Chocolate recipe collection

Rugelach four ways: a single cream cheese pastry dough turned into raspberry-almond crescents, layered chocolate-pecan squares, apricot pockets and honey-pecan triangles. Holiday cookie tray showstopper.

Rum truffle dessert cocktail: dark rum, crème de cacao, and hazelnut liqueur blended with chocolate ice cream and crowned with whipped cream. Served in a brandy snifter for a sip-it-slow sweet finish.

Nesselrode pudding pie with a rum-spiked custard, whipped egg whites, and Nesselrode mix set in a pie shell and topped with chocolate shavings. A classic, elegant chilled holiday dessert.

Flourless chocolate mousse cake with a baked base and raw mousse topping, using 16 eggs and a full pound of semi-sweet chocolate. Gluten-free, intensely rich, and meant to fall.

Salzburger Nockerln: Austrian meringue souffle baked into three fluffy peaks over a pool of butter and jelly. A centuries-old Salzburg dessert meant to be eaten the moment it leaves the oven.

Star-shaped chocolate sandwich cookies cut from a chewy cocoa-and-chip sheet bake, then filled with sweet cream cheese frosting. A festive holiday cookie that looks fancy but skips the rolled-dough fuss.

Santa Claus cookies are soft drop cookies with bright lemon zest, baked then frosted and decorated into jolly Santa faces. A Christmas cookie tray classic for kids.

Santa cookie wreath, a festive gingerbread ring shaped from boxed mix, ringed with holly-leaf cookies and finished in melted candy coating. A fun edible centerpiece for the holiday table.

French-style almond macaroons piped from almond paste, filled with rum-spiked chocolate ganache, and dipped in a semisweet chocolate glaze. An elegant three-part cookie.

Giant chocolate chip cookies made with hand-chopped milk chocolate bars instead of chips. Flattened to saucer size and baked until barely set for a chewy, gooey center.

Sauerkraut chocolate cake with a rich sour cream chocolate frosting. The sauerkraut adds surprising moisture and tang that no one will guess, topped with a creamy melted chip frosting.

Savannah ice cream cake stacks coconut cake layers with strawberry, chocolate, and orange ice creams, finished with whipped cream and chocolate glaze. A Southern showpiece dessert for special occasions.

Schwarzwaelder Kirschtorte is the authentic German Black Forest cake: three genoise layers soaked in kirsch syrup, filled with kirsch buttercream and sour cherries, and draped in whipped cream with chocolate curls.

Schwarzwalder kirschtorte (Black Forest cake): a three-layer German chocolate-almond sponge soaked in kirsch, filled with whipped cream and sour cherries. The classic Schwarzwald showpiece.

Chocolate thumbprint cookies bake a cocoa-walnut shortbread base, then fill the wells with vanilla cream and ruby cherry pie filling. Holiday cookie tray showstopper.

Chocolate chip cookies with a secret in the technique: beat the margarine and sugars until fluffy and pale before anything else joins the bowl. Crisp edges, soft centers, walnut crunch.