Q:I've misplaced a recipe I believe I cut from a cake mix box for a cranberry bread that was really good and easy to make. I always made it whenever fresh cranberries hit the grocery. Do you have anything like this? Please don't tell me how to make it from scratch. I don't have the time or inclination.

Diane P.

A: Lots of readers enjoy doctoring cake mixes. In fact, the most-requested recipe in the 25-plus years I've been writing Cook's Corner is Better Than Sex Cake, which starts with a chocolate cake mix. Here's a cranberry bread recipe from Duncan Hines. If fresh cranberries aren't available, use frozen. If you substitute dried cranberries, skip the added sugar. (And if you want Better Than Sex Cake, you'll find it MiamiHerald.com/Food; click Recipes.)

Q: Do you have a low-fat, naturally flavored lemon cookie recipe?

Ruth Arthur, Miami

A: I have tried to make cookies with ''light'' margarine and never been satisfied with the results. (I'd love to hear from any readers who have had better luck.) I compromise by using real butter for flavor and texture and replacing the whole eggs with substitute. The cookie recipe here is a versatile one that can be flavored any way you like. For those who must watch sugar as well as fat, I've also made these with Splenda's baking blend with good results.

Q:I have misplaced my copy of your recipe for the delicious chopped liver from Epicure on Miami Beach. I live quite far from Miami Beach so I can't go and buy it, but I wish I could make it at home.

Gina McClenning, Valrico

A: The recipe here is from Hector Morales, a longtime favorite of Cook's Corner readers.

Q: I've been trying to find a cookie recipe from the 1970s that I lost. They were called Santa's Stars. What I remember was that they were round and when you took them out of the oven you pressed a Brach's chocolate star in the center. One of the ingredients in the cookie was maple. I thought they were made with oatmeal so I contacted Quaker Oats but they told me they have no cookie recipe by that name. Can you help?

Etta Ramos

Lorain, Ohio

A: The closest I could come is a wonderful recipe for a maple-flavored oatmeal cookie, with the chocolate stars added (you could also use a chocolate kiss, or skip the chocolate altogether).

WHEAT-FREE BAKING

Veronica Khawly of Homestead shares this advice:

In response to the question about making a flourless chocolate cake due to a wheat allergy, you can substitute oat flour, rice flour, potato flour or a combination of them in any chocolate cake recipe.

It may take some experimenting to find a texture you like and you may have to adjust the leavening, but I have done it many times in cakes, pancakes and muffins. These flours are readily available in health food stores and some supermarkets. I have even made oat flour using a coffee grinder and then sifting it through a strainer.

SLEUTH'S CORNER

Q: Back in the late 1970s and early '80s, Nabisco had a bar cookie that had chocolate on the outside that covered a crunchy cookie with peanut butter inside. The peanut butter was not smooth and gooey but had a texture to it. Nabisco quit making them in the '80s. They are my all-time favorite cookie. Can you get the recipe or something like it? I know I am not the only Ideal Bar lover; I've seen people discussing it on the Internet. It was the best cookie you could buy -- and so great with a bottled Coke.

Melanie Murphy

Perry, Ga.

A: Ideal Bars do have a cult following, and there are quite a few Internet blogs that mention them, but I've never seen a recipe that pulled it all together. The closest I've come to the flavor is Nutter Butter cookies dipped in melted milk chocolate that I tried at a cookie exchange. We'll hope readers can give us a real recipe.

Q: The old Andalusia Bakery in Coral Gables used to make these fabulous flat, square brownie cookies encrusted with chopped nuts. I've tried to make them on my own with no success. Does anyone know the secret?

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