Dessert, Baked Good Recipes

Empanadas de fruta filled with spiced dried fruit, raisins, pine nuts, and warm cinnamon-clove-nutmeg filling, deep-fried in a flaky homemade dough until golden and crispy.

Benne seed cookies, the historic Charleston specialty. Toasted sesame seeds folded into a brown sugar dough for thin, crisp, caramel-edged Lowcountry cookies.

Frozen chocolate marshmallow pie spiked with coffee liqueur and topped with slivered almonds. A fluffy, no-bake dessert that works as individual tarts or one show-stopping pie.

Sugar-free apple pie sweetened only by frozen apple juice concentrate. Sliced apples simmered with cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg in a pre-baked pie shell. Diabetic-friendly dessert.

Layers of cinnamon-kissed apples baked between swirls of orange-scented batter in a tube pan, then dusted with powdered sugar. This from-scratch apple cake is a showstopper that's surprisingly simple to pull off.

Texas-style chocolate sheath cake with buttermilk and a warm marshmallow-nut cocoa icing spread on while the cake is still hot. One pan, one hour, and feeds a crowd.

Fluffy lemon cheesecake swaps cream cheese for ricotta and lightens up with skim milk and reduced-fat crust. A bright, citrusy dessert with a soft, almost custardy crumb in a graham cracker shell.

Gold medal caramel bars layer a chocolate cake mix base with caramel topping and chocolate chips, then crumbled cake mix streusel. Four-ingredient potluck bars for the cookie swap.

Great-Grandma's lemon cake with real butter, lemon zest and juice, and beaten egg whites folded in for a light crumb. A heirloom loaf cake recipe that makes two freezer-friendly loaves.

Lowcountry benne seed cookies (Charleston style) with toasted sesame seeds, brown sugar, and butter. A thin, crispy Southern Christmas cookie with West African roots.

No-butter orange oatmeal cookies sweetened with banana, honey, and orange juice concentrate. Soft, fruity, and loaded with walnuts and golden raisins.

Fat-free chocolate cake made with cocoa powder, egg whites, and corn syrup instead of butter, oil, or whole eggs. Topped with a cocoa-powdered sugar glaze. Rich chocolate flavor, zero fat.

Mexican praline cookies made with brown sugar, butter, toasted pecans, cinnamon, and egg yolk, dusted with powdered sugar. A rich, buttery shortbread-style cookie with warm spice and nutty crunch.

Rum-glazed apple cheesecake with cinnamon-spiced McIntosh apples, toasted pecans, and an apple jelly-rum glaze over a graham cracker crust. A fall showstopper.

Lemon chiffon cake with bright lemon juice, fresh zest, and a cloud-light crumb leavened by stiff-beaten egg whites. The vintage springtime cake that's still impossible to beat.

Fat-free apple cake made with applesauce instead of butter or oil, loaded with diced Granny Smith apples, raisins, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Freezer-friendly.