Recipes with spices

Soft maple walnut oatmeal cookies with brown sugar and cinnamon, topped with maple-flavored frosting and a walnut half. Chewy, sweet, and warmly spiced.

Cinnamon-apple cheesecake with a shortbread crust, creamy filling, overlapping apple slices on top, and a warm orange marmalade glaze. A fall cheesecake that's more fruit tart than dense New York style.

Chicken tequila pasta with poached chicken in a tomato sauce spiked with half a cup of tequila, lime juice, cumin, coriander, and cayenne, tossed with noodles and topped with Parmesan.

Cream cheese pinwheel cookies filled with cinnamon, sugar, and chopped pecans. A tender, flaky dough rolled jelly-roll style and sliced into swirled rounds.

Piccalilli is a sweet-sour spiced relish of green tomatoes, peppers, onion and cabbage, salted overnight then simmered in cider vinegar, brown sugar and whole spices. A tangy condiment for hot dogs, beans and cold meats.

Cucidati, the traditional Sicilian Christmas fig cookies, with a rich filling of figs, raisins, nuts, chocolate and rum wrapped in tender pastry, shaped into slashed horseshoes and dusted with sugar.

Christmas compote jam blends dried figs, dates, apricots, three nuts, and candied orange in a quince-juice base spiced with cinnamon, clove, cardamom, and star anise. A three-day European holiday preserve worth every step.

Pickled red eggs steeped in beet juice, apple cider vinegar, cloves, allspice, peppercorns, and fresh ginger. Vibrant magenta with tangy, spiced flavor.

Braised lamb in a spiced yogurt sauce with saffron, rosewater, fried raisins, and slivered almonds. A Mughlai-inspired dish with cardamom, coriander, and garam masala.

Apple bean bake with great northern beans, tart apples, onions, brown sugar, and a hint of cinnamon. A sweet-savory baked bean side that turns Sunday supper into something special.

A big-batch brownie sheet cake made with cocoa, buttermilk, and a hint of cinnamon. The boiled cocoa mixture gives the crumb an intensely fudgy texture. Ice it while warm for a glossy, melt-in finish.

Oatmeal raisin sheet cake spiked with cinnamon, cloves, and plumped raisins, baked thin on a sheet pan and finished with a quick poured icing. The bake-sale and potluck cake that feeds a crowd of 24.

Low-calorie applesauce raisin squares with whole wheat flour, natural bran, ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg, topped with sliced almonds. Just 61 calories per square.

Swedish apple cake with cinnamon, cloves, and chopped nuts, baked in a 9x13 pan with a brown sugar crumble topping. A dense, spiced fall cake loaded with fresh apples.

Fat-free apple coffeecake skips the butter and yolks: skim milk, egg whites, and corn syrup keep it tender and moist, with sliced apples and cinnamon sugar baked across the top. Brunch without the guilt.

Homemade chicken and veal sausage with bacon, brandy-flamed spices, coriander, and cloves. Stuff into casings, form patties, or shape in plastic wrap and poach before grilling.

Mincemeat sundae pie blends fruit mincemeat into vanilla ice cream, packs it into a vanilla wafer-pecan crust, and finishes each slice with warm homemade caramel sauce. A festive frozen twist on a Christmas classic.

Chicken tagine with pine nut couscous braises chicken thighs in a fragrant Moroccan spice blend with dried apricots and prunes, served over couscous scented with lemon zest and toasted pine nuts. A dinner-party-worthy North African main.

Apple cheesecake with cinnamon-sugar apple topping over creamy cheesecake filling on a graham cracker crust, finished with chopped pecans. Fall-flavored dessert that bakes in one pan.

Classic German Lebkuchen: spiced honey bars with almonds and candied citrus peel, glazed with lemon icing and dotted with cherries. Centuries-old Nuremberg Christmas tradition.

Spiced brown sugar bundt cake with cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, and cloves, baked with chopped pecans and finished with a butterscotch glaze. Holiday-table ready.

Bay scallop ceviche cured in lime and orange juice with cumin, then tossed with tomato, sweet pepper, red onion, and cilantro. A bright Latin appetizer where citrus does the cooking.

Green tomato soup with garlic, ginger, and cumin pureed smooth and finished with coconut milk. An Indian-inflected way to use up unripe tomatoes from the late-summer garden, garnished with yogurt, cashews, and cilantro.

