14 Tried And True Recipes You Should Make This Month

George Washington, our very first president*, ate this cake on British Evacuation Day in 1783, according to one of my favorite cookbooks, American Cake. That day, he rode his horse down Broadway in Manhattan to the Fraunces Tavern, where he gave 13 symbolic toasts at a huge feast. Then, he ate this cake: It's a carrot cake, but not that cream-cheese-frosting-clogged concoction we know and love today. Instead, it's a perfectly-spiced, just-sweet-enough, all-you-need-is-some-fresh-whipped-cream dream of a cake.

Its secret lies in the carrots: it uses a little less sugar than cakes today, and relies on cooked, grated carrots to add that extra sweetness. It ends up sweet, but not ~overpoweringly~ so. It's also a quick cake to prep: I had it in the oven in about 30 minutes. Because I don't have the recommended 10-inch springform, I used a 13x9 pan lined with parchment paper, which took the baking time from 45 minutes to 35 minutes. The result? Everything I could want in a dessert, topped with fresh whipped cream and a little tidbit of history.

*While he wasn't quite president yet (that happened in 1789), he was the great general who ate cake while the Brits got their butts out of the new country. —Natalie Brown

Get the recipe here.

For some reason, omelettes have always intimidated me. I'd try to make one, would completely fail the folding, give up, scramble the whole thing, and call it a day. But not anymore!

Omelettes are now my best friends, something I'm famous for among my friends, and the one dish my boyfriend requests from me the most. What happened? Well, I actually took a minute, read about how to make a good omelette, and found this Bon Appétit video that just walks you through it. I then bought a good (but cheap) nonstick pan, took my time, used a good dose of butter, and followed actual instructions instead of winging it and hoping for the best.

The result is actually magical and legit the best omelette I've ever had. I usually fill it with sharp cheddar instead of the Boursin they use in the original recipe. Next step is getting more ambitious with my fillings, even though cheddar is really awesome in it. —Marie Telling

Get the recipe here.

This recipe uses the French meringue technique, AKA the easiest way to make meringue. You only have to beat your egg whites and gradually add fine caster sugar. You then scoop in some melted chocolate and stir a couple times (not too much as you want to preserve those swirls). Scoop the mixture onto a paper-lined baking tray and bake those babies until they don't stick to the paper anymore.

French bakeries usually sell big baked meringues like these ones, and growing up, I was obsessed with them. I'd never thought it'd be so easy to make them at home, and the result is just as delicious. Will definitely make again! —Marie Telling

Get the recipe here.

I tried the "Everyday Sourdough" recipe from The Clever Carrot's new book. I was excited to try a new recipe/process, since I've been making a ton of sourdough bread recently. The instructions were clear and concise, and I was really happy with how the final loaf turned out. The flavor was nice and tangy, like a sourdough should be! —Cates Holderness

Get the recipe here.

Cake is my super-duper, very favorite of all time food and one of my favorite things to bake. I don't make it as often as I'd like, but my go-to recipe is a devil's food cake from the now out-of-print Kathleen's Bake Shop Cookbook. It's a foolproof, from-scratch recipe, and it delivers a perfectly moist and light-as-air cake every single time. I usually switch up the frostings whenever I make it — I love a true, silky vanilla buttercream, but those always seem like a lot of effort. So when I came across this The Kitchn article, which says that marshmallow fluff makes the easiest buttercream frosting, I obviously had to try it. A lot of silky buttercream recipes call for sugar syrup (which requires a candy thermometer) or corn syrup, so when I read the fluff ingredients and saw corn syrup is a main one, this recipe started to make a lot of sense.

It uses a one to one to one ratio — one small (7.9 oz.) jar of fluff, one cup of powdered sugar, one cup of butter, and one teaspoon vanilla extract. It took about five minutes total to make. That's it! And the result was incredibly silky vanilla frosting. Just perfectly creamy and spreadable, not like those sugary frostings that feel gritty and develop a crust after sitting for a while.

Yes, it's quite sweet, so if you like a frosting that tastes more like butter than sugar, this may not be for you. But I was surprised at how perfectly not-too-sweet it tasted when paired with the cake itself. As you can see from the photos, I ended up making a naked cake. That's because it was ~definitely~ not enough frosting to cover three eight-inch layers. But the naked cake ended up super pretty and a perfect ratio anyway! Next time I'd just double the ingredients.

Super easy but seems like it took a lot of effort? That's my favorite kind of recipe. I will absolutely will be baking this exact combination again. —Maitland Quitmeyer

Get the recipe here.

I was working on a project for work where I had to bake a bunch of double-crust pies. I didn't want to make apple pies because slicing apples is a pain in the ass, so I went for blueberry pies, which is actually not something I ever had before.

For the crust, I used Ina Garten's recipe, which may be the best pie crust recipe I've ever made (super easy to handle when you're decorating, but also deliciously flaky once cooked). And for the filling, I used this recipe.

The pies came out delicious. I made four of them, and after three days spent eating blueberry pies nonstop, I'm still not tired of them. If that's not a sign of greatness, I don't know what is. —Marie Telling

Get the pie crust recipe here and the blueberry filling recipe here.