Dessert recipe collection

Warm spiced apple cider punch infused with cinnamon sticks, whole cloves, and fresh nutmeg, blended with orange and lemon juice for holiday gatherings.

Italian apple tart (crostata di mele) with lattice top and minimal sugar. Thinly sliced apples in homemade tart dough bake until golden. Simple, rustic, and authentically Italian.

Pretty pink jelly combining apple juice and fresh crushed strawberries with liquid pectin. Boils for just 1 minute. Seal with paraffin wax for shelf-stable preserves. Makes 3.5 cups.

Had some puff pastry on hand from the holiday baking, and made this apple strudel. It was great, the puff pastry certainly delivered a much richer result than phyllo pastry that I normally use. No leftover, we ate it all!

Apples and cottage cheese baked in a round cake pie make an easy to make delicious low fat apple and cheese Danish.

Fluffy vanilla meringue tops a tangy lemon-spiked applesauce custard for a light, elegant dessert that's equally good hot or cold.

Applesauce jello salad -- A delicious jello salad, taken from The Monterey Coast Guard Officers' Wives Club Cookbook. My sister-in-law was the president of the club which put that cookbook together.

Light upside-down cake with canned apricot halves on the bottom, topped with a sponge-like batter made from separated eggs and bread crumbs.

A sweet and spicy jelly that tastes wonderful on toast, in sandwiches or on your famous meat loaf!

Apricots in brandy, an 1831 American recipe: fresh apricots blanched in light syrup, bottled, and covered with equal parts syrup and French brandy. A heritage spirit-preserved fruit.

Authentic biscotti di Prato (cantucci): the traditional Tuscan twice-baked almond cookies, made with no butter for a hard, crunchy bite built for dunking in coffee or vin santo.

This no-cook banana bread dip blends ripe mashed bananas with warm cinnamon, nutmeg, and quick oats for a creamy, scoopable treat ready in 10 minutes flat. Serve with fruit, pound cake cubes, or vanilla wafers.

An easy way to make a homemade banana frozen yogurt. It's packed with banana flavor, creamy and smooth. You won't go back to store-bought one after you have it.

A refreshing frozen banana ice made with mashed banana, orange juice, pineapple juice, and lemon juice in a simple sugar syrup. No ice cream maker needed. Just freeze in ice trays.

Chewy banana oat bars with cinnamon and raisins, made with no butter, no oil, and egg whites only. A wholesome grab-and-go snack or breakfast bar that cuts into 24 squares.

A steamed banana pudding cake made in a pressure cooker with whole wheat pastry flour, maple syrup, apple juice, and raisins. No eggs, no butter, no oil. Dense, moist, and naturally sweetened.