Dessert Recipes

Shortcut oatmeal cookies using yellow cake mix as the base, loaded with oats, raisins, chopped nuts, and cinnamon. Soft, chewy, and foolproof.

Amaretto cookies fold flaked coconut, chopped almonds, and amaretto liqueur into a stiff egg white meringue base. Crisp-outside, chewy-inside macaroon-style drops with a grown-up almond-liqueur backbone.

Old-fashioned date pudding baked with brown sugar, chopped dates, and nuts. A Pennsylvania Dutch classic with a dense, sticky-sweet crumb served warm with cream.

Peanut butter bars are no-bake crowd-pleasers with a graham cracker and peanut butter base topped with melted chocolate. Five ingredients, one pan, refrigerate overnight. Buckeyes in bar form.

Sweet potato pecan pie with brown sugar, dark corn syrup, warm spices, and a praline liqueur whipped cream topping. Two Southern classics merged into one rich, custard-set slice.

Cranberry orange tart with a buttery almond shortbread crust and glistening marmalade-glazed cranberry filling. A stunning make-ahead holiday dessert that chills overnight.

Orange balls are a no-bake holiday classic: crushed vanilla wafers mixed with butter, powdered sugar, frozen orange juice concentrate, and pecans, rolled in coconut for a bright citrus bite.

Froggers are oversized soft molasses cookies from old Nantucket whaling kitchens, spiced with ginger, cloves, nutmeg and allspice, flavoured with dark rum and dotted with raisins. Cut into 4-inch rounds for a proper hand-sized cookie.

Mom's pumpkin cookies loaded with chocolate chips, chopped maraschino cherries, and cinnamon. Soft, cakey drop cookies with 3 cups of pumpkin for a moist fall treat.

Carrot cake spiked with vodka and orange zest, loaded with pecans and warm spices, baked in a Bundt pan and finished with a boozy orange glaze. Cocktail hour meets cake hour.

Simple rhubarb sauce with sugar, cinnamon, and a pinch of salt simmered until thick and saucy. A versatile spring condiment for desserts, pancakes, or yogurt.

Light pumpkin praline cheesecake: low-fat cottage cheese stands in for cream cheese, wheat germ replaces graham crumbs in the crust, and pumpkin pie spice carries the flavor. Topped with maple-drizzled pecans.

Old-fashioned oatmeal cake with cinnamon, nuts, and a broiled coconut-brown sugar icing spread on warm. A nostalgic, from-scratch classic worth passing down.

Entenmann's-style apple crumb cake with a yeasted braided dough filled with Granny Smith apples, cinnamon, mace, and currants, topped with a pecan crumb topping.

Intensely rich chocolate espresso cake baked in a water bath, spiked with Grand Marnier and orange zest. Dense flourless dessert.

Rich chocolate pumpkin mini bundt cakes with warm pumpkin pie spice, topped with an orange-tinted brown sugar frosting and cookie stems. Adorable fall treats that taste as good as they look.