Dessert Recipes

Rich flourless chocolate mousse cake spiked with Cointreau or Chambord, baked in a water bath and topped with billowy whipped cream. An Italian-style showstopper dessert.

Rich chocolate Bundt cake made with Dutch process cocoa, espresso, buttermilk, and five eggs, topped with a glossy bittersweet chocolate glaze. A deeply chocolatey, bakery-quality cake.

Layered chocolate ripple cake baked in a clay pot with a coconut cream cheese swirl through the center and a milk chocolate cream cheese frosting on top. Lightened with egg whites and nonfat cream cheese.

Spiced molasses hermit bars with apple butter, raisins, cinnamon, allspice, and cloves. Chewy, warmly spiced, and lighter than traditional hermit cookies.

Cinnamon sugar cookies with a tender shortening-based dough, brushed with egg white and topped with a cinnamon sugar sparkle. Crisp edges, soft centers.

A cake mix coffee cake with a coconut cinnamon crumb swirl running through the center and crunchy nut topping, finished with a vanilla glaze. One pan, one hour, zero fuss.

Norwegian cookies (biscotti-style) with chocolate chips and a cinnamon sugar topping. Dough baked in long rolls, then sliced diagonally into crisp strips. One batch makes four dozen.

Three-layer Southern cookies: a buttery shortbread round spread with gooey caramel-pecan filling, then drizzled with rich chocolate icing. Named after the wildflower and just as eye-catching on a cookie tray.

Grandma's chocolate rum bundt cake soaked in raspberry-rum glaze and drizzled with melted chocolate and white vanilla icing. A boozy, showstopping dessert made easy with cake mix.

Low-fat lemon poppy seed bran pound cake with oat bran, non-fat lemon yogurt, and egg whites. The classic bright lemon-poppy flavor with a tender bundt crumb and a tangy lemon glaze.

Pouding renversé des bluets is a Québécois upside-down blueberry cake: fresh blueberries and lemon zest under a tender vanilla sponge, inverted to serve.

Saure Kartoffel, a traditional Swabian sour potato dish with a tangy butter-onion sauce flavored with bay leaf, lemon zest, clove, and caraway. German comfort food.

Peach pizza pie: a 12-inch shortbread crust topped with fresh peaches and a currant-jelly orange glaze, finished with whipped cream. A summer dessert dressed up like a fruit tart.

No-mix seven layer bars with graham cracker crust, coconut, chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, walnuts, and sweetened condensed milk. Just layer, bake, and slice into gooey, crunchy bars.

Cranberry walnut tart layers a flaky blind-baked crust with a brown sugar and corn syrup custard studded with tart cranberries and toasted walnuts. The holiday pie's more sophisticated cousin.

Buttery shortbread cookies shaped like tiny strawberries, rolled in red and green sugar crystals with almond "stems." A whimsical baking project kids will love.