Dessert Recipes

A no-bake chocolate biscuit pudding, milk-soaked biscuits layered with a rich cocoa butter cream and studded with cashews and raisins, then chilled until sliceable. A Sri Lankan party favorite.

Homemade granola bars sweetened with molasses and orange juice concentrate, packed with oats, raisins, apricots, sunflower seeds, wheat germ and sesame. Dense, cakey, and naturally fruit-sweetened.

Classic oatmeal raisin cookies with cinnamon, nutmeg, and chopped pecans. Three full cups of quick oats for a chewy, hearty texture in every bite.

Old-fashioned applesauce cake with cinnamon, cloves, and a hint of cocoa, studded with raisins and baked in a 9x13 pan. Tender, moist, and ready to slice in 50 minutes.

Light basmati rice pudding made with skim milk, raisins, and vanilla, folded with whipped topping for a creamy, airy texture. A low-fat Indian-inspired dessert.

Gingerbread men cookie dough with dark molasses, brown sugar, and four warm spices. Make the dough one day, refrigerate overnight, and cut and bake the next for crisp, spiced cookies.

French apple cake made with yellow cake mix, lemon pudding, Granny Smith apples, and raisins, finished with a tart lemon glaze. A spiced bundt cake that stays moist thanks to sour cream.

Mock cherry pie made from halved cranberries and raisins simmered with sugar, vanilla, and butter. The Depression-era trick gives you a tart-sweet ruby filling that fools nearly anyone hunting for the real thing.

Pineapple spice layer cake with crushed pineapple, raisins, cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice topped with a fluffy cooked seven-minute frosting studded with pineapple. A from-scratch showstopper.

Two-layer spice cake with cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, and plumped raisins, frosted with Swiss meringue mocha buttercream. A showstopper dessert for serious bakers.

No-bake peanut butter balls with dates, raisins, walnuts, molasses, and orange juice, rolled in shredded coconut. A healthy, naturally sweetened energy bite that improves after a day of resting.

Traditional Irish porter cake made with stout beer, currants, raisins, mixed peel, and brown sugar. A dense, rich fruit cake that improves with a week of resting before slicing.

Capirotada, a traditional Mexican bread pudding layered with bananas, raisins, peanuts, almonds, and Monterey Jack cheese, soaked in a cinnamon-clove brown sugar syrup.

Old-fashioned steamed persimmon pudding with cinnamon, rum, walnuts, and raisins. A dense, moist holiday dessert steamed for 2 hours in a pudding mold for a rich, spiced fruit pudding.

Light apple raisin crepes with an oat bran batter, part-skim ricotta and apple filling, and a warm cinnamon syrup poured over at serving. Just 178 calories per serving.

Carrot and raisin cheesecake on a cinnamon graham cracker crust, spiced with nutmeg and ginger, topped with an orange cream cheese frosting. Carrot cake meets cheesecake in one showstopping dessert.