Dessert Recipes

Three-layer Southern banana cake with mashed ripe bananas folded into a buttermilk batter. Topped with confectioner's sugar frosting and chopped pecans for a true heirloom finish.

Peanut butter sandwich cookies filled with grape jelly. The classic PB&J turned into a soft, brown-sugar peanut butter cookie hugging a sweet jelly center. Lunchbox nostalgia in cookie form.

Golden orange sponge cake leavened entirely with whipped eggs, flavoured with fresh orange juice and pulp plus a hit of lemon extract. A light, fat-free cake baked in a springform pan and inverted