Dessert Recipes

Free-form apple tart made with store-bought pie crust, thinly sliced Golden Delicious apples, cinnamon sugar, and a warm apricot jam glaze. Rustic, simple, and gorgeous.

French lemon pie is a simple rustic tart: a whole wheat butter crust filled with a buttery fresh lemon custard and baked golden. Tart, glossy, and finished in an hour with pantry basics.

French meringue strips with a buttery shortbread base topped with vanilla meringue, cinnamon sugar, and chopped almonds. Elegant bar cookies that yield 8 dozen.

Fresh blueberry cake baked in a springform pan with a buttery batter shell, juicy berry center, and cinnamon crumb topping. A rustic German-style kuchen ready in 40 minutes.

Fresh bananas and Bartlett pears drizzled with melted vanilla ice cream as a ready-made custard sauce, topped with chopped pecans. No cooking, no custard-making. The ice cream is the sauce.

Bananas in rum caramel sauce with pineapple juice, cinnamon, and butter, served over vanilla ice cream. A quick stovetop dessert ready in 30 minutes.

Frosted diamond cookies with caraway seeds, topped with billowy White Mountain frosting and pink sugar. A vintage rolled cookie that's crisp, elegant, and surprisingly savory-sweet.

Fruit ginger drop cookies made with gingerbread mix, candied fruit, and chopped nuts. A 4-ingredient holiday cookie ready in 25 minutes.

Fruits afire is a flambe dessert with canned pears, apricots, and bing cherries in a reduced cinnamon-apricot syrup, finished tableside with flaming rum. A dramatic, retro showstopper.

Fudge cakes with melted unsweetened chocolate, butter, and chopped nuts in a light batter lifted with stiffly beaten egg whites. Somewhere between a brownie and a cake, frosted and cut into bars.

Gateau St. Honore with a puff pastry base, caramel-dipped cream puffs, brandy-raisin chocolate mousse filling, and piped whipped cream in alternating chocolate and vanilla stripes. A showstopping French patisserie centerpiece.

No-bake peanut butter pie with cream cheese, real whipped heavy cream, and a hot fudge topping over a graham cracker crust. Richer than the whipped-topping versions, with a denser, fudgier cut.

French genoise sponge cake soaked with Amaretto and filled with whipped chocolate ganache. A light, egg-leavened cake with lemon zest and an overnight chocolate cream.

Georgia peaches-and-cream cake: a layer of juicy fresh peaches under a tender sour cream cake and a cinnamon-brown sugar crumb. Part cobbler, part coffee cake, all Southern summer comfort.

Giant chocolate chip cookies shaped into 2-inch balls for thick, bakery-style results. Crispy edges, chewy centers, and loaded with chocolate chips.

Gift cake: a birthday sheet cake decorated to look like a wrapped present, with coconut "paper," strawberry preserves filling, and a gumdrop bow. Perfect kid's party centerpiece.