Dessert Recipes

A two-layer pie with spiced butternut squash custard on the bottom and a gooey pecan pie filling on top, sweetened with maple syrup and dark brown sugar. A Midwest Thanksgiving stunner.

A diabetic-friendly spice cake made with whole wheat flour, sour cherries, dates, and applesauce instead of refined sugar. Warmly spiced with cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg.

Sugarless applesauce cake sweetens with raisins, dried fruit, and unsweetened applesauce instead of granulated sugar. A diabetic-friendly bundt cake spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg.

Swiss Leckerli cookies: honey-spiced almond bars with candied citrus peel and kirsch, finished with a hardening sugar glaze. Traditional Basel Christmas market sweet that improves with age.

Fruit compote pie with dried apricots, peaches and cranberries simmered in apricot liqueur, folded into a sour cream custard and finished with a buttery pecan crumb topping.

Old-fashioned fruit-filled cookies with a soft sour cream dough and a homemade date-raisin filling. Sandwich-style cookies with a tender crumb and sweet, jammy center.

Ritz crackers transform into tender, spiced filling that mimics apple pie with lemon zest, cinnamon, and buttery crust. A Depression-era classic dessert.

Old-fashioned spice cake with cinnamon, allspice, cloves, and nutmeg, sweetened with brown sugar and studded with raisins. A tender crumb built on evaporated milk and topped with caramel frosting.

Tall honey cake (lekach) baked with 1¼ cups honey and a full cup of strong coffee for moisture and depth. Walnut-studded with warm spices, traditional for Rosh Hashanah and the Jewish New Year.

Rhubarb cream pie with a custard-like egg filling, warm nutmeg, and a lattice crust baked golden. Four cups of fresh rhubarb deliver that signature tart-sweet bite.

Easier to work with. The original recipe called for brandy or grape juice, but I found that if you substitute the orange juice concentrate, it has a nicer flavour.

Spiced cherry biscotti studded with candied cherries and almonds, warmed with nutmeg, and dusted with cinnamon-nutmeg sugar. A ruby-flecked holiday coffee cookie.

Spiced pizzelles flavor the classic Italian wafer cookie with warm nutmeg and floral cardamom. Crisp, lacy, and lightly spiced, perfect for stacking on a holiday cookie tray or sandwiching with mascarpone.

Traditional Christmas Pudding with Brandy Sauce recipe

Yule log cookies shaped into scored logs, baked, sliced on the diagonal, and decorated with holly icing. Spiced with cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, and nutmeg.

Three-nut baklava layers buttered phyllo with walnuts, pistachios, and toasted almonds, then drinks in a citrus-clove honey syrup overnight. The Greek dessert pulled out for big celebrations and bigger family gatherings.