Dessert Recipes

Greek oil cake (gliko tapsiou me ladi) is a dairy-free, egg-free spice cake made with olive oil, orange juice, walnuts, and raisins. Naturally vegan and Lenten-friendly.

Oyster house apple pie with a flaky butter-shortening crust and a pre-cooked spiced apple filling. Old-tavern recipe with a glossy clove-and-cinnamon glaze.

Pepparkakor, the thin and snappy Swedish spice cookies layered with ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg over deep molasses. Sliced from chilled logs and baked crisp. A classic Scandinavian Christmas treat.

Spiced pepper cake with pumpkin, prunes, crystallized ginger, and walnuts. Black pepper adds a warm, unexpected bite to this deeply flavored autumn loaf cake.

Pepper poached pears simmer in white wine with black peppercorns, ginger, cinnamon and a whisper of chili heat, then chill in a syrup reduced from the poaching liquid. An elegant, lightly spiced dessert.

Soft persimmon cookies with warming cloves and cinnamon, packed with raisins and nuts. Old-fashioned fall harvest treat.

Poor Man's Cake: a Depression-era boiled raisin cake spiced with cinnamon, cloves and allspice. No eggs, no milk, no butter. Just pantry basics, lard and the magic of plumped raisins.

Pumpkin delight is a no-bake layered dessert: a graham cracker base under a fluffy spiced pumpkin filling of cream cheese, vanilla pudding, and whipped topping. A lighter, make-ahead alternative to pumpkin pie.

Date drop cookies studded with chopped dates and walnuts and warmly spiced with cinnamon and cloves. A drop-and-bake batter with no chilling or rolling, ready for the cookie jar in well under an hour.

Raisin-spice cookies made with oatmeal cookie mix, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, raisins, and chopped nuts. A quick drop cookie with warm holiday spices that makes four dozen in under 30 minutes.

Red plum spice cake made with plum baby food for moisture, cinnamon, cloves, and vegetable oil baked in a Bundt pan. A dense, spiced oil cake with a clever shortcut ingredient that keeps it moist for days.

Greek semolina cake with almonds soaked in cinnamon-orange syrup, scored into diamonds. Traditional Mediterranean dessert.

Shaker honey almond cake bakes a spice-warmed honey-sour cream batter under a crown of almonds, then ripens 2 days for deeper flavor. Heritage New England keeping cake.

No-bake sour cream pumpkin pie layered with spiced pumpkin chiffon and sweet whipped cream, finished with toasted pecans. Gelatin-set filling means a stunning autumn pie with no oven time for the filling.

Soft spiced raisin drop cookies made with cookie mix, molasses, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg, topped with a smooth vanilla butter frosting. A semi-homemade shortcut for holiday cookie trays.

Spiced apple pie with cinnamon, nutmeg, mace, cloves, and allspice in a flaky double crust dressed with pastry leaves. Bakery-quality dessert with deep autumn warmth.