Dessert Recipes

Pumpkin pie with brown sugar, corn syrup, and a custard set by both eggs and evaporated milk for a creamier filling. Warm cinnamon, ginger, and cloves, finished with whipped cream and candied ginger slivers.

Pineapple upside-down cake with a butterscotch brown sugar base, pineapple rings, and maraschino cherries baked in a round pan. Served warm with whipped cream.

Microwave rum cake with devil's food layers soaked in rum, apricot preserves in the middle, and fluffy Italian-style meringue frosting. Retro dessert, updated speed.

Hello Dollys (magic cookie bars) layered with vanilla wafer crumbs, chocolate chips, coconut, pecans, and sweetened condensed milk. No mixing needed, just layer and bake for a gooey, chewy bar.

Hawaiian-inspired apple pie poached in pineapple juice instead of baked. A no-bake filling in a pre-baked crust, topped with whipped cream and chopped macadamia nuts.

Norwegian kringla are soft pretzel-shaped buttermilk cookies twisted into figure-eights. A traditional Scandinavian coffee-time treat that needs an overnight chill for flavor.

Devil's food cake bakes a deep cocoa layer cake with a separated-egg method for extra lift, then tops it with classic boiled chocolate fudge frosting. A tall, old-fashioned chocolate showstopper.

Sunny cocoa drop cookies are light chocolate-orange cookies made with corn oil spread and sour cream, then finished with a glossy cocoa drizzle. Lower-fat drop cookie, four dozen per batch.

Spiced applesauce cookies with cinnamon and cloves bake into soft, cake-like drops sweetened with thick unsweetened applesauce. Makes 3 dozen tender old-fashioned cookies in 30 minutes.

Quick toffee chocolate cake assembled from store-bought pound cake split and filled with chocolate-sour cream frosting and crushed English toffee. Ready in 25 minutes.

Aniseed biscotti from Genoa, twice-baked into long, crisp logs scented with whole anise seed. A yeast-raised dough makes them lighter and more bread-like than the typical Tuscan biscotti, ideal for dunking in coffee or sweet wine.

Soft, cakey persimmon cookies made with ripe persimmon pulp, warm cinnamon, plump raisins and crunchy nuts. An old-fashioned drop cookie and a great way to use up overripe persimmons in autumn.

No-bake peanut butter chocolate drops with melted semi-sweet chocolate, sweetened condensed milk, and vanilla. A 5-ingredient fudgy candy that sets in the fridge with zero oven time.

Pfeffernüsse-style German spice cookies with cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, mace, and allspice, finished with a drop of brandy before baking. A traditional holiday cookie that keeps for weeks in a tin.

Flaky pastry bars filled with thin-sliced MacIntosh apples, raisins, and sugar, topped with lattice strips. Sour cream dough creates tender layers. Dust with powdered sugar while warm for elegant finish.

Microwave baked apples stuffed with dried apricot, walnuts, brown sugar, and butter, cooked in orange juice. Ready in under 15 minutes with a rich, fruity filling worth trying.