Recipes with vanilla bean

Caramel pecan pie with a silky custard filling and billowy meringue topping. Caramelized sugar, toasted pecans, and vanilla custard pour into a flaky crust for a Southern-style holiday dessert.

Patty Ann's chocolate diamonds are dense, fudgy chocolate-pecan bars cut into diamond shapes. A short ingredient list and one bowl deliver brownie-like richness with a satisfying nutty crunch.

Jeweled walnut cookie bars studded with spiced gumdrops and chopped walnuts. A chewy, colorful bar cookie with no butter or oil, baked in a square pan and cut into bars.

Traditional Italian almond biscotti (Biscotti di Prato) baked twice for shattering crunch. No butter, no oil, just flour, eggs, sugar, and whole blanched almonds.

Chocolate madeleines: classic French shell-shaped tea cakes made with semi-sweet chocolate, butter, and cake flour. Delicate, buttery, and with a tender crumb under a crisp edge.

Mile-high fig pie with a sour cream and dried fig filling, chopped walnuts, and a towering meringue topping baked golden. A vintage showstopper dessert.

Crunchy Italian orange almond biscotti, twice-baked for that signature snap and loaded with toasted almonds and bright orange zest. A no-butter cookie made for dunking in coffee or vin santo.

Three-layer chocolate almond cake with cocoa buttermilk layers, almond cream filling, and rich chocolate frosting. A showstopper from-scratch layer cake.

Old-world Czech kolachky yeast dough rolled in powdered sugar, filled with jam or cheese, and baked into delicate folded pastries. The classic Slavic holiday cookie.

Cinnamon and cloves perfume these twisted Greek sesame cookies with golden crusts and soft centers. Makes 72 cookies perfect for Mediterranean holiday cookie exchanges or gift tins.

Buttery spritz-style cookies flavored with vanilla, lemon and almond extracts. Tender, golden and ready to be pressed, cut, or tinted for holiday cookie trays. A family classic with a triple extract twist.

A homemade vanilla pecan liqueur: brandy slowly infused with pecans, vanilla beans, and cinnamon, then sweetened with sugar syrup. A smooth, nutty after-dinner sipper worth the weeks-long wait.

Chocolate cream cheese pie is a no-bake mousse-style dessert with melted chocolate chips, whipped cream cheese, and folded egg whites in a chocolate graham crust. Light, rich, and chillingly cool.

Whipped cinnamon honey butter with brown sugar and vanilla, blended until fluffy and spreadable. Makes three half-pound portions that freeze beautifully for gifts or everyday toast.

Double chocolate peanut butter cookies with melted semisweet chocolate swirled into peanut butter dough, loaded with milk chocolate chips, and topped with a whole peanut. Thick, fudgy, and bakery-sized.

Chocolate Sauerkraut Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting recipe

Individual mini chocolate cakes baked in ramekins with a molten white chocolate center, toasted pecans, and a topping of whipped cream and grated dark chocolate. Restaurant-style plated dessert.

Surprise devil's food cake with hidden beets: a deeply rich, moist chocolate cake with cocoa, buttermilk, and grated beets stirred in for extra tenderness. Kids will never guess.

Shape-holding cutout cookies with almond and vanilla extract that keep every detail from imprinted cookie cutters. Soft, flavorful, and ideal for royal icing.

Chocolate raspberry buttercream bars with a fudgy brownie base, raspberry jam layer, silky French buttercream, and a chocolate drizzle top. A bakery-style dessert worth the effort.

Chocolate peanut butter shortbread baked in a tart pan with a cocoa crust, creamy peanut butter filling, and a chocolate Kiss topped with a whole peanut on every wedge.

Orange or grape juice blocks set unsweetened fruit juice with unflavored gelatin into firm, sliceable squares. A sugar-free, diabetic-friendly homemade alternative to gummy candy.

Fudgy peanut butter brownies studded with chocolate chips. One bowl, no cocoa powder needed, 30 minutes from start to cooling rack.

Classic rolled sugar cookies with a buttery, tender dough that holds its shape when cut with pumpkin, leaf, or any seasonal cookie cutter. Sprinkle with sugar or frost after baking.

