Dessert Recipes

Old-fashioned peppernut cookies (pfeffernusse) with anise, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, dark corn syrup, and chopped nuts. Slice-and-bake holiday cookies, makes 4 dozen.

Traditional Jewish taiglach: little dough knots studded with raisins and nuts, boiled in honey syrup with ginger until golden and sticky. A Rosh Hashanah and holiday essential.

Cocoa-rich brownies loaded with melty semi-sweet chocolate chips and optional chopped nuts. Crackly-topped chocolate squares from one bowl, ready in an hour for any sweet emergency.

Classic fudgy brownies made with melted unsweetened chocolate and chopped nuts. The from-scratch one-bowl chocolate brownie that delivers chewy edges and a dense fudgy center.

Mo Cookies are a big-batch chocolate chip and nut cookie that yields 60 generous, chewy rounds from a pound of butter and 6 cups of flour. Bake-sale and bake-along ready.

Coffee-fig delight is a retro parfait-style dessert: vanilla pudding cooked with chopped dried figs and instant coffee, topped with coffee whipped cream. Easy pantry sweet ready in under an hour.

A Southern classic bundt cake made with butter cake mix, sour cream, and a hidden ribbon of cinnamon-brown sugar-nut filling swirled through the center.

Sad cake is a dense, chewy brown-sugar cake studded with coconut and nuts, made easy with a baking mix. It sinks in the middle on purpose, baking up gooey and butterscotchy like a giant blondie.

Traditional German Pfeffernusse cookies with five warm spices, candied citron, and lemon. Tiny spiced rounds that dry overnight and ripen for days before eating.

Rich, fudgy Austrian chocolate balls loaded with chopped nuts and dipped in a glossy chocolate glaze. These bite-sized baked cookies are a European holiday cookie tray staple that disappears fast.

A heritage brownie recipe that swaps in cornmeal for a gritty, slightly crunchy texture you won't find in any box mix. Unsweetened chocolate, butter, chopped nuts, and vanilla in every fudgy square. Best served warm.

Taffy apple cookies are buttery bite-sized cookies on toothpicks, dipped in melted caramel and rolled in chopped nuts. Holiday party trick that looks like mini caramel apples.

Spiced Zucchini Cookies with Raisin and Nuts recipe

This decadent cake is made with pineapple, chopped nuts and cream cheese.

Wholesome sweet potato cookies made with whole-wheat flour, oats, coconut, wheat germ, and chopped nuts, sweetened with honey and brown sugar. Soft, chewy, and spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg. Makes 4 dozen.

Old fashioned fruitcake bars packed with candied cherries, dates, raisins, and nuts in a moist applesauce batter. Easier than traditional fruitcake and just as festive.