Recipes with vanilla extract

Fudgy chocolate brownie cookies topped with pastel-colored frosting and sugar crystals. Loaded with semisweet chocolate chips and finished with rainbow icing for a festive, party-ready treat.

Fudgy chocolate brownie cookies topped with pastel-colored frosting and sugar crystals. Loaded with semisweet chocolate chips and finished with rainbow icing for a festive, party-ready treat.

Three-layer butter pecan cake filled with rich, from-scratch burnt-sugar caramel, frosted in buttercream and crusted with pecans. A classic Southern caramel cake worth the fuss.

Three-layer butter pecan cake filled with rich, from-scratch burnt-sugar caramel, frosted in buttercream and crusted with pecans. A classic Southern caramel cake worth the fuss.

Diabetic nut cookies: sugar-free drop cookies with bright orange zest, chopped nuts, and no refined sweeteners. An easy low-sugar cookie recipe for diabetes-friendly baking.

Sicilian cassata cake with a delicate sponge layer, Marsala wine soak, and rich chocolate custard filling. A traditional Italian celebration dessert built in stages.

Sicilian cassata cake with a delicate sponge layer, Marsala wine soak, and rich chocolate custard filling. A traditional Italian celebration dessert built in stages.

Sigi's chocolate torte: store-bought pound cake layered with a silky chocolate ganache-style icing made in a blender. Four-layer torte ready for the fridge in 30 minutes.

Buttery cookies with a chocolate Kiss hidden inside and mini chocolate chips throughout the dough. Each one cracks open to reveal a melted chocolate center.

Fruit nut breakfast bars with rolled oats, chopped almonds, and golden raisins bound with brown sugar and a hit of almond extract. Make-ahead bars that beat any granola bar in the cereal aisle.

Spiced pumpkin layer cake built on yellow cake mix with pumpkin, walnuts, orange zest, and pumpkin pie spice, finished with cinnamon cream cheese frosting. A semi-homemade fall dessert with bakery-level results.

Chocolate bar nut cake melts ten ounces of chocolate bars into a buttermilk batter loaded with two and a half cups of chopped nuts and chocolate syrup. Baked low and slow in a tube pan for 90 minutes. A dense, fudgy Bundt-style chocolate cake.

Layered apple kuchen: a tall German-Jewish bundt cake with three batter layers and two ribbons of cinnamon-sugar apples baked in between. The honey cake's apple-loving cousin.

Classic cinnamon French toast made with egg, milk, vanilla, and warm cinnamon. Soaked, browned in butter, and ready for syrup, honey, or fresh fruit on top.

Black currant vodka cheesecake on a toasted almond and graham crust, baked low in a water bath for a silky, crack-free top. Crowned with fresh strawberries and a glossy strawberry-Kurant glaze.

Chocolate chip snack cake with cream cheese pockets: a no-egg, no-butter chocolate cake topped with dollops of sweetened cream cheese, chocolate chips, and walnuts. The retro depression-era "crazy cake" upgraded.