Chocolate raisin snacking cake with cocoa, cinnamon, and chopped nuts, made in one saucepan. Raisins get simmered first to plump them up, and the warm cooking liquid goes right into the batter.

Brown rice and black beans simmered with sauteed onion, garlic, green pepper, cumin, and salsa. A hearty, budget-friendly vegetarian one-pan meal packed with fiber and protein.

Chocolate raspberry Linzer cookies sandwich cinnamon-almond shortbread with melted chocolate and raspberry jam. Powdered-sugar tops with a window peek of berry filling.

Blueberry crumb cake squares from a jelly roll pan with a rich butter batter, a full quart of blueberries, and a cinnamon-nutmeg brown sugar crumb topping. Makes 24 generous squares.

Gingerbread Skeleton cookies that kids can make with you together, it is full of fun to make, and it is worth the efforts!

Upside-down chocolate cake baked over a brown-sugar caramel with apricot halves and maraschino cherries. Cocoa-rich cake flipped onto the platter for a glossy fruit top.

Rich boiled fruit cake with currants, raisins, and sultanas simmered in sugar water with mixed spice and ginger before baking. A dense, moist British classic.

Vegan garlicky chili made with TVP (texturized vegetable protein) instead of ground beef. Five cloves of garlic, two ounces of chili powder, and masa for thickening deliver hearty, meaty character.

Chocolate potato cake made with hot mashed potatoes for an incredibly moist crumb, cocoa, cinnamon, and folded egg whites. Finished with tangy cream cheese frosting.

Jamaican jerk sauce blended from allspice, scotch bonnet pepper, thyme, scallions, citrus juice, and soy sauce. A fiery Caribbean marinade with warm spice and serious heat.

Vegan cranberry upside-down muffins with oats, cinnamon, nutmeg, and applesauce. Low-fat, egg-free, and dairy-free with a jewel-toned cranberry sauce bottom that becomes the top.

Melomakarona are Greek honey-soaked cookies with orange zest, cinnamon, cloves, and brandy. Baked until golden, dipped in hot honey syrup, and topped with chopped nuts.

Cinnamon candied pecans with a crunchy egg white and sugar coating baked low and slow at 225F. Five ingredients and utterly addictive for snacking or gifting.

Friendship starter applesauce cake spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and cloves. A sourdough-style cake with deep apple flavor and optional nuts or raisins.

Parlies are thin, crispy Scottish gingerbread cookies made with molasses, brown sugar, ginger, and cinnamon. Rolled paper-thin and baked until snappy.

Vegan stuffed peppers filled with split peas, couscous, mushrooms, and fresh tomatoes seasoned with cumin and balsamic vinegar. High-protein, no meat, and finished in the microwave for a fast weeknight dinner.

Traditional lamb rogan josh, the aromatic Kashmiri curry. Tender lamb braised low in a fragrant base of whole spices, browned onions, ginger and garlic, with yogurt stirred in for a rich reddish-brown sauce.

Plum streusel coffee cake layered with fresh plum halves, brown sugar cinnamon crumble, and chopped walnuts. Two layers of fruit and streusel sandwiched in a tender batter.

Spiced pineapple zucchini bread with crushed pineapple, currants, and chopped nuts. Two moist, fragrant loaves for the price of one big mixing bowl. Cinnamon-and-nutmeg classic with a tropical twist.

Homemade cinnamon raisin swirl bread with mashed potato for extra-soft texture, rolled jelly-roll style with cinnamon sugar. Makes two tender yeast loaves that taste like bakery bread.

Dried fruits taste sweeter than candy and also provide fiber and potassium.

Schnecken are German-style cinnamon pecan rolls made from a soft yeasted dough filled with brown sugar, raisins, pecans, and cinnamon, then baked in muffin tins until golden.

Twice-baked Italian biscotti with fresh ginger, Dutch cocoa, and toasted almonds. Crisp, dunkable cookies with warm spice and a deep chocolate undertone.

Whole-wheat snickerdoodles sweetened with pure maple syrup and rolled in cinnamon sugar. A nuttier, more wholesome take on the classic crackle-topped cinnamon cookie.

Savory pumpkin stew with potatoes, peas, corn, and a mustard-cinnamon-apple cider broth. A vegetarian autumn one-pot that turns sweet pumpkin into something genuinely savory.