Dessert Recipes

Classic peach Melba: vanilla ice cream crowned with a poached peach half, glossy raspberry-currant sauce, crushed macaroons, and a piped collar of whipped cream. Auguste Escoffier's signature dessert from 1893.

A show-stopping 4-layer banana cake with stiff meringue folded into the batter, filled with vanilla custard, and frosted with a silky cooked flour-butter frosting laced with almond extract. This is banana cake at its most dramatic.

Chocolate dunking cookies cut into long fingers, baked firm for plunging into milk or coffee. Egg-white-based, lower fat than typical, with cocoa powder backbone.

One bowl macaroons need just three ingredients: shredded coconut, sweetened condensed milk, and vanilla. Chewy centers, crisp golden edges, ready in 35 minutes. Naturally gluten-free.

Double chocolate chip cookies with melted semisweet chocolate in the dough plus chocolate morsels and walnuts folded in. Rich, fudgy, and intensely chocolatey drop cookies.

Peach Melba parfaits with peach-amaretto vanilla ice cream layered with raspberry coulis and fresh berries. Escoffier's classic dessert in parfait form.

Cocoa cream pie with a from-scratch chocolate pudding filling made from cocoa powder, milk, and cornstarch in a baked pie shell. Topped with whipped cream after chilling 6-8 hours.

Red, White and Blue Cheesecake with a chocolate wafer crust, orange and lemon zest filling, topped with fresh raspberries and blueberries. The showstopper 4th of July dessert that chills overnight.

Celebrate the Kentucky Derby with this famous apple pie.

Chocolate bonbon cookies: a holiday favorite rolled in powdered sugar or frosted and topped with coconut. Rich chocolate-almond cookies that shine on a holiday cookie tray.

Chocolate nut-filled cookies with a chocolate syrup and pecan filling sandwiched between two rolled dough circles. A window-topped sandwich cookie sealed with fork tines.

Tortilla chip wreath: a salty-sweet holiday candy wreath of vanilla-coated tortilla chips arranged in a circle and decorated with gumdrops. A no-bake Christmas dessert kids can help with.

Chewy oatmeal cookies with brown sugar, white sugar, and quick-cooking oats. A simple, no-frills oat cookie that's soft in the center with golden edges.

Carrot snack cake made with cake mix, grated carrots, orange juice, cinnamon, and chopped nuts, topped with a homemade cream cheese frosting. Easy one-pan baking.

Chocolate Cream Cheese Sweet Chocolate Cake recipe

Holly Cluster cookies: chewy brown-sugar chocolate chip cookies topped with green marzipan holly leaves and red cinnamon candy berries. Holiday cookie tray showpiece with old-school decorating charm.