Recipes with butter

Crawfish corn maquechoux with sweet corn, bell peppers, onion, and tomato smothered in butter. A classic Cajun side dish loaded with crawfish tails for a true Louisiana one-pot meal.

Easy focaccia using store-bought pizza dough kneaded with chopped onion, diced tomato, and herbs, then brushed with butter near the end of baking. Bakery-style flatbread on the table in about 30 minutes.

Easy spiced apple cake bakes a small one-bowl batter with cinnamon, ginger, and fresh sliced apples in a pie tin. Quick fall snack cake with light and dark brown sugars.

Toasted garlic couscous sauteed in olive oil with chicken broth, cumin, and butter. A pilaf-style method that adds nutty depth in under 15 minutes.

Koala Kookies are buttery walnut shortbread balls dusted in powdered sugar. Five ingredients, no eggs, and a melt-in-your-mouth texture that puts these in the same family as Mexican wedding cookies, Russian tea cakes, and Greek kourabiedes.

Pecan rum bundt cake made with cake mix and pudding mix, soaked in a buttery rum sugar glaze. Dark rum in the batter and the glaze for double the boozy flavor.

Southern chocolate chess pie: a one-bowl classic with butter, cocoa, sugar, eggs, and a touch of cornmeal in an unbaked pie shell. Crackly sugar top, fudgy interior.

Cranberry honey pecan crunch pie with a tart cranberry-orange puree filling and a caramelized honey-pecan topping. A stunning holiday pie with bright fruit and buttery crunch.

Fresh mango with toasted pecan quick bread folds juicy diced mango and crunchy pecans into a tender buttermilk batter. Bakes as a loaf, mini Bundts, or muffins for an easy tropical breakfast or snack.

Old fashioned shortcake with tender buttermilk biscuits split, buttered, and layered with sweetened fruit and whipped cream. A classic summer dessert that beats any sponge cake bakery version.

Pate sucree is the classic French sweet shortcrust pastry for tarts, with butter, sugar, egg, and flour. A buttery, slightly crisp shell that holds custards, fruit, and chocolate beautifully.

Sauteed smallmouth bass meunier dredged in cornmeal and flour, pan-fried in butter, and finished with a vinegar pan sauce. A classic French-meets-camp fish preparation.

Thin spaghetti tossed in a buttery cream sauce with scallions and lemon zest, topped with golden whitefish caviar. A luxurious two-person pasta ready in 20 minutes.

Fruit pockets are tender biscuit-style pastries folded around a spiced filling of raisins, currants, citron, and nuts. A vintage British-style hand pie with warm cinnamon and clove.

Homemade water bagels with the proper boil-then-bake method: shaped, chilled, dropped into sugar-water, then baked until shiny and golden. The classic dense-chewy bagel texture, made from scratch.

Eggless chocolate cake using vinegar and skim milk for tender, moist layers. A wartime-style two-layer cake with a light chocolate whipped frosting. Sixteen servings of nostalgia.