with a pour of cream.

Fresh pear pie with sliced pears spiced with mace, baked in a single crust under a brown sugar streusel topping. Classic fall fruit pie with crumb crown.

Honey pear upside-down cake: tender pears glazed with honey, cinnamon, and orange zest under a soft orange-scented cake. Butter-free upside-down cake with real fall-dessert energy.

Two-layer apricot bars with a buttery shortbread base and a chewy brown sugar-apricot-nut topping, rolled in powdered sugar. Makes 75 bite-sized bars from one pan.

Old-fashioned homemade apple pie with a flaky oil crust, McIntosh apples spiced with cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg, and a hot vanilla glaze brushed over while the pie is still warm. The glaze is what sets this version apart.

Mincemeat bars with a buttery oat-walnut crust sandwiching a thickened mincemeat filling. Old-fashioned holiday dessert squares that store beautifully in a tin.

Lemon bars with an oat-brown sugar crumble crust and a tangy sweetened condensed milk lemon filling. Crumbly, creamy, and tart in every bite.

No-bake cereal bars with corn flakes, peanut butter chips, and brown sugar, topped with melted chocolate and peanut butter. Crunchy, chewy, and ready without turning on the oven.