Dessert Recipes

Rocky road fudge bars with three layers: chocolate brownie base, cream cheese filling with chocolate chips, marshmallow topping, and a swirled chocolate-cream cheese frosting.

Yeasted apple crescents with a maple syrup whole wheat dough and a fresh apple and date filling. Make the dough overnight and bake golden, buttery rolls the next morning.

Classic no-bake church windows with chocolate chips, colored marshmallows, shredded coconut, and chopped nuts. Chill overnight, slice into colorful rounds. Makes 3 dozen.

Light lemon mousse with fresh lemon juice and zest, set with gelatin and folded with whipped egg whites. Topped with sweetened cream and a raspberry puree.

Flour-free hazelnut cookies made with ground hazelnuts, almonds, eggs, and sugar. Naturally gluten-free nut cookies with a delicate, macaroon-like texture baked low and slow.

Genoise mousseline is a classic French sponge cake made with whole eggs, extra yolks, and no butter, warmed over a bain-marie and whipped to airy volume for a tender crumb.

Pina colada sorbet made with crushed pineapple, cream of coconut, dark rum, and a simple syrup. No ice cream maker needed, just freeze, blend, and refreeze for tropical scoops.

Raspberry cream pie with a toasted pecan-cinnamon crust and a light, gelatin-set raspberry filling folded into whipped cream. Grain-free and easy to lighten on sugar, it sets up cool and airy in the fridge.

Parisienne fruit tart layers crisp puff pastry with vanilla cream and bananas, glazes it with apricot, then crowns it with whipped cream, grapes, and pineapple. A showpiece French pastry from simple shortcuts.

Diabetic-friendly strawberries Romanoff: fresh strawberries folded into a sweetened yogurt with a whisper of nutmeg. Four ingredients, no sugar, five minutes to a guilt-free dessert.

Buttermilk cinnamon coffee cake with a brown sugar-cinnamon swirl, made with a blend of white and whole wheat flour. Tender, lightly spiced, and not overly sweet.

Fresh mango halves dusted with powdered sugar sear face-down in a hot skillet until golden and caramelized for a 5-minute dessert that's elegant over ice cream.

Classic snickerdoodle cookies: tender soft cookies rolled in cinnamon sugar, with the signature cream of tartar tang. Yields five dozen for the cookie tin.

I liked these a lot. The poppyseed taste is subtle yet makes them a little different and more "elegant" than ordinary butter cookies.

Santa Claus cookies decorate flat sugar cookies with red sugar caps, miniature marshmallow tassels, currant eyes, cinnamon candy noses, and coconut beards. A festive holiday craft cookie kids can help build from baked rounds.

Mom's black bottom pie with a chocolate custard base and vanilla chiffon top in a baked pastry shell. Old-school two-layer dessert from the heyday of American diner pies. Walnut garnish optional.