Recipes with vanilla extract

Sweet potato pie with bourbon cream sauce: a spiced, custardy sweet potato filling in a flaky shell, scattered with pecans and crowned with a boozy bourbon cream. The microwave does the baking, so it's table-ready in under 30 minutes.

Checkerboard cookies, a visually striking shortbread-style cookie with alternating vanilla and chocolate squares. An impressive icebox cookie for holiday tins.

Mrs. Lincoln owned a copy of Directions for Cookery in its Verious Branches by Miss Leslie, which was one of the most popular sources of recipes of the time.

No-bake coconut Easter egg candies coated in semi-sweet chocolate. Shaped from a simple fondant of powdered sugar, butter, and almond extract with flaked coconut.

Pineapple upside-down cake with a cornmeal batter, fresh pineapple caramelized in Madeira wine and brown sugar, baked in a cast iron skillet. Extra-rich with whole eggs plus extra yolks and a hint of nutmeg.

A light, fat-free poppy seed bundt cake built on apricot puree and egg-white meringue, finished with a tangy lemon glaze. A clever lower-cal cake that doesn't taste compromised.

Old-fashioned cake doughnuts made from scratch with nutmeg and vanilla, deep-fried and dusted with sugar. No yeast, no rising time, no fuss.

Pink peppermint stick pie set into a chocolate wafer crust, with a no-bake marshmallow-and-cream filling stained candy-cane red. Topped with crushed peppermint sticks for crunch.

Buttermilk chocolate bar nut cake: a dense, fudgy tube cake made with melted milk chocolate bars, chocolate syrup, buttermilk, and chopped nuts. A vintage Southern dessert showstopper.

Wellesley Fudge Cake is the classic two-layer chocolate cake from the Wellesley College era, topped with a deep fudge frosting and chopped walnuts around the edge. Old-school, properly rich.

Wellesley Fudge Cake is the classic two-layer chocolate cake from the Wellesley College era, topped with a deep fudge frosting and chopped walnuts around the edge. Old-school, properly rich.

Cinnamon roll-ups made from flattened white bread spread with sweet cream cheese filling, rolled, and coated in cinnamon sugar butter. A no-yeast party pastry that serves 16.

Chocolate silk pudding with cocoa, three types of milk, egg yolks, and gelatin. A pot de creme-style dessert that sets overnight into a dense, velvety custard.

Triple-layer creme de menthe brownies with a fudgy base, minty buttercream filling, and glossy chocolate chip ganache topping. A retro holiday dessert that's worth the chill time.

Crispy meringue cookies loaded with semi-sweet chocolate chips. Low-and-slow baked at 300°F for hours until golden and crunchy. A nostalgic treat that melts in your mouth with chocolatey pockets throughout.

Buttermilk chocolate cake is the tangy, tender German-chocolate style cake with a fine, moist crumb, made for topping with coconut-pecan frosting. A classic Southern church-supper dessert.