Dessert, Baked Good Recipes

Soft molasses sugar cookies with cinnamon, cloves, and ginger, rolled in sugar with a thumbprint filled with extra crunch. Crisp edges, chewy centers, warm holiday spice.

Instant cheesecake fakes the real thing in five minutes with a chocolate digestive biscuit, a swipe of cream cheese, and half a fresh strawberry. Snack-sized, no-bake, ready before the kettle boils.

Vinson's pecan pie is a classic Southern double-batch recipe with whole pecans, Karo corn syrup heated to blend smooth, eggs, and vanilla. Makes 2 pies for holiday tables.

Whole wheat oatmeal cookies with molasses, honey, raisins, and walnuts. Sweetened three ways with brown sugar, molasses, and honey for a chewy, spiced high-fiber cookie.

Cherry cake mix cookies dipped in semi-sweet chocolate and sprinkled with toasted almonds. A clever shortcut treat that looks bakery-fancy with under 10 minutes of hands-on work.

Dainty sandwich cookies are tender butter rounds coated with almond-sugar tops and filled with raspberry jam or chocolate. A classic European tea-cookie tray pick.

Eggless chocolate amaretto cheesecake: a rich, dense chocolate cheesecake made with egg substitute instead of whole eggs, spiked with amaretto and topped with whipped cream and sliced almonds. A nutty, chocolaty twist on the classic.

French apple honey pie built on a honey-spiked applesauce base, layered with Granny Smith slices in concentric rings, and finished with a glossy apricot glaze. Patisserie elegance with no top crust required.

Chocolate meringue cookies with a plain meringue center, baked low and slow until crisp and light as air. Just four ingredients and naturally fat-free.

Raspberry mallow pie blends melted marshmallows, frozen raspberries, and whipped topping into a graham cracker crust. A no-bake berry dessert with pillowy texture and bright tart-sweet flavor.

Jewish rugelach with a flaky cottage cheese dough, apricot jam, cinnamon-sugar, walnuts, and currants rolled into golden crescents. A holiday cookie jar essential for Hanukkah or Christmas.

Soft iced pumpkin cookies with cinnamon, nutmeg, walnuts, and raisins topped with a vanilla cream icing. Cake-like fall cookies that smell like autumn in every bite.

Oh So Good lemon meringue pie cooks the curd in a double boiler for foolproof scorch-free thickening, then crowns with classic French meringue. Bright fresh lemon flavor, no broken curd.

Red and black raspberry pudding cake with fresh and frozen berries simmered into syrup and spooned over a buttery cake batter. The berries sink while baking, creating a soft pudding-cake top.

Coffee-spiked red devil's food cake with cocoa, hot coffee, buttermilk, and a hit of red food coloring. Deep chocolate flavor with a striking red-tinted crumb.

Light, chewy almond macaroons sandwiched with rich chocolate ganache. A classic Swiss cookie recipe using blanched almonds, Swiss meringue, and semi-sweet chocolate filling.