Dessert Recipes

Authentic Scottish shortbread is a four-ingredient classic of unsalted butter, sugar, flour, and cornstarch baked low and slow into pale, sandy wedges. The traditional petticoat tails for tea time.

Apple Danish bars layer cinnamon-spiced sliced apples between two flaky pastry sheets in a sheet pan, then drizzle with almond glaze. A sliceable Scandinavian-style coffee cake bar.

Hawaiian delight cookies with a cream cheese pastry shell filled with macadamia nuts, coconut, and brown sugar. A mini tart-style cookie baked in muffin pans.

Fat-free pineapple upside down cake delivers all the caramelized fruit and tender crumb of the classic without butter or oil. Egg whites and corn syrup do the work, no compromise on flavor.

Almond Cookies: tender Italian-style cookies built on real almond paste, butter, and almond extract. Pressed flat with a sugared glass for crackled, sparkling tops. Makes 5 dozen.

Chewy oat bran raisin cookies made with egg whites instead of whole eggs and vegetable oil instead of butter. A lighter oatmeal cookie with nuts and fiber.

No-cholesterol chocolate cake gets its tender crumb from a surprising swap: cholesterol-free mayonnaise stands in for eggs and butter. One bowl, no creaming, deep cocoa flavor with a moist tight crumb.

Ranger Joe cookies pack everything but the kitchen sink: rolled oats, Rice Krispies, coconut, pecans, and chocolate chips into one chewy, crunchy, candy-bar-of-a-cookie. The classic Texas ranch-house cookie that bakes off four dozen at a time.

Chocolate mug cake for one, mixed and microwaved right in the mug in about 5 minutes. No oven, one dish, and a warm, fudgy chocolate cake whenever a craving hits.

Sugarplum cookies with dried or candied fruit hidden inside each ball of vanilla sugar cookie dough. Topped with creamy frosting and colored sugar for Christmas cookie trays.

Jan's 1940s apple pie heaped with McIntosh and Cortland apples, finished with a quick water-rinse trick on the top crust that produces an exceptionally flaky finish.

Sirups kager are traditional Danish brown spice cookies made with dark corn syrup, cinnamon, and cloves. Crisp, warmly spiced, and ideal for holiday cookie tins and Christmas baking.

Lard anise cookies cream pure lard with sugar and anise seeds for an Italian classic with melting tenderness and licorice perfume. Shape into letters or slice from a chilled log.

Old-fashioned pound cake with shortening, six eggs, and no leavening. Vanilla and almond extract give this dense, tender tube cake its signature flavor.

Moravian sugar cookies rolled paper-thin and baked until crisp at the edges. Buttermilk keeps the dough tender while an overnight chill makes it rollable to 1/16-inch thickness for that signature wafer-like snap.

St. Nicholas cookies are buttery, spiced Dutch-style holiday cookies loaded with cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, ginger, and chopped almonds. Slice-and-bake or press into carved wooden molds.