Dessert Recipes

This old fashioned fruit cake is a classic. Candied fruits, rum, molasses and all kinds of spices make the cake rich in flavor.

Ginger bread is one of the classic and traditional cookies people make for Christmas. The rich flavor from brown sugar and molasses is so good and the spices make the uniquely delicious taste.

Mincemeat oatmeal cookies with molasses, brown sugar, and rolled oats deliver a chewy, spice-laced bite. A vintage holiday cookie with rich fruit-and-spice flavor in every drop.

Gingerbread that's more like a moist cake from Eastern Canada.

Truly the best ever old fashioned ginger snap cookies. Enjoy!

A classic pumpkin pie spike with rum. Dark, rich and delicious.

"A tall, impressive cake that showcases the flavors and smells of the holidays. A three-layer extravaganza with a touch of molasses and shredded apple to keep it moist. It fills the house with a fragrance that beats the most expensive holiday-scented candle. It will be talked about long after the party is over." Source: The Pastry Queen Christmas, by Rebecca Rather

They are buttery, flakey and soft in the inside, but still crispy on the outside. Chocolate chips give the extra yumminess in every bite.

Christmas spice cookies: rolled-and-cut holiday cookies with ginger, cloves, nutmeg, allspice, and molasses. Soft or crunchy depending on bake time. Makes four dozen.

Traditional mincemeat with real beef and suet, the way it was made for centuries before the meatless version took over. Currants, raisins, apples, brandy, and warming spices simmer into a deeply flavored pie filling. Yields 80 servings.

Emily Dickinson's black cake, a dense Victorian fruitcake with brandy, molasses, raisins, currants, and citron spiced with cloves, mace, and cinnamon. Baked low and slow.

Old-fashioned soft molasses cookies spiced with cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg, topped with a shiny boiled gelatin frosting. Makes 4 dozen from an overnight chilled dough.

Barbadians make Black Cake for weddings, birthdays and at Christimas time. Indeed, no Christmas holiday is felt to be complete without black Cake. People from many of the islands make a similar cake. This Black Cake derived from the British Plum Pudding which is a must on their Christmas menu.

Mincemeat oatmeal cookies: chewy spiced drop cookies that pack the entire flavor of a Christmas mince pie into a hand-held bite. Brown sugar, molasses, oats, and a generous spoonful of mincemeat per cookie.

"This cake is a rich, dark, moist fruit cake, very flavorful at Christmas. Try icing with almond paste for a more festive touch. This recipe is started in October or November so as to let it mellow before the holidays. I remember very well my mother storing her fruit cake in an old butter churn that belonged to my grandmother and great grandmother. I wish that I had that old crock."

German pfeffernusse cookies spiced with cinnamon, ginger, black pepper, cloves, and nutmeg, then rolled in powdered sugar while warm. Crunchy little spice balls with a molasses backbone.