10,000 desert recipes

Butterscotch shortbread cookies made with dark brown sugar and unsalted butter, topped with chopped walnuts or pecans pressed into the dough. Makes 72 bite-sized squares.

Halva gateau is a Middle Eastern layer cake with semolina-almond sponge, coffee syrup soak, and halva buttercream. Pistachio-topped elegance perfumed with cinnamon.

Fig fruit cake with dried figs, candied cherries, pineapple, walnuts, brandy, and unsweetened chocolate. A spiced holiday loaf baked low and slow for dense, sliceable richness.

Chocolate pepper cookies bring a slow, smoky heat from black pepper, cayenne, and cinnamon layered into deep unsweetened cocoa. Rolled thin and cut into shapes, they bake crisp with a warm spiced finish.

If you like spicy cake, this will be one of your favorites.

Elegant French layer cake with genoise, fresh strawberries, buttercream, and crème fraîche whipped cream. This show-stopping dacquoise is soaked with Framboise liqueur.

Chocolate chip fruitcake with candied cherries, dates, walnuts, and chocolate chips bound by a light egg-and-sugar batter. A modern fruitcake that converts even fruitcake skeptics.

Apple honey sesame oatmeal cookies sweetened entirely with apple juice and a spoon of honey, no refined sugar. Crisp, naturally sweet little oat rounds with a toasty sesame oil note.

This quick and easy dessert inspired by an Italian classic Crema di Mascarpone ai lamponi. Iced fresh raspberries and mascarpone cheese.

Classic no-bake church windows with chocolate chips, colored marshmallows, shredded coconut, and chopped nuts. Chill overnight, slice into colorful rounds. Makes 3 dozen.

Traditional fruitcake studded with dates, figs, candied citron, pecans, and brandy-soaked fruits becomes a family heirloom recipe worth making.

Try this decorative cookie that uses date and walnuts to give it a scrumptious taste.

Mexican polvoron cookies rolled in a cinnamon-chocolate-sugar coating while still warm. Tender, crumbly shortbread-style cookies with a hint of cinnamon baked low and slow.

Honey crunch baked apples stuffed with granola, dates, and almonds, drizzled with a honey-butter apple juice sauce. Old-fashioned autumn dessert you can feel good about.

Double chocolate chip cookies with melted semisweet chocolate in the dough plus chocolate morsels and walnuts folded in. Rich, fudgy, and intensely chocolatey drop cookies.

Mrs Fields almond crunch cookies rolled in sliced almonds and drizzled with a ganache-style chocolate glaze. Buttery, nutty, and crispy with a slow bake for maximum crunch.