2,089 desert recipes

Lebkuchen German Christmas cookies blend honey, molasses, cardamom, and clove into a dense spiced dough rolled and cut into shapes. Family tradition, ages and keeps for months.

Classic Italian sponge cake made with a warm egg foam, cocoa powder, and no butter at all. Light as air with a deep golden crust and tender chocolate crumb.

Cake mix crumble bars with a crunchy oat and pecan topping over gooey strawberry pie filling. A one-pan, one-hour shortcut dessert that punches way above its effort level.

Referee cookies with chocolate cocoa dough loaded with semi-sweet chocolate chips, decorated with white chocolate stripes piped on top. A fun game-day treat that looks like a referee jersey.

Lucky chocolate chewies, soft brown sugar cocoa cookies studded with semisweet chips and topped with a vanilla glaze. Two dozen cookies in 30 minutes, the kind that vanish before they cool.

Fudge cakes with melted unsweetened chocolate, butter, and chopped nuts in a light batter lifted with stiffly beaten egg whites. Somewhere between a brownie and a cake, frosted and cut into bars.

Orange butter cakes are petite tartlet-tin cakes perfumed with Grand Marnier and candied orange peel, then dipped in orange liqueur glaze. Elegant 36-cake batch for gifts or a holiday tray.

Stack cake is an Appalachian multi-layer molasses cake with applesauce filling spread between thin layers, topped with whipped cream and chopped nuts. A pioneer wedding-table classic.

Molasses elephant cookies are soft, spice-laced drop cookies with cinnamon, ginger, and a splash of cider vinegar, decorated with raisin or date faces. A vintage kids' cookie made for tiny artists.

Old-fashioned Southern teacakes with shortening, vanilla, and simple pantry staples. Soft, lightly sweet, and rolled out just like Grandma made them.

Black bottom cupcakes drop a sweet cream cheese filling studded with chocolate chips into chocolate cake mix batter, baking into a self-frosting cupcake. Travel-friendly picnic dessert with no icing to melt.

Tall honey cake (lekach) baked with 1¼ cups honey and a full cup of strong coffee for moisture and depth. Walnut-studded with warm spices, traditional for Rosh Hashanah and the Jewish New Year.

Raisin-spice cookies made with oatmeal cookie mix, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, raisins, and chopped nuts. A quick drop cookie with warm holiday spices that makes four dozen in under 30 minutes.

Butter cookie press poinsettias for Christmas with red flower shapes and hand-formed green leaves topped with silver dragees. A beautiful, festive holiday cookie with almond and vanilla flavor.

Four-ingredient peanut butter shortbread with butter, sugar, peanut butter, and flour pressed into a pan and baked low and slow. Sandy, crumbly, and nutty with no mixer or rolling required.

Peanut butter pinwheel cookies with a melted chocolate swirl rolled jelly-roll style and sliced into rounds. A slice-and-bake cookie with a stunning spiral pattern in every bite.