Dessert Recipes

Shaker sugar pie: brown sugar caramelized at the bottom of a flaky shell, topped with vanilla cream and butter, baked into a silky no-egg custard. American religious tradition meets Sunday dessert.

A favorite throughout the South, chess pie takes its name from the description given by a cook who was asked what sort of pie it was, and replied, "jes pie, honey."

Lemon coconut snickerdoodles with cream of tartar tang and bright lemon zest. A bakery-style drop cookie with crisp edges, soft centers, and shredded coconut for chew.

Soft, buttery Cracker Barrel-style raisin cookies with sour cream, brown sugar, nutmeg, and plump soaked raisins. A nostalgic copycat recipe that tastes just like the original.

Filled devil dogs are homemade chocolate sandwich cookies with a fluffy cooked-flour cream filling. A nostalgic copycat of the classic Drake's snack cake, soft, cocoa-rich, and bakery-fresh.

Fresh apple cake with macerated apples that release their natural juices into the batter for an extra-moist crumb. Cinnamon, allspice, and chopped nuts in a simple loaf or tube pan. The fall apple cake worth pulling out the bushel.

Jewish apple cake baked in a tube pan with layers of cinnamon-sugar Granny Smith apples and a moist oil-free batter made with applesauce and orange juice.

Low-fat Dutch apple cake spreads a thin, biscuit-like batter under overlapping cinnamon-sugar apples. Egg whites and skim milk keep it light, more fruit than cake in every slice.

Oatmeal apple cheese cookies pair sharp cheddar with sweet apples and warm cinnamon for a sweet-savory cookie that captures classic apple pie a la mode in every bite.

Old-fashioned honey-sweetened oatmeal sandwich cookies filled with a homemade raisin, orange, and lemon fruit filling. A nostalgic farmhouse recipe that yields 4 dozen.

Ossi di Morti (Bones of the Dead) Italian cookies flavored with cinnamon and clove oil, baked hard and meant to be dunked in coffee or tea. A traditional Italian All Souls Day treat.

Raspberry walnut cheesecake pairs a buttery ground walnut crust with creamy vanilla cheesecake folded with fresh raspberries. No graham crackers, no water bath, just a stunning gluten-conscious twist on classic cheesecake.

Rhubarb raspberry platz, a Mennonite fruit dessert with a shortcake base, tart fruit filling, and buttery streusel topping. Three layers baked golden in one pan.

Adorable brown sugar pecan cookies shaped like tiny turtles with pecan halves for legs and heads. Frosted and irresistible, these bake up in about 10 minutes.

The surprise? Sauerkraut. Rinsed and squeezed dry, it melts invisibly into this spiced apple cake, adding incredible moisture. With cinnamon, nutmeg, Granny Smith apple, and chopped pecans, nobody will ever guess the secret.

Slice-and-bake Swedish coconut cookies with golden edges and a buttery, tender crumb. Shape the dough into logs, chill, slice thin, and bake. Makes a whopping 8 dozen from one batch. Ideal for holiday cookie swaps.