Recipes with sugar

Strawberries Italian style macerate ripe berries with sugar, lemon, orange juice, port, and white wine. Boozy fragole al vino dessert that needs nothing more than a chilled glass.

Swedish cardamom braid bread with raisins, a classic Scandinavian yeast bread shaped into a beautiful three-strand plait. Soft, fragrant, and lightly sweet.

Homemade chocolate sandwich cookies with creamy vanilla buttercream filling. Better than Oreos with the option to tint half the filling pink or green with peppermint for Valentine's Day.

Rich chocolate truffle cake made with a full pound of semi-sweet chocolate, barely any flour, and whipped egg whites for a dense, fudgy texture dusted with powdered sugar.

Double chocolate brownies with semi-sweet chocolate in the batter and white chocolate chunks folded in, topped with a zigzag drizzle of both chocolates. Fudgy, rich, and topped with pecans.

Homemade chili sauce for canning with 50 fresh tomatoes, onions, red peppers, celery, vinegar, brown sugar, and whole allspice. A big-batch preserve that yields 5 quarts.

Classic roll-and-cut sugar cookies with a simple dough of margarine, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Crisp edges, soft centers, and ready for decorating.

Fluted sandwich cookies filled with tinted vanilla buttercream in three pastel colours. A pretty bakery-style cookie with a cut-out window on top showing the green, pink or yellow filling underneath.

Fresh blueberry pie with a clever twist: whipped cream lines the bottom and sides of the baked shell before the cooked-and-fresh berry filling pours in. Three hours of chilling sets it into a cool, lush slice.

Classic peanut butter crisscross cookies with chunky peanut butter and rolled oats for extra texture. The iconic fork-pressed pattern on a thick, chewy cookie with nutty crunch.

Raisin cookies use a boiled-water cooking method that plumps the raisins into the sweet brown sugar syrup before baking. No eggs, no butter required. Frugal Depression-era cookie that still satisfies.

Fresh vegetable relish with celery, tomatoes, green pepper, and lettuce in a sweet vinegar-ketchup dressing. A no-cook condiment ready in 10 minutes.

Fluffy buttermilk pancakes with separated eggs and folded-in stiffly beaten whites for extra lift. A from-scratch griddle recipe with tangy flavor and cloud-like texture.

Marble scones with swirled chocolate and vanilla doughs folded together for stunning ribbons of bittersweet chocolate. A buttermilk-tender showpiece scone for brunch or afternoon tea.

Chewy mini chocolate chip bars made with nonfat yogurt and egg whites instead of butter. Lower in fat but still loaded with brown sugar chewiness.

Butterscotch brownies (blondies) with just five ingredients: melted butter, brown sugar, vanilla, egg, and flour. Chewy, caramel-flavored bars in 40 minutes.