Dessert Recipes

Sawmill cake with no eggs and no dairy, just cocoa, vinegar, and margarine for a moist, dark chocolate sheet cake. The Depression-era one-bowl dessert born from pantry shortages.

Chocolate pizzelle cookies made with cocoa powder, melted butter, and vanilla, pressed on a pizzelle iron. An Italian waffle cookie with a rich chocolate twist.

Semolina pastries stuffed with pistachios, cinnamon, and sugar, then dipped in orange flower water and rolled in powdered sugar. A Middle Eastern-style cookie.

Gajar ka halwa (carrot halva) is a traditional Indian dessert made by slow-cooking grated carrots in milk for hours until thick and fudgy, then enriched with sugar, powdered milk, and nuts.

Grandma Hilda's apple pie: an old-world sheet-pan apple pie with a tender egg-rich dough, piled with grated apples, brown sugar, and a cinnamon-sugar crust on top.

Hefty chocolate pound cake with sweetened condensed milk for extra richness, baked in a tube pan and topped with a cooked cocoa frosting that sets with a glossy snap.

Surprise devil's food cake with hidden beets: a deeply rich, moist chocolate cake with cocoa, buttermilk, and grated beets stirred in for extra tenderness. Kids will never guess.

Flourless chocolate espresso cake baked in a water bath with a pound of butter, two types of chocolate, and a fresh raspberry puree sauce. Dense, fudgy, and gluten-free.

Chewy chocolate cookies loaded with Reese's peanut butter chips. Rich cocoa dough, soft and puffy from the oven, they flatten into fudgy discs as they cool.

Delicately flavored orange cookie cups, topped with an orange, almond-paste filling.

Schwarzwalder Kirschtorte (Black Forest Cherry recipe

Chocolate pixie cookies rolled in powdered sugar with a fudgy center, crackled crust, and chopped walnuts. Made with melted unsweetened chocolate for intense cocoa flavor.

Popcorn cake binds popped popcorn, mixed nuts, and rainbow gumdrops with melted marshmallows and butter, then molds it all into a tube pan. A no-bake retro showstopper for parties and bake sales.

No-bake marshmallow candy balls with ground candied cherries and blanched almonds rolled in shredded coconut. A vintage Christmas-tin confection that's chewy, sweet, and oven-free.

Kumquat pecan crepes are filled with a frangipane-style pecan butter and chopped preserved kumquats, baked golden, then flambeed tableside with warm cognac. A grown-up dessert with theatrical presentation.

Apricot almond bars with a buttery shortbread crust, spiced almond meringue topping, apricot glaze, and chocolate drizzle. Four layers of European-style pastry in every square.