Dessert Recipes

Orange-kissed cheesecake on a chocolate graham cracker crust, made lighter with nonfat cottage cheese and reduced-fat cream cheese. Bright citrus meets dark cocoa in every forkful.

Chocolate drop cookies are soft, cake-like buttermilk cookies made with melted unsweetened chocolate and chopped walnuts. An old-fashioned drop cookie recipe that yields 3 dozen.

It was nice and moist, if a tad on the heavy side. The recipe is actually for cupcakes, but can make one big layer. The frosting is outstanding, a definite keeper.

Applique cookies stack contrasting chocolate-pepper and sugar cookie doughs, cut in different shapes and glued with egg white before baking, then drizzled with chocolate. A striking two-tone decorating technique.

Rich chocolate walnut cookies with melted semi-sweet chocolate, espresso, and chocolate chips. Shiny, crackle-topped, and fudgy inside like a brownie in cookie form.

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.

Frozen graham custard is a retro no-churn freezer dessert with whipped evaporated milk, lemon, and vanilla custard layered between buttery graham cracker crumbs. Six ingredients, no ice cream maker, pure midcentury nostalgia.

Chocolate-tipped butter cookies shaped into sticks, fork-pressed, and dipped in melted chocolate chips then rolled in chopped pecans or almonds. Elegant and melt-in-your-mouth tender.

Raspberry chocolate truffle pie layers whipped chocolate ganache spiked with raspberry liqueur over a flaky crust, finished with cream and a strained berry sauce. A bistro-quality dessert.

Divine Southern decadence cake: chocolate wafer and toasted coconut crust, dense fudgy chocolate-cashew filling with espresso and hazelnut liqueur, finished with whipped cream and chocolate curls.

Rich chocolate cake: single 8-inch buttermilk cocoa layer cake finished with bittersweet chocolate glaze. Can be split for a filled two-layer version.

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.

Fresh strawberry pie with a pureed berry glaze thickened with tapioca, poured over whole berries in a flaky pie shell. No-bake filling, no gelatin, just real fruit.

Old-fashioned Christmas sugar cookies made with a full pound of butter, sour cream, and baking soda. The dough chills overnight for easy rolling and clean cookie cutter shapes.

Mexican chocolate wedding cakes rolled in powdered sugar with unsweetened chocolate, brown sugar, butter, and chopped nuts. A rich, crumbly chocolate twist on the classic polvorones cookie.

British-style honey lemon cheesecake with curd cheese, sultanas, and a lattice pastry top baked in a shortcrust flan case. A light, European cheesecake with no refined sugar.