Dessert, Baked Good Recipes

Chocolate zucchini bread with melted unsweetened chocolate, grated zucchini, cinnamon, and chopped nuts baked into a rich, moist loaf. Uses the garden glut deliciously.

Duchess spice cake with cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves topped with maple buttercream frosting. A warmly spiced buttermilk layer cake with old-fashioned charm.

Italian cheesecake blends silky mascarpone with creamy ricotta, brandy, and vanilla, then bakes into two graham cracker pies with a tender, lightly set filling. A no-water-bath cheesecake with old-country flavor and zero fuss.

Banana cream brownie squares layer a peanut-studded brownie base with sliced bananas, vanilla pudding whipped cream, and grated chocolate. A potluck-friendly dessert built on a brownie mix shortcut.

Three-layer German chocolate cake with mashed potatoes in the batter for a tender crumb, German milk chocolate, and a cooked pecan-coconut frosting that's stirred for 12 minutes until golden.

Pineapple streusel galette with fresh pineapple slices on butter pastry, topped with brown sugar crumble and brushed with warm apricot glaze. Rustic, golden, and stunning.

Chocolate chow mein clusters bind crunchy chow mein noodles with melted caramels, peanut butter, and chocolate chips. A no-bake retro candy ready in 20 minutes.

Green tomato pie with sliced unripe tomatoes layered with sugar, lemon, and allspice under a lattice crust. The Southern end-of-summer dessert that transforms unripe tomatoes from the garden.

Sweet potato pie with warm brandy, fresh lemon zest, and a sprinkle of chopped citron over the top. The brandy-citrus brightness lifts the spiced filling into something more sophisticated than typical sweet potato pie.

Annie's butter cookies: one buttery, rich dough that shapes into candy canes, pinwheels, spritzes, cutouts, or drop cookies. The Christmas-cookie foundation worth memorizing.

Key lime cheese pie: a creamy no-bake key lime pie with a tangy cream cheese filling, sweetened condensed milk, real key lime juice, and a fluffy whipped cream top. Florida sunshine in a slice.

Waffle iron drop cookies: a chocolate cocoa cookie dough baked in 2 to 3 minutes in a waffle iron instead of an oven. Crisp, patterned, and ready faster than preheating.

Peach pie with almond crumble topping layers fresh blanched-peeled peaches with almond extract under a buttery sliced-almond streusel. Two-temperature bake locks in juice and crisps the crumble.

Sour cream brunch cake with a cinnamon-pecan-brown sugar swirl baked in a tube pan. A tender, rich coffee cake with two layers of crumbly, spiced filling throughout.

Indiana persimmon pudding cake with ground almonds and buttermilk baked in a tube pan. Dense, moist, and warmly spiced with native persimmon pulp.

Mary's Milky Way cake melts whole candy bars right into a buttermilk bundt batter, baking up dense, moist and rich with caramel, chocolate and toasted pecans. A Southern potluck favorite that needs no frosting.