Recipes

Sara Rimer · NYT Cooking

Sara Rimer · NYT Cooking

Sara Rimer · NYT Cooking

Sara Rimer · NYT Cooking

Sara Rimer · NYT Cooking

Sara Rimer · NYT Cooking

Sara Rimer · NYT Cooking

Sara Rimer · NYT Cooking

Sara Rimer · NYT Cooking

Sara Bonisteel · NYT Cooking

This recipe is adapted from a 1981 Mimi Sheraton recipe for Murbeteig, a pie and sugar-cookie dough from Germany. This buttery cookie isn’t too sweet, which makes it an excellent canvas for sugary holiday adornments, like Royal Icing. The dough warms quickly because of the high butter content, so work fast to roll, cut out and transfer the dough to the baking sheets to get the best results.

Sara Bonisteel · NYT Cooking

Shoofly pie is often thought of as the cake baked in a pie shell, or so wrote Jean Hewitt, The New York Times food writer who offered this recipe in the paper in 1965. This pie was served at a Pennsylvania Dutch luncheon hosted by the International Cuisine Group of the College Woman’s Club of Westfield, N.J., in the spring of that year. One of the organizers dug up the recipe from her mother’s “Housekeeper’s Scrap Book, 1896.” There were four versions of the pie in the book; this was the one marked: “We like this one better.”

Sara Bonisteel · NYT Cooking

This recipe first appeared in “More Quick Breads,” a pamphlet from the Food News Department of The New York Times, published in 1954. The booklet was one of 15 produced by the section covering “easy-to-make” recipes on topics ranging from fish to party cakes. For this recipe, feel free to substitute the nuts, and be sure to eat these small cinnamon rolls right out of the oven.

Sara Bonisteel · NYT Cooking

This Carnival cake is more like a brioche, with a bitingly sweet frosting and sugared pecans for crunch. Browse the baby shower section of a party supply store for the Mardi Gras king cake baby, where plastic babies are often sold by the dozen. A large dried bean works too. Tradition dictates that whoever finds the baby is king or queen of the party (and also has to bring the king cake to the next Carnival celebration). Sara Bonisteel

Sara Bonisteel · NYT Cooking

This dessert bar was first published by The New York Times in 1952 in a review of Passover dishes, and later it appeared in the pamphlet “Holiday Desserts: Cakes, Pies and Puddings for Special Occasions.” The traditional fluden is a leavened pastry, but this version is not. Whipped egg whites mixed with matzo meal, egg yolks, sugar and salt bind the layers together. To be certain that the dessert is kosher for Passover, all ingredients must be endorsed as such by “a recognized rabbinical authority,” as our editor June Owen wrote in 1952.

Sara Bonisteel · NYT Cooking

The Salty Dog is a Greyhound cocktail with salt — hence the name. Craig Claiborne first brought the recipe to The Times in 1968 for a Fourth of July barbecue feature. While his version calls for adding salt to the drink, other recipes salt the rim of the glass instead; see the variation below.

Sara Bonisteel · NYT Cooking

Most recipes for scrapple, a dish popular at diners in eastern Pennsylvania and the Mid-Atlantic, call for offal rather than cooked pork. But ours, first published in December 1953 and later in the Food News Department’s booklet “Encore for the Roast,” was devised as a way to use up leftover pork loin. You can substitute in 1 ½ cups puréed pork loin or start from scratch with ground pork. You’ll need a food processor and a double boiler for this recipe. The latter will save you 45 minutes active stirring time.

Sara Bonisteel · NYT Cooking

This is a good recipe for after the holidays, when a ham bone is on hand. Try it in place of stock for a risotto or soup.

Sara Bonisteel · NYT Cooking

This airy retro icebox dessert first appeared in “Fruit Pies: Delightful Confections Starring Fresh Fruit,” a booklet published by The New York Times Food News department in 1952, and it’s an excellent way to make use of summer’s strawberry bounty. Chiffons achieve their light consistency from meringue that is carefully folded into fruit custard.

Sara Bonisteel · NYT Cooking

Strawberries and blueberries under a drizzle of cream has long been an Independence Day favorite, but when Jean Hewitt introduced this recipe in 1968, it was as an alternative to another Fourth of July favorite: “The first red, white and blue dessert that comes to mind is watermelon and blueberries with ice cream, but for those who prefer something a little different, there is a recipe for strawberry and blueberry shortcake with ricotta sauce. Pitchers of clear, cold iced tea are all that have to be added.” The original recipe called for bran breakfast cereal, but we’ve adapted it with wheat bran, found in the bulk section of the grocery store, which gives this shortcake its rustic, colonial feel.

Sara Bonisteel · NYT Cooking

Here's a pie for the middle of summer, when the raspberries are ripe and dessert should be cool and creamy. Think of it as vanilla pudding in a pie shell, a messily delicious way to showcase the flavor of fresh raspberries. Ruth P. Casa-Emellos, The Times's home economist, developed this recipe in the summer of 1952. It was published as French raspberry pie but later appeared in the recipe booklet “Fruit Pies: Delightful Confections Starring Fresh Fruits” as raspberry cream pie. We’ve made the red currant jelly optional. If you choose to include it, you’ll get a gemlike glow and a crust-and-jam combination reminiscent of a homemade Pop-Tart.

Sara Bonisteel · NYT Cooking

Think of this as a chocolate Vietnamese iced coffee in dessert form. The original recipe appeared in The New York Times in June 1944 — wartime, when cream was scarce and the paper’s home economists experimented with gelatin and rennet to give ice cream texture. After the war, the recipe reappeared (along with the cream) in the pamphlet “12 Frozen Desserts.” Undiluted cold-brewed coffee is substituted here for the strong black coffee in the original recipe to produce a much smoother taste.

Sara Bonisteel · NYT Cooking

This cake appeared in The Times in 1954 as Halloween Cake, the centerpiece for a children’s party. When you strip away the original instructions for decoration (dyed yellow frosting and a black cat of piped chocolate), you’re left with a luscious citrus cake that works for any occasion, All Hallows’ Eve included.

Sara Bonisteel · NYT Cooking

These Chinese wheat wrappers are popular in northern China, where they are paired with anything stir-fried in small shreds, such as moo shu pork. The author Carolyn Phillips is a proponent of using Korean flour, which is lower in gluten than American all-purpose flour. Adding a layer of oil between the dough before rolling it into a circle is a trick that allows the layers to be peeled apart after cooking for a thinner wrapper. But even unpeeled, these wrappers are fairly thin. Sara Bonisteel

Sara Bonisteel · NYT Cooking

This Shanghainese noodle recipe, from the British cook and food writer Fuchsia Dunlop, can be made vegetarian by omitting the pork. Do seek out light and dark soy sauces; light soy sauce adds salty-umami flavor and dark soy sauce adds color. Traditional woks are made from carbon steel, and must be routinely seasoned to keep from rusting. To season, heat the wok on high, turn off the flame and use a paper towel to wipe the interior with vegetable oil. Repeat if necessary. A deep frying pan with high sides will work for this recipe if you don't have a wok. Sara Bonisteel