8,128 vanilla recipes

Chocolate chip cookies with a secret in the technique: beat the margarine and sugars until fluffy and pale before anything else joins the bowl. Crisp edges, soft centers, walnut crunch.

Eggnog thumbprint cookies filled with rum-spiked buttercream and dusted with nutmeg. A buttery shortbread base with a creamy holiday filling. Perfect for Christmas cookie tins.

Old-fashioned creamy peanut butter pie: a stovetop custard of peanut butter, brown sugar, eggs, and milk thickened on the stove and chilled in a baked pie shell. Topped with whipped cream for the perfect pull-from-the-fridge dessert.

French silk pie with a glossy whipped chocolate filling in a baked shell. Classic no-bake chocolate dessert with airy, mousse-like texture and chocolate curls on top.

Mary Jane's brownies melt butter, sugar, and water on the stove, then stir in a full bag of chocolate chips for an intensely fudgy brownie with nuts. So gooey they're best stored in the fridge.

Sour cream sugar cookies are soft, puffy, and rolled in sugar before flattening and baking. The sour cream keeps these tender for days with a slight tang that balances the sweetness.

Layered banana pudding made from scratch with brown sugar custard, whipped cream, sliced bananas, and optional walnuts. Rich, creamy, and no box mix needed.

Rhubarb nut bread with buttermilk, brown sugar, and chopped walnuts, topped with a butter-sugar crumble. A moist quick bread that makes two loaves for sharing or freezing.

Lighter chocolate cheesecake made with low-fat ricotta, yogurt cheese, egg whites, and cocoa powder instead of cream cheese. Topped with fresh strawberries and kiwi.

A vintage date bread baked right inside empty beer cans with maple syrup, pecans, and real beer in the batter. Yields perfectly round slices and makes a charming homemade gift.

Applesauce brownies with no butter or oil, loaded with pecans and chocolate chips. A full cup of applesauce keeps them fudgy while cocoa powder brings deep chocolate flavor.

No-bake peanut butter drops with oats, walnuts, and coconut. Boil the base for 3 minutes, stir in everything else, drop, and cool. A stovetop cookie that skips the oven entirely.

Banana layer cake with mashed bananas folded into a classic creamed butter and cake flour batter. A soft, tender two-layer cake with old-fashioned technique and genuine banana flavor.

Thumbprint snowball cookies with walnuts, cinnamon, and lemon zest in the dough, filled with raspberry jam and dusted with powdered sugar. A festive holiday cookie.

Coconut brownies: chewy chocolate brownies loaded with flaked coconut in the batter and crowned with chocolate chips and walnuts. The fudgy chocolate-coconut bar that beats any candy.

Old-fashioned slice-and-bake butterscotch cookies loaded with brown sugar and chopped nuts. Chill the dough in a log, slice into rounds, and bake in just 10 minutes.