Dessert Recipes

Old-fashioned buttermilk gingerbread with a streusel-style crumb topping built from the same dough. Molasses, ginger, and cinnamon meet a tangy buttermilk batter for a soft, warm-spiced cake. Serve warm with whipped cream or baked apple.

Lighter snickerdoodles made with just an egg white and margarine for a tender, lower-fat cinnamon-sugar cookie. Rolled in cinnamon sugar and baked into 40 small bites.

Fruit cocktail bars with coconut, maraschino cherries, and a soft cake-like crumb. A vintage pantry-friendly bar cookie made with canned fruit cocktail syrup in the batter.

Rainbow sprinkle cookies from cake mix, ready in 30 minutes with vanilla frosting and festive toppings. Kid-friendly baking for birthdays, celebrations, or just because.

German loaf cookies (Zwieback-style) with lemon zest, almond extract, and a cocoa-cinnamon swirl. Baked as a log, sliced, then broiled crisp for a twice-baked biscotti-like crunch.

Gugelhupf is an Austrian yeasted bundt cake rich with butter, eggs, raisins, ground almonds, and lemon zest. Traditional Habsburg breakfast bread served warm with butter or coffee.

Soft chocolate oatmeal cookies made with cocoa, yogurt, and chocolate extract instead of butter. Low-fat, slightly puffy, and rich in chocolate flavor without the guilt.

Holiday cheddar date cake bakes a tube of brown sugar batter loaded with shredded sharp cheddar, dates, pecans, candied cherries, and golden raisins. A surprising savory-sweet fruitcake that keeps for 6 weeks.

Triple chip brownies loaded with semi-sweet chocolate, milk chocolate, and butterscotch chips in a fudgy bittersweet chocolate batter with walnuts. Six cups of chips total. These are not messing around.

Buttery German almond crescents dusted with powdered sugar, made with ground almonds and double extracts for a melt-in-your-mouth holiday cookie.

Mandel-Halbmonde are German almond crescents: buttery shortbread cookies shaped like half-moons, baked pale, then rolled twice in powdered sugar. The kind of melt-in-your-mouth Christmas cookie every German bakery puts on the holiday plate.

Single-crust maple pie with cream cheese pastry, thin-sliced Granny Smith apples, and maple-sour cream topping. Nutmeg finish adds warmth.

Milk chocolate chip cheesecake built on nonfat cream cheese and egg whites, studded with milk chocolate chips throughout. A lighter cheesecake recipe that delivers the chocolate-and-cream flavor without the heavy fat content.

Mint chocolate fudge brownies made with melted mint-chocolate chips for intense minty richness, plus chopped nuts and a dense, fudgy crumb. Thin Mint meets brownie.

Wacky cake style chocolate layer cake made with no eggs, butter, or milk. A pantry-staple Depression-era recipe with deep cocoa flavor and a tender, fudgy crumb that's accidentally vegan.

Chocolate raspberry brownies hide a ribbon of raspberry jam baked into the center of a dense, fudgy walnut brownie. A clever freezing trick suspends the jam mid-batter so every square has a tart raspberry surprise.