Dessert Recipes

Classic four-ingredient flaky pie dough with shortening and ice water. Makes two 9-inch crusts for double-crust pies, lattice tops, or freezer-stash backup. The base every home baker needs.

Cranberries and pears are a great pair. They make this deliciously fruity filling, and it tastes great with the buttery and flakey pastry. It's as delicious as an apple pie.

Deep pot apple pie with butterscotch chip sauce and cinnamon brown sugar pastry strips layered over cooked apples. A rustic, scoopable apple dessert served in bowls.

Baked pumpkin empanadas with a brandy-laced pastry dough and spiced pumpkin-brown sugar filling, finished with cinnamon sugar. A Mexican-Californian fall dessert pastry.

Mincemeat bars with a chewy oat-molasses crust and condensed mincemeat filling. Old-fashioned holiday baking with a crumble topping, dusted with powdered sugar.

Fresh raspberry sour cream cake bakes whole berries and chopped walnuts into a tender tube cake. Topped with whipped cream and sugared raspberries for a summer dessert table centerpiece.

Orange Kiss-Me Cake: a vintage Pillsbury bake-off winner with a whole ground orange (peel, pulp, and pith) folded into the batter. Topped with a warm orange juice drizzle and cinnamon-sugar walnuts.

I make this cake for about 10 years, every time people like it.

Warmly spiced buttermilk layer cake with cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and cloves. A one-bowl recipe that bakes into two tender layers ready for your favorite frosting.

English cheese pie with sieved cottage cheese, cream sherry, rosewater, and currants in a from-scratch butter pastry crust. A fragrant Tudor-era custard dessert.

Filled molasses cookies are old-fashioned sandwich cookies with rolled molasses dough hugging a sweet cooked date filling. A Depression-era cookie jar staple with deep flavor.

Brown bag French apple pie: a cinnamon-spiced apple pie with a buttery streusel top, baked inside a paper bag that traps steam for meltingly tender apples and a crisp, golden crumb. No top crust needed.

Old-fashioned oatmeal raisin cookies with walnuts, warm cinnamon and clove, and sour milk for tenderness. Crisp golden edges, soft chewy centers, and the kind of nostalgic flavor that beats any bakery version.

Slice-and-bake molasses cookies with brown sugar, ginger, and a deep rich molasses flavor. Chill the dough, slice thin, and bake until the edges crisp up beautifully.

Chocolate zucchini tube cake using a cake mix hack with shredded zucchini folded in for extra moisture. Topped with cream cheese frosting and chopped nuts.

Cape Cod blueberry cake folds fresh blueberries and bran flakes cereal into a lightly spiced one-bowl batter. A New England farmhouse cake with a tender, fiber-rich crumb served warm with whipped topping.