Dessert Recipes

Soft sour cream cookies loaded with fresh orange juice and zest, topped with a bright orange icing. Drop cookie simplicity with bakery-level citrus flavor.

Orange tapioca pudding made with skim milk, orange juice, and diced oranges. A light, low-calorie custard-style dessert with citrus flavor and tapioca pearl texture.

Pears baked in honey with lemon juice, oven-poached until tender and served chilled with a reduced honey syrup. A refined British dessert with just four ingredients and elegant simplicity.

Pineapple chiffon cake layered with chocolate cookies and a light-as-air gelatin mousse. A no-bake, low-calorie dessert with bright tropical flavor and lemon zing.

Pineapple zucchini cake loaded with crushed pineapple, grated zucchini, pecans, and raisins. A moist, oil-based sheet cake with tropical-garden flavor that uses up summer zucchini.

Plains peach honey: a thick, clear old-fashioned Southern peach spread made with just two ingredients, ripe peaches and brown sugar. No pectin, no lemon, pure peach flavor.

Light plum or apricot tea cake made with egg whites, orange juice, and fructose instead of butter and sugar. A lower-fat fruit loaf that stays moist for days.

Pots de creme pie with a pound of dark Belgian chocolate, heavy cream, half-and-half, and ten egg yolks set into a graham cracker crust. Decadent French chocolate pie for serious chocolate lovers.

Enhanced prune filling for hamantaschen with chopped raisins, nuts, lemon juice, and nutmeg. A quick upgrade to jarred filling that takes 5 minutes.

In a Cretan zacharoplasteion (sweet shop), we were so intrigued by these coconut pastries (among the newer breed) that I tried them at home. You can expect the potato pastry to be a bit difficult to manipulate, and you can also anticipate compliments on the results. Attractive and tasty, not excessively sweet.

Rainbow ice cream cake layers jello-coated angel food cake pieces with strawberry, lime and orange-pineapple flavors, fruit and vanilla ice cream. A showstopping no-bake frozen dessert.

Anise-scented raisin biscotti with walnuts, lemon zest, and orange zest. Butter-based dough double-baked until crisp. A traditional Italian dunking cookie with citrus and spice.

Rasgulla, the classic Bengali cheese ball dessert of spongy homemade chenna simmered in light sugar syrup until pillowy and sweet. Four ingredients, big payoff.

Rasomadhuri, Indian fried cheese balls made with ricotta, milk powder, and cardamom, soaked 24 hours in sugar syrup. A traditional sweet that melts on your tongue.

A super-healthy take on the original German classic - guilt free! Made with antioxidant-rich raw cacao, healthy coconut oil and cacao butter, high-protein mesquite powder, and filled with juicy wolfberries, vitamin E-rich almonds, and other delicious toppings of your choice.

Homemade whipped cream beats heavy cream with powdered sugar and vanilla into pillowy soft peaks. Three ingredients, ready in 5 minutes, no canned topping required.