10,000 sugar recipes

Old-fashioned pinto beans simmered low and slow with bacon drippings, a pinch of sugar, and salt until creamy and tender. Nana's humble, smoky pot of Southern beans, just like she made them.

Fig chess tarts with a buttery lemon-scented shortbread shell, filled with brown sugar custard studded with chopped dried figs and walnuts. A Southern chess pie translated into bite-sized tart form.

Buttery thumbprint cookies with a gross-out Halloween twist: pale, tender shortbread rounds dimpled and filled with dark blackberry jam that looks like a 'blackhead.' Easy, funny, and good enough to disappear fast.

Tiny Bohemian chocolate cookies with melted milk chocolate, grated walnuts, and butter, baked low and slow until they melt on your tongue. Makes 16 dozen bite-sized cookies for holiday platters.

Herb-marinated snails dipped in a light egg-white batter and fried golden. A crispy French appetizer with tarragon, chervil, chives, and parsley.

Sesame orange scones with nutty toasted sesame seeds, bright orange zest, and a glossy hot-orange-syrup glaze. Naturally dairy-free with a sticky-sweet citrus finish.

Spiced gingerbread dough shaped into edible bowls over an ovenproof glass mold, with star cutouts around the rim. Use leftover dough for classic Christmas gingerbread cookies.

Cherry cheesecake pie with tart red cherries baked under a creamy vanilla cream cheese topping in a pie shell. Almond extract adds a subtle, fragrant finish. Two desserts in one.

Old-fashioned blackberry pudding with a simple batter that rises up around the berries as it bakes, finished with a sugar crust on top. Homestyle comfort in an 8x8 pan.

Pumpkin praline pie hides a buttery pecan-praline layer beneath spiced pumpkin filling in a hot-water pastry crust. A Southern Thanksgiving pie that outshines the standard version.

Millionaire's shortbread with a buttery shortbread base, chewy homemade caramel middle, and a smooth chocolate top. Three layers of British confection in every square.

Light, airy drop cookies with cream cheese, coconut, and apricot preserves, finished with an apricot-spiked frosting for tropical sweetness.

Jam kolaches fold a cream cheese pastry dough around a dot of strawberry jam, then bake into tender pillows dusted with powdered sugar. The Czech-American Christmas cookie with a four-ingredient base.

Toriwasa is a Japanese izakaya classic: sake-poached chicken shredded thin and tossed with blanched parsley in a sharp wasabi-soy dressing, finished with shredded nori. Light, clean, and full of bite.

Escalloped pineapple with bread cubes, pineapple chunks, butter, eggs, and sugar baked into a sweet, custardy casserole. A Southern side dish for ham or a warm, bread pudding-style dessert.

Mexican polvoron cookies rolled in a cinnamon-chocolate-sugar coating while still warm. Tender, crumbly shortbread-style cookies with a hint of cinnamon baked low and slow.