10,000 cream recipes

Cream cheese shortbread cookies crowned with a fresh strawberry half. Buttery, tender rounds with a jammy ruby center that bakes right into the dough. Pretty enough for tea, easy enough for a weeknight.

Mushroom pate: a vegetarian appetizer of buttery sauteed mushrooms and onions deglazed with sherry, then blended with cream cheese and fresh parsley. Spread on crackers or crusty bread for the perfect cocktail snack.

Coffee mud pie with a crushed chocolate wafer crust, softened coffee ice cream, and cold fudge sauce. The classic frozen Mississippi mud pie copycat that slices like a dream after a 10-hour freeze.

Super-rich creme brulee made with nine egg yolks, heavy cream, and a whole vanilla bean, baked low in a water bath until just set, then crowned with a crackly caramelized sugar crust. Silkier than any restaurant version.

Baked banana halves brushed with butter and lemon juice, topped with shredded coconut until golden. A warm 4-ingredient dessert ready in 20 minutes.

Salmon scramble: creamy soft-scrambled eggs folded with flaked salmon and sliced button mushrooms, served piled on toast or into pita pockets. A fast, satisfying weekend brunch with pantry-friendly ingredients.

Banquet Nut Wafers spread Italian meringue - hot sugar syrup beaten into stiff egg whites - over wafer crackers, sprinkle with ground nuts, and brown briefly in a hot oven. A vintage tea party treat.

Pasta twists in a creamy asparagus sauce made with butter, olive oil, half-and-half, and a bouillon cube. A simple Italian-style pasta ready in 40 minutes.

Super easy mini cheesecakes use a vanilla wafer as the instant crust and bake right in the muffin tin. Five ingredients, foolproof, and individually portioned for parties or potlucks.

This is a wonderful and easy dip to make ahead and bring to parties.

Fruity couscous sauteed in butter with rum-soaked raisins, sugar, and chopped nuts, topped with yogurt. A sweet, nutty side dish or light dessert ready in 25 minutes.

A refreshing molded salad to accompany holiday foods.

Mock apple pie made entirely from Ritz crackers, sugar syrup, and cinnamon. The Depression-era classic that fooled families when apples were scarce or expensive, still uncannily convincing today.

Fattigmann is a Norwegian fried pastry cookie flavored with cardamom or cinnamon, twisted into slit diamonds and crisped in lard. A traditional Scandinavian Christmas treat with powdered sugar.

Cold brewed coffee blended with creme de cacao, white creme de menthe, and half-and-half until frothy. A boozy iced coffee that tastes like a chocolate-mint dream. Serves 4.

This is a wonderful fall soup, and only 200 calories per serving.