Recipes with vegetable shortening

Sourdough chocolate cookies, a discard recipe with rolled oats, unsweetened chocolate, and a splash of rum. Rolled and cut with cookie cutters for shaped cookies that taste like a tangier brownie.

Gingerbread house dough that bakes rock-solid for sturdy construction. Built with shortening, dark molasses, and a generous hit of cinnamon and ginger. Cuts cleanly, holds shapes, makes 5 walls.

Chicken, okra and sausage gumbo: dark-roux Louisiana stew with smoked sausage, fresh okra and tomatoes, simmered low and slow for 2 hours. Authentic Creole one-pot done the old-school way.

Maple apple pie with a buttered pecan layer between the filling and top crust. Real maple syrup replaces granulated sugar for a rich, caramelized New England-style pie.

Baked pumpkin empanadas with a brandy-laced pastry dough and spiced pumpkin-brown sugar filling, finished with cinnamon sugar. A Mexican-Californian fall dessert pastry.

Fresh raspberry sour cream cake bakes whole berries and chopped walnuts into a tender tube cake. Topped with whipped cream and sugared raspberries for a summer dessert table centerpiece.

Loaded with fruit, a classic version of Christmas fruitcake

Layered coffee cake with a cream cheese and condensed milk filling, canned peaches, chopped nuts, and a cinnamon-brown sugar crumb topping.

Deep-fried buttermilk-battered round steak with a shattering crust, served with classic cream gravy and mashed potatoes. This is Texas chicken fried steak done right.

Thin-pounded venison or elk steaks spread with sausage, wrapped around carrot sticks, browned, and braised until fork-tender. Old-school rouladen-style roll-ups from the wild game playbook.

I make this cake for about 10 years, every time people like it.

I make this cake for about 10 years, every time people like it.

Make your own corn dogs with this simple recipe that is sure to keep your kids entertained at the dinner table.

English cheese pie with sieved cottage cheese, cream sherry, rosewater, and currants in a from-scratch butter pastry crust. A fragrant Tudor-era custard dessert.

Hearty homemade German oatmeal bread with honey and whole wheat. Yields tender, chewy loaves with a golden crust that fill your kitchen with warm, yeasty aromas.

Mincemeat bars with a chewy oat-molasses crust and condensed mincemeat filling. Old-fashioned holiday baking with a crumble topping, dusted with powdered sugar.