Dessert recipe collection

Apricot and cardamom bars with dried apricot, apricot nectar, and unsweetened applesauce in the batter, finished with a sweet apricot glaze drizzle. Low-fat and done in 45 minutes.

Layered bar cookies with a butter shortbread base, apricot jam, and a cocoa-coconut-peanut meringue topping. Three distinct layers in every square.

Tender sour cream pastry rolled with apricot jam, walnuts, and raisins into elegant strudel cookies. These make-ahead sweets are perfect for holiday cookie trays.

Preserve summer apricots in anisette liqueur with fennel for sweet-spiced fruit that brightens winter desserts and cheese plates all year long.

Aunt Catherine's Italian Cookies: a heirloom cookie with almond extract, cinnamon, and chopped nuts, finished in pastel-colored powdered sugar icing. Stores for months in tins.

Snowball cookies made with butter, ground nuts, vanilla, and flour, then rolled in powdered sugar while warm. A classic melt-in-your-mouth holiday cookie.

Strawberry shortcake with Bisquick drop biscuits, 2-day macerated strawberries, French vanilla ice cream, and fresh whipped cream. The 2-day strawberry marinade is what makes this one special.

Filled cookies sandwich a sweet raisin filling between two rounds of tender vanilla shortbread, sealed with fork tines and baked golden. Old-fashioned American lunchbox classic, like a homemade fig newton.

A scrumptious dessert that is perfect thing to warm you and your tastebuds up on that cold winter night.

Baked apples ready fast: Granny Smith apples cored and stuffed with brown sugar and butter, dusted with cinnamon, and baked until the sugar caramelizes into a buttery syrup. A 4-ingredient fall dessert.

Baked apples stuffed with oats and brown sugar, dusted in cinnamon, and baked in a splash of grape juice until tender and bubbling. A cozy fall dessert with no butter and a warm, spiced finish.

Microwave baked apples stuffed with dried apricot, walnuts, brown sugar, and butter, cooked in orange juice. Ready in under 15 minutes with a rich, fruity filling worth trying.

Whole baked apples cored and stuffed with dried cherries, chopped almonds, cinnamon, and brown sugar, then baked in apple juice and honey until fork-tender. A rustic fall dessert lighter than pie but just as comforting.

Baked apple halves stuffed with brandy-soaked dried cherries and drizzled with a maple caramel sauce. Served warm with vanilla frozen yogurt for an elegant fall dessert.

Baked peaches from the Piedmont filled with crushed amaretti cookies, peach puree, sugar, and egg yolk. A classic Northern Italian summer dessert that's elegant and simple.

Baked pears with vanilla ice cream: firm pears poached in apple juice, lemon, and brown sugar syrup until tender, chilled overnight, and served cored-side up with a scoop of ice cream.