Recipe Archive

Pastries & Cookies

Pastries and cookies reward precision without losing warmth. Browse doughs, fillings, laminated layers, bars, pies, and small bakes made for sharing.

881 recipes

Culinary Explorer

A cooking platform built around craft, culture, and the stories behind what we eat.

Discover Culinary Explorer

Recipes

Jam Tarts

Chef Thomas

Jam Tarts

Twelve small shortcrust tarts filled with spoonfuls of whatever jam is in the cupboard, baked until the pastry is pale gold and the fruit bubbles in their centres like tiny stained-glass windows.

Janhagel

Chef Joost

Janhagel

The old Dutch tray cookie named for the rabble: one buttery slab, almond and sugar scattered like a noisy crowd, baked thin and cut while warm.

Jodenkoeken

Chef Joost

Jodenkoeken

The name is blunt, the biscuit is plain, and that is the trick: a broad North Holland butter cookie whose quiet snap carries Jewish Holland, Alkmaar bakers, and the coffee tin.

Joe Froggers

Chef Dean

Joe Froggers

Massive, deeply spiced molasses cookies that kept New England sailors fed across the Atlantic. Chewy, rum-scented, and dark as a nor'easter, these are the cookies that built a seafaring tradition.

Kaab el Ghazal (كعب الغزال)

Chef Zohra

Kaab el Ghazal (كعب الغزال)

The Fassi queen of the tea tray: pale crescent pastry wrapped around orange-blossom almond paste, delicate in the hand, generous beside mint tea.

Kaak d'Oujda (كعك وجدة)

Chef Zohra

Kaak d'Oujda (كعك وجدة)

My eastern frontier's ring biscuit, fragrant with anise, sesame, and orange blossom, pinched into a dentelled circle and baked firm enough to keep by the tin for Eid callers.

Kaki-pī (柿ピー, spicy rice crackers with peanuts)

Chef Takumi

Kaki-pī (柿ピー, spicy rice crackers with peanuts)

A handful of crisp soy-chile arare, a handful of roasted peanuts, and a little restraint: Kaki-pī is snack food, drinking food, and home comfort, all decided by balance.

Kalitsounia Kritis (Καλιτσούνια Κρήτης)

Chef Dimitra

Kalitsounia Kritis (Καλιτσούνια Κρήτης)

Crete's little Easter cheese pies are pinched open around sweet fresh myzithra, mint, and cinnamon, with a tender olive-oil dough that stays soft after baking.

Kansas Sunflower Seed Pie

Chef Dean

Kansas Sunflower Seed Pie

A golden prairie tribute where toasted sunflower seeds swim in a buttery caramel filling, delivering all the sticky satisfaction of pecan pie while celebrating the Sunflower State's most iconic crop.

Kärntner Hadnkekse (Carinthian Buckwheat Cookies)

Chef Elsa

Kärntner Hadnkekse (Carinthian Buckwheat Cookies)

Carinthian Christmas cookies made with earthy buckwheat flour and dark honey, rolled thin, cut into shapes, and baked until they fill the kitchen with the smell of southern Austria's mountains.

Kastanienstrudel

Chef Elsa

Kastanienstrudel

Hand-stretched strudel filled with rum-laced chestnut puree, toasted breadcrumbs, and a whisper of lemon zest. Autumn in Austria, rolled up and baked golden.

Keke ʻIsite (Tongan Yeast Doughnuts)

Chef Makoa

Keke ʻIsite (Tongan Yeast Doughnuts)

Tonga's sweet yeast keke, spooned or shaped from soft dough and fried golden, the kind of comfort passed around after church with tea, Milo, and enough for the whole kāinga.

Keke Saiga (Sāmoan Fried Dough)

Chef Makoa

Keke Saiga (Sāmoan Fried Dough)

Sāmoa's keke saiga is the hot fritter from the family kitchen and roadside table, crisp at the edges, soft inside, sweet enough, and best shared before it cools.

Kentucky Bourbon Balls

Chef Dean

Kentucky Bourbon Balls

Silky, boozy confections rolled in toasted pecans and dipped in dark chocolate, carrying nearly a century of Kentucky tradition in every bite. No baking required, just patience and good bourbon.

Kentucky Derby Pie

Chef Dean

Kentucky Derby Pie

A gooey, bourbon-laced custard studded with walnuts and chocolate chips, baked until the top crackles and the center sets just enough to slice while still yielding to a fork. This is the pie Louisville built its first Saturday in May around.

Kersenvlaai (Limburg Cherry Tart)

Chef Joost

Kersenvlaai (Limburg Cherry Tart)

The Limburg birthday tart with a soft gistdeeg base, whole sour cherries, and a lattice that lets the filling darken, bubble, and tell the season plainly.

Kerstkrans (Dutch Christmas Almond Wreath)

Chef Joost

Kerstkrans (Dutch Christmas Almond Wreath)

Kerstkrans means Christmas wreath, but the secret is inside: a golden ring of puff pastry carrying almond paste, the banket centrepiece of a Dutch holiday table.

Key Lime Cookies with Lime Glaze

Chef Dean

Key Lime Cookies with Lime Glaze

Buttery shortbread-style cookies bursting with Florida key lime flavor, topped with a puckery citrus glaze that cracks when you bite through. The pie's tropical tang, portable.

Kiachl (Tyrolean Fried Dough)

Chef Elsa

Kiachl (Tyrolean Fried Dough)

Tyrol's beloved fried dough, stretched thin over the back of your hand until you can nearly see through it, then dropped into hot lard where the center crisps and the rim puffs into golden clouds.

Kirschstrudel (Sweet Cherry Strudel)

Chef Elsa

Kirschstrudel (Sweet Cherry Strudel)

Hand-stretched strudel filled with sweet summer cherries, butter-toasted breadcrumbs, cinnamon, and lemon zest, baked golden and dusted with powdered sugar while it's still warm from the oven.

Kitchen Sink Cookies

Chef Dean

Kitchen Sink Cookies

The glorious American tradition of raiding your pantry and throwing it all into cookie dough. Salty pretzels, shattered potato chips, chocolate chunks, toasted nuts, candy pieces—controlled chaos that delivers in every single bite.

Kletskoppen (Dutch Almond Lace Cookies)

Chef Joost

Kletskoppen (Dutch Almond Lace Cookies)

The name means bald heads, a rude little joke for wafer-thin cookies whose pitted caramel tops prove the Dutch can make frugality crackle.

Fried Banana Fritters (Kluay Tod)

Chef Fai

Fried Banana Fritters (Kluay Tod)

Rice flour, not wheat. Nam wa banana, not Cavendish. Coconut and sesame in the batter, not on top. Every ingredient in a street vendor's kluay tod is a decision, and every decision follows a rule.

Knieküchle (Auszogne)

Chef Klaus

Knieküchle (Auszogne)

Knieküchle works when the middle is stretched thin enough to read through, while the rim stays fat; the fryer then gives you paper-crisp center and soft bread in one pastry.

Where cooking meets culture.

Culinary guides, cultural storytelling, and the editorial depth that makes cooking meaningful.

Discover Culinary Explorer