Dessert, Baked Good Recipes

Classic lemon squares with a buttery shortbread crust topped with a bright, tangy lemon filling and powdered sugar glaze. The bake sale favorite everyone fights over.

Peach schnapps bundt cake spiked with peach schnapps and orange juice, baked in a vanilla cake mix base and brushed warm with a peach preserves and schnapps glaze.

Original red velvet cake with old-school ermine frosting: tender buttermilk crumb tinted deep red, finished with the cooked-flour boiled milk icing that came before cream cheese took over.

Chocolate mint sticks: a three-layer holiday bar with a fudgy brownie base, a bright green peppermint buttercream middle, and a glossy chocolate glaze on top. A Christmas-cookie classic.

Loaded carrot cake with coconut, crushed pineapple, raisins, and nuts in a cinnamon-nutmeg batter. A dense, moist cake topped with cream cheese frosting.

Famous lemon meringue pie shortcuts the curd using a packet of lemon pudding pie filling boosted with extra fresh lemon juice and butter. Topped with French meringue, ready in under an hour.

Almond lace cookies, those delicate, paper-thin discs that roll into cigarettes or fans while warm. The classic French tuile-style cookie with ground almonds and orange zest.

Buffalo chip cookies are giant oat-and-cornflake cookies customized with raisins, peanuts, coconut, butterscotch, or chocolate chips. Yields 60 jumbo bake-sale cookies.

Devilish marshmallow cookies are chewy chocolate cookies topped with a melted marshmallow half and finished with a glossy chocolate frosting. Three-tier indulgence: cocoa cookie base, gooey marshmallow middle, and rich chocolate top.

Two egg cake is a versatile vanilla cake made with just two eggs, cake flour, and shortening. Bake it as a loaf, layer cake, or cupcakes and frost however you like.

Crunchy dried cherry biscotti studded with ground almonds, twice-baked until crisp. A classic Italian dunking cookie with no butter or oil in the dough.

Apple crumb cake with a buttery shortbread-style base and crumb topping made from one mixture. Tart cooked apples sandwiched between two crisp golden layers.

Pear pound cake with buttermilk, chopped pecans, and a hint of nutmeg baked in a loaf pan. Moist, buttery crumb studded with tender pear chunks in every slice.

Italian anise biscotti: twice-baked Italian almond cookies flavored with pharmacy-grade anise oil and toasted whole almonds. Crisp, dunkable, perfect with espresso.

Oatmeal snickerdoodles cross a chewy oatmeal cookie with a classic cinnamon-sugar snickerdoodle. Five dozen cookies, ten-minute bake, plenty for the cookie jar or to share.

Lemon refrigerator cookies with fresh lemon juice, lemon zest, and chopped nuts. A slice-and-bake icebox cookie with bright citrus flavor that makes 6 dozen from one batch of dough.