10,000 buttery recipes

Mother's Christmas cheese cakes: cream cheese pastry tartlets with two fillings, one pecan-brown sugar and one coconut-vanilla. A classic holiday cookie tin stalwart.

Buttermilk orange cake studded with raisins and nuts, topped with a citrus-sugar glaze broiled into a caramelized, crackly crust. Served warm with whipped cream for an old-fashioned dessert.

Steamed cranberry pudding with molasses and a warm vanilla butter sauce. A dense, tart-sweet holiday dessert with jewel-red cranberry halves throughout, steamed for 90 minutes in a mold.

Grandma's flaky pie dough, made with both cold butter for flavor and shortening for tenderness. Pea-sized butter bits and ice water are the secret to a shatteringly flaky, foolproof homemade crust.

Potato soup with butter dumplings: tender potatoes simmered with celery and parsley, dotted with rich nutmeg butter dumplings, finished with sour cream.

Slow cooker orange-glazed carrots with butter, orange marmalade, and chopped pecans. Tender, sweet, and hands-off in the crockpot for a holiday-worthy side.

Scalloped asparagus layered with sharp cheddar cheese sauce and toasted almonds. Microwave method makes this creamy side dish ready in 30 minutes.

Maple pecan scones cut cold butter into a flour-pecan dough, then bind with maple syrup and heavy cream for a tender, sweet biscuit. Brushed with extra maple before baking.

Microwave beer bread ready in 15 minutes with self-rising flour, a can of beer, and cornflake crumbs. No yeast, no kneading, no oven needed for this quick no-fuss loaf.

Scotland's version of the scone, sometimes known as Scot's Pancake. Looks more like a crumpet, though the texture resembles a pancake.

Broiled venison steaks basted in a savory butter sauce with steak sauce and Worcestershire. A quick 30-minute wild game dinner that brings out the rich, earthy flavor of deer meat.

Breton brittle, also known as Christmas crack: layered stone-ground wheat crackers under a brown sugar butter toffee, topped with melted chocolate chips and chopped nuts. Five ingredients, irresistibly snappable.

Old-fashioned spice cake loaded with cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, allspice, and ginger, plus chopped nuts and plump raisins baked into a tender loaf with a wooden-skewer-clean crumb.

Creamy sweet potato soup pureed silky smooth, topped with butter-toasted pecans and creme fraiche. Made with leeks, carrots, white wine, and a russet potato for extra body.

Dense chocolate fudge cake layered with a tangy cream cheese ribbon and covered in rich fudge frosting. Made with real unsweetened chocolate for deep, intense flavor.

Three-layer orange cream brownies with a fudgy walnut brownie base, fluffy orange buttercream middle, and a glossy chocolate icing top. The Terry's Chocolate Orange in bar form, cut into 36 perfect bites.