Triple chocolate pie with a from-scratch chocolate crust, airy chocolate chiffon filling with unsweetened chocolate, and grated semi-sweet chocolate on whipped cream. Three chocolates, one show-stopping pie.

Pecan pie brownies layer a fudgy brownie base with a gooey brown sugar and pecan pie filling on top. Two classic desserts in one bar cookie.

Sundae brownie pie bakes a fudgy brownie batter loaded with chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, and nuts right into a pie crust. Served warm with ice cream, it's a scoopable sundae in pie form.

Fuss-free chocolate pound cake is a dense, buttery cocoa cake with a fine, velvety crumb baked in a tube pan. No frosting needed, just a tender slice of deep chocolate. Easy from-scratch comfort baking.

Microwave rum cake with devil's food layers soaked in rum, apricot preserves in the middle, and fluffy Italian-style meringue frosting. Retro dessert, updated speed.

Cheesecake cookie bars with a whole wheat walnut crust and honey-sweetened cream cheese filling flavored with lemon, vanilla, and fresh nutmeg. Cut into squares.

Muddy Buddies made with Chex cereal coated in melted chocolate chips, peanut butter, and powdered sugar. A no-bake snack that takes 12 minutes and disappears even faster.

Classic rolled sugar cookie cutouts with a tender butter-and-cream dough, sprinkled with red and green colored sugar before baking. Holiday cookie-tin staple.

Low-fat cocoa brownie bars made with egg whites, nonfat yogurt, and cocoa powder instead of butter and chocolate. Fudgy brownie cookie bars dusted with powdered sugar.

Fattigmann, a traditional Norwegian fried cookie flavored with cardamom, lemon zest, and brandy. Diamond-shaped, paper-thin, and dusted with sugar.

Double chocolate cookies studded with candy-coated chocolate pieces, perfect for holiday cookie trays. Rich cocoa dough baked soft and chewy with colorful candy pressed on top.

Pumpkin raisin cookies with canned pumpkin, cinnamon, and raisins, topped with a simple butter-vanilla frosting. Soft, cakey fall cookies that stay moist for days.

Southern cream apple pie with par-cooked tart apples in a sour cream custard, finished under the broiler with a buttery flour topping. Makes two 9-inch deep-dish pies for a crowd.

Chewy oatmeal cookies loaded with chopped dates, coconut, and walnuts or pecans. Brown sugar and orange juice add a caramel sweetness with bright citrus notes.

Chocolate walnut torte is a flourless-style European cake built on bittersweet chocolate, butter, ground walnuts, and whipped egg whites. Dense, fudgy center with just enough flour for structure, finished with a chocolate rum glaze.

Layered apple cake with cinnamon-sugar apple slices tucked between three tiers of orange juice-brightened batter. A dramatic tube pan cake that reveals a stripe of fruit in every slice.

These bars are very pretty with their dark chocolate swirls throughout. The dessert is a sweet treat to any lunch-bucket meal.

No-bake fudge cookies with cocoa, oats, and shredded coconut. Boil, stir, drop, and done in minutes with no oven required. The coconut adds chewy texture to every fudgy bite.

Strawberry pizza layers a buttery sugar cookie crust with sweetened cream cheese and glossy fresh strawberries. A Southern summer dessert that slices like pizza but eats like a fruit tart.

Toffee crunch cookies loaded with chocolate-covered almond toffee and chopped almonds. An eggless shortbread-style cookie with buttery, crisp edges and chunks of caramelized candy in every bite.

Moist pumpkin spice bundt cake with tangy cream cheese frosting. Easy one-bowl recipe uses canned pumpkin and oil for tender crumb. Perfect fall dessert in 90 minutes.

Microwave chocolate peanut butter fudge ready in 2 minutes of cook time. Five ingredients, no candy thermometer, no boiling sugar. Sets in under an hour.

Hazelnut butter balls: tender, melt-in-your-mouth cookies loaded with chopped toasted hazelnuts, rolled in powdered sugar while warm. A buttery, nutty riff on the classic snowball cookie that disappears off any holiday tray.

Chocolate crinkle cookies made with real melted unsweetened chocolate, rolled in powdered sugar, and baked until crackled. Deep, fudgy centers with a snowy sugar shell.