Dessert Recipes

Party date cake is a big-batch chocolate date loaf topped with sugar, chopped nuts, and chocolate chips. Served warm in slices with whipped cream for a crowd-sized dessert.

Peek-A-Bows are lace cookies made with corn syrup, brown sugar, and finely chopped nuts, rolled into cylinders while warm and tied with ribbon for a festive gift cookie.

Homemade poppyseed filling for hamantaschen made from a full pound of ground poppy seeds, honey, sugar, and egg. Traditional Jewish Purim pastry filling from scratch.

Pumpkin pie cake layers a creamy pumpkin pie filling under a buttery yellow cake mix streusel topping with chopped nuts. Easier than pie, deeper than cake. Thanksgiving dessert that feeds a crowd.

Chewy chocolate drop cookies made with melted semi-sweet chocolate, butter, and just half a cup of flour. Fudgy, brownie-like cookies that bake in under 10 minutes.

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.

Ribbon cookies with three colorful layers: red rum-flavored, green with chopped nuts, and chocolate, pressed in a loaf pan and sliced thin. A festive holiday cookie for Christmas tins.

Sad Face Cake made with Bisquick, brown sugar, coconut, chopped nuts, and eggs. A dense, chewy dump cake with a brownie-like texture and no frosting needed.

Chocolate sheet cake (Texas sheet cake) with hot cocoa-buttermilk batter and a poured cocoa-buttermilk icing finished while the cake is still hot. The Southern church-supper crowd-feeder cut into 24 squares.

Sleigh Belles are angel food cake mix cookies in three festive flavors: chocolate chip walnut, coconut, and chopped date. Light, airy holiday cookies from one box of cake mix.

Slice and bake chocolate chip cookies with a make-ahead freezer dough. Shape four logs, freeze for up to 6 months, and bake fresh cookies anytime in 10 minutes.

Stack cake is an Appalachian multi-layer molasses cake with applesauce filling spread between thin layers, topped with whipped cream and chopped nuts. A pioneer wedding-table classic.

No-bake stained glass cookies made with melted chocolate chips, marshmallows, and chopped nuts rolled in coconut. Slice from frozen for a colorful, fudgy treat.

Apple nut cake spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg, loaded with fresh apples and nuts in a one-bowl batter. Serve warm with whipped cream or ice cream.

Sugar drops: classic buttery drop cookies with chopped nuts (or chocolate chips), crisp edges, and soft centers. Basic pantry dough ready in 30 minutes.

Chocolate drop cookies with a hidden chunk of white chocolate baked into the center. No flour, no eggs: melted chocolate chips, sweetened condensed milk and nuts make the entire dough. Fudgy, dense, surprise inside.