Dessert Recipes

Victorian jewels mini fruitcakes: brandy-soaked candied fruit, raisins, and walnuts baked into tender two-bite cakes. A glossy jelly glaze gives each one its jewel-box shine. Holiday gifting star.

Canadian butter tart squares with a buttery shortbread base and gooey brown sugar-raisin filling. All the flavor of butter tarts without rolling pastry. Cut into bars for easy sharing.

Old-fashioned molasses cookies made with lard and sour cream for a tender, flaky texture butter can't match. Spiced with cinnamon and ginger, chilled overnight, then rolled thick and soft.

Crispy deep-fried dessert wontons with three tropical fillings: coconut-lemon, macadamia-ginger, and banana-honey. Hand-rolled dough twisted like candy wrappers and dusted in powdered sugar.

Old-fashioned sour cream drop cookies that bake up soft and pillowy. Versatile enough for chocolate chips, raisins, nuts, or rolled and cut into shapes.

Quick pumpkin bundt cake using spice cake mix and canned pumpkin, topped with a Kahlua coffee glaze. A semi-homemade fall dessert with rich, warm spice flavor.

Red plum spice cake with cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves folded into a moist batter studded with chopped plums and nuts. Finished with a cream cheese frosting spiked with reserved plum juice.

Rhubarb and banana fool made with quark, whipped egg whites, brown sugar, and preserved ginger. A light British dessert with tangy fruit and creamy cheese.

Peanut butter oat bars topped with melted chocolate chips. A one-bowl, mix-and-spread recipe with chewy oats, brown sugar, and a rich chocolate or chocolate-peanut butter frosting.

Cherry and pineapple are very great mixing when making cake, try this cake, very soft and tasty!

Whacky cakes are the Depression-era chocolate classic reworked for a pizzelle iron: no eggs, no butter, no milk. Vinegar and baking soda do the lift. Vegan, fast, kid-friendly.

A creamy cocoa cheesecake on a buttery graham cracker crust, topped with a smooth vanilla sour cream layer. Baked in a springform pan and garnished with fresh fruit. Serves 10 to 12.

Baked Granny Smith apples stuffed with brown sugar, cinnamon, and chopped nuts, then drenched in a maple syrup glaze. A classic Midwest fall dessert served warm with cream.

Crazy cake (also called wacky cake or depression cake) needs no eggs, no milk, no butter. Mixed straight in the pan with vinegar for chemistry-class lift. A Depression-era favorite.

Marji's fudgies: dense fudgy chocolate drop cookies with cocoa, powdered milk, and a stiff dough that bakes into a brownie-cookie hybrid. Foil-pan baking trick included.

Cherry pineapple dump cake: the legendary five-ingredient potluck dessert. Dump canned fruit and yellow cake mix in a pan, dot with butter, scatter nuts, and bake. No mixing bowl required.