2,179 light recipes

Baked bananas with lime juice and brown sugar caramel sauce. Use slightly underripe bananas, baste as they cook, and you get a glossy tropical dessert ready in 30 minutes with just 4 ingredients.

Peanuts are a symbol of longevity in Chinese culture. Feel free to vary the basic recipe by experimenting with different combinations of spices.

Old-fashioned divinity candy with fluffy egg whites, crunchy pecans, and vanilla. This no-bake Southern classic melts on your tongue and comes together with just a few pantry staples.

Homemade turkey gravy built from simmered giblets and neck, pan drippings, half and half, and a finishing splash of brandy. Rich, properly thickened, and worth the extra step on Thanksgiving day.

Homemade chocolate fondant candies made from a sugar syrup cooked to firm-ball stage, kneaded with unsweetened chocolate, then finished with pecans or dipped in white chocolate.

True old-fashioned chocolate fudge cooked to soft ball stage with unsweetened chocolate, milk, and corn syrup. Smooth, creamy, and made the traditional way.

Overnight monkey bread coffee cake with frozen dinner rolls, butterscotch pudding mix, brown sugar, pecans, and melted butter. Five ingredients, zero effort, and a gooey pull-apart Bundt cake by morning.

Paneer Patties in Orange Perfumed Cream Sauce (Ras Malai) recipe

Mom's small-batch pecan pralines with brown sugar, Karo corn syrup, evaporated milk, and pecan halves. Cooked to soft-ball stage and dropped on wax paper for classic Southern candy.

No-bake rum balls made with crushed vanilla wafers, pecans, cocoa, powdered sugar, and real rum. A classic Christmas cookie tin staple rolled in powdered sugar.

A lighter Cajun mayo made with light mayonnaise and low-fat yogurt, seasoned with cumin, oregano, cayenne, and garlic salt. Mix it up a day ahead and let the spices meld overnight.

Mexican chocolate sauce made with unsweetened chocolate, Kahlua coffee liqueur, cream, butter, and corn syrup. Rich, pourable, and keeps in the fridge for up to three months.

Homemade caramel banana ice cream with chocolate chips, made from real caramelized sugar, heavy cream, egg yolks, and smashed bananas. Rich, custardy, and worth the churn.

All the fun of a banana split frozen into a pie. Vanilla pudding swirled with pureed strawberries, layered over sliced bananas in a vanilla wafer crust, then topped with whipped cream, cherries, and chopped nuts.

Minty chocolate mousse blends scalded half-and-half with chocolate chips, an egg, and creme de menthe in the blender. Sets in an hour for a 5-minute date-night dessert.

Biscotti Napoletani: traditional eggless Italian almond biscotti with whole and ground almonds, sweetened with corn syrup. Twice-baked Neapolitan cookies built for dunking in espresso or vin santo.