Dessert, Baked Good Recipes

Macadamia shortbread cookies made with five ingredients: butter, flour, powdered sugar, cornstarch, and chopped macadamia nuts. Buttery, crumbly, and baked low and slow.

Sweet potato pie with nutmeg and margarine in a simple 5-ingredient filling. A no-fuss Southern classic that comes together fast with boiled sweet potatoes.

Linda's fruitcake: brandy-soaked dates, citrus peel, raisins, almonds, and cherries folded into a spiced batter with a pineapple jam layer. Wrapped in brandy-soaked cheesecloth to age.

Old-fashioned lemon chess pie with butter, sugar, eggs, and fresh lemon juice and zest. The Southern five-ingredient classic, baked into two 9-inch pies with a self-formed crackly crust on top.

Lenny's cheesecake: a crustless, velvety sour cream cheesecake baked in a water bath for that silky-smooth texture. Five ingredients, zero fuss, pure New York diner classic.

Brown sugar vinegar pie is an Appalachian Depression-era custard pie that mimics lemon meringue using cider vinegar, brown sugar, and nutmeg. Tangy-sweet filling with butterscotch undertones in a flaky shell.

Fat-free chocolate cake with cocoa powder, egg whites, and corn syrup for moisture, finished with a quick cocoa glaze. Surprising richness with zero added butter or oil.

Old-fashioned double-lemon cake: a tender butter cake made with zest-infused lemon sugar, soaked in hot lemon-sugar glaze, and finished with lemon frosting. Served with rum-kissed lemon-zested strawberries for a bright spring dessert.

Bizcochitos are the official state cookie of New Mexico: lard-based shortbread perfumed with anise and sweet wine, dusted in cinnamon sugar, and baked into delicate flaky rounds. The traditional Christmas and wedding cookie of the Southwest.

Honey ginger snap cookies with cinnamon and cloves, rolled into balls and baked until crackled. Chewy centers with crisp, crinkled edges from the honey.

Kitty Wells' 7-Up pound cake uses lemon-lime soda for a light, tender crumb with subtle citrus flavor. A Southern classic baked in a tube pan with just seven ingredients.

Mini apple pies use refrigerated biscuit dough as a fast pastry shortcut. Each rolled biscuit wraps a tablespoon of cinnamon-sugar apple-raisin filling and bakes in muffin cups. Ten warm hand pies in 15 minutes.

Southern peanut butter pie with a creamy custard filling, crunchy peanut butter crumble layered on top and bottom, and golden meringue. An old-fashioned Georgia-style dessert.

Soft pumpkin cookies loaded with cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, raisins, and walnuts. A big-batch holiday cookie with warm spice flavor in every cakey bite.

Lard cake creams pure pork lard with sugar, then folds in beaten egg whites and evaporated milk for a tender, old-fashioned vanilla cake. Vintage pioneer-era recipe.

Loaded carrot cake packed with crushed pineapple, coconut, walnuts, and cinnamon, topped with chocolate cream cheese frosting. A moist, oil-based cake baked in two loaf pans.