Dessert recipe collection

Spicy cream cheese pastry crust with cayenne pepper, butter, and cream cheese. A flaky, peppery dough for pot pie tops or savory tarts. No water, no egg, just five ingredients.

Halloween spider cake made from two bowl-shaped cakes filled with green Jello, frosted black with licorice legs and gumdrop eyes. Oozes green goop when sliced.

Chocolate cupcakes filled with creamy peanut butter cream cheese frosting piped right into the center. Rich cocoa buttermilk cake with a surprise peanut butter filling in every bite.

Strawberry-rhubarb shortcake with a warm rhubarb sauce, fresh strawberries, buttered biscuits, and whipped cream. A classic spring dessert that celebrates two seasonal favorites together.

Stack cake is an Appalachian multi-layer molasses cake with applesauce filling spread between thin layers, topped with whipped cream and chopped nuts. A pioneer wedding-table classic.

Starlight double-delight cake, the retro Pillsbury bake-off winner where a chocolate-peppermint cream cheese frosting doubles as part of the batter. Two moist mint-chocolate layers, frosted in the same blend.

Bakery-sized chocolate chip pecan cookies with oats and cinnamon, scooped by the quarter cup. A dual-fat dough with both shortening and butter for thick, chewy results.

Chinese steamed pears in a cinnamon sugar syrup, gently cooked until tender then drizzled with reduced syrup. Four ingredients, elegant, and served warm or chilled.

Sticky pecan bars with a buttery shortbread crust and gooey brown sugar-corn syrup filling loaded with pecan halves. Like pecan pie in bar form, easier to make and easier to share.

Stirred custard sauce is a quick microwave crème anglaise with egg yolks, half and half, amaretto, and vanilla. Silky and ready to spoon over fresh fruit.

Strawberries Italian style macerate ripe berries with sugar, lemon, orange juice, port, and white wine. Boozy fragole al vino dessert that needs nothing more than a chilled glass.

Strawberry angel food cake made from a box mix with strawberry soda and honey replacing the water, topped with a pink powdered sugar glaze. A semi-homemade cake with fruity flavor.

Chewy bar cookies with crunchy bran flakes in the dough and a layer of strawberry jam baked in the center. Old-fashioned lunchbox treats that come together in 45 minutes.

Old-fashioned strawberry cake made from scratch with fresh crushed berries folded into the batter and a warm cooked strawberry sauce spooned over every slice. No box mix, no gelatin, just real strawberries.

Strawberry cheesecake pie layers a tangy lemon-cream cheese filling in a flaky crust, piled with fresh strawberries and topped with a glossy cooked strawberry glaze. Part cheesecake, part strawberry pie, all chilled.

Strawberry cream pie layered with toasted almonds, a from-scratch vanilla cream filling, fresh halved strawberries, and a glossy strawberry glaze. Diner-counter classic done properly.