Comfort Food Mash-Up Recipes

These crispy, cakey doughnuts were meant to be frosted. Make the doughnuts a day in advance of your celebration and store in an airtight container. The frostings can be made ahead as well: Just refrigerate, let come to room temperature and then whip with an electric mixer until smooth before using. Frost, decorate and serve — no cake cutting required.

During the first test in the Kitchen, tasters thought this mash-up soup was just a big bowl of macaroni and cheese, but the French onion soup hidden underneath the golden cheesy topping was a warm and welcome surprise. Make your soup ahead; once cooled, it can be frozen for up to 1 month.

Layers of creamy mascarpone pudding, bananas and coffee-soaked vanilla wafers bring together the best parts of these two classic comfort desserts. Make it the night before you plan to serve it — the flavor and texture only get better.

One of the best parts of this mash-up is the garlicky-peppery pizza crust, which tastes just like the croutons you find in a classic Caesar salad.

Finding just the right balance of sweet and savory can be tricky, but we've totally mastered it here. Each bite achieves the perfect combo of French toast and croque madame sandwich. This casserole doesn't need to soak, so be sure to make and bake right after assembly.

Any food on a stick is fun to eat, and these chicken corn dog mash-ups completely deliver. Plus, you can fry up the remaining batter for delicious corn fritters. Drop spoonfuls into the hot oil and fry until golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes. Drizzle with hot sauce and honey.

Most people would agree that the cream cheese frosting is the best part of any carrot cake; make it even better by replacing it with a thick layer of creamy cheesecake. These two classic cakes make one showstopping mash-up dessert.

Two comfort food favorites come together to make a crowd-pleasing and fun new dish. We love that you get satisfying meatloaf and cheesy, saucy lasagna in every bite. To save time, you can use 1 cup of your favorite prepared red sauce.

Crunchy and chewy at the same time, this hybrid pie is wonderful served slightly warm a la mode or with a dollop of unsweetened whipped cream. What better way to eat one of our favorite, classic American cookies than nestled atop a pie crust?