Dessert recipe collection

Diabetic-friendly apple salad with a whole marinated apple cut into flower-like sections and filled with spiced applesauce, raisins, and crisp celery.

Homemade apple-pear butter with orange juice and orange zest, slow-cooked until thick and spreadable, then canned in a boiling-water bath. A classic fall preserve that keeps for months.

Apple-pecan salad filling for cranberry molds with crisp apples, celery, and pecans in a lightened mayo dressing with folded whipped cream. A classic Thanksgiving holiday side.

Mock apple pie made with soda crackers instead of real apples, using cream of tartar, cinnamon, and nutmeg to mimic apple flavor. A Depression-era classic that fools almost everyone.

Fat-free cocoa squares with applesauce instead of butter or oil. A hot cocoa-brown sugar sauce poured over the batter before baking creates a gooey, self-saucing chocolate dessert.

Low-fat applesauce oatmeal muffins with rolled oats soaked in skim milk, whole wheat flour, and egg whites. No butter, no oil, and just 95 calories each.

Applique cookies stack contrasting chocolate-pepper and sugar cookie doughs, cut in different shapes and glued with egg white before baking, then drizzled with chocolate. A striking two-tone decorating technique.

Apricot almond chewies are no-bake bites that bind dried apricots, toasted slivered almonds, and shredded coconut with sweetened condensed milk. Refrigerator cookies, no oven required.

Homemade apricot butter with fresh apricots, orange juice, and orange zest cooked down to a thick, spreadable preserve. Properly water-bath canned for year-round pantry storage.

Soft apricot cream cheese cookies with flaked coconut. Butter and cream cheese creamed with apricot preserves for a tender, fruity drop cookie in 30 minutes.

Use this recipe with peaches, sour cherries or pineapple with equally good results.

Traditional yeast-raised kolachy with a homemade apricot or prune puree filling. The lemon-scented dough rises light and pillowy around a sweet cinnamon-spiced center.

Baked apricot rice pudding with a broiled brown sugar crust. Skim milk, egg substitute, and fresh apricots in a water bath make a creamy low-fat custard with a brulee-style finish.

Fresh apricot sundae with dark brown sugar, orange zest, and vanilla or raspberry frozen yogurt. A no-cook summer dessert ready in 5 minutes at just 58 calories.

Silky apricot whip made with overnight-soaked dried apricots, honey, and low-fat yogurt. Four ingredients, a blender, and just 54 calories per serving.

Low-fat apricot cardamom bars with apricot nectar, finely snipped dried apricots, and applesauce in the batter, finished with an apricot icing drizzle. Fragrant and easy.