Dessert Recipes

Aunt Catherine's Italian Cookies: a heirloom cookie with almond extract, cinnamon, and chopped nuts, finished in pastel-colored powdered sugar icing. Stores for months in tins.

Flourless chocolate almond torte with ground almonds and unsweetened chocolate, served on a pool of fresh strawberry sauce. A dense, gluten-free European-style dessert.

A fudgy chocolate brownie cake steamed in a pot-within-a-pot using shelf-stable ingredients like dried eggs and buttermilk powder. Ideal for camping, off-grid baking, or when you don't have an oven.

Old-school peanut butter cream pie with a hidden layer of crumbly peanut butter and powdered sugar at the bottom, topped with vanilla custard and meringue or whipped topping. A diner-counter classic.

Low-fat brown sugar apple pie made with fat-free margarine crust and Butter Buds in place of real butter. Granny Smith apples spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg, and fresh lemon zest.

Lighter cranberry apple cookies made with egg whites and skim milk, loaded with fresh fruit, cinnamon, and orange zest. A guilt-free holiday cookie that yields 2 dozen.

Banana ginger cake with 2 teaspoons of ground ginger baked in a 9-inch square pan, topped with spiced whipped cream. A lighter snack cake using margarine and skim milk.

Cherry oat dessert squares layer cinnamon-spiced cherry pie filling between a buttery oat-walnut crust and crumb topping. A potluck classic that slices into 16 squares.

Chocolate red beet cake: deep cocoa cake with mashed beets baked into a moist, tender crumb you'd never guess was hiding a vegetable. An old-school secret-ingredient cake.

Toll House chocolate oat bars made in the microwave in under 10 minutes. Oats, brown sugar, walnuts, and chocolate chips with a melted chocolate top layer.

Cornmeal cookies blend stone-ground cornmeal with flour for a sandy, slightly crunchy crumb. Studded with dried cherries or raisins and warmed with nutmeg. An Italian-American Christmas tin staple.

Black Forest cheesecake layers chocolate wafer crust, almond-scented chocolate cream cheese filling, and cherry pie topping with whipped cream. The German classic, cheesecake-style.

Hearty oatmeal raisin cookies loaded with rolled oats, plump raisins, and crunchy bran flake cereal for extra texture and fiber. Crisp at the edges, chewy in the middle, and a smart way to use up the cereal box.

Unique apple pie with corn syrup custard and crunchy praline pecan topping spiked with apple brandy for sweet-rich Southern-style dessert.

Dense tube cake loaded with apples, coconut, and pecans. Bake 90 minutes, then soak with hot buttery brown sugar topping poured over.

Creamy New York-style cheesecake with a graham cracker crust and tangy sour cream topping. Baked low and slow at 300F for a crack-free finish every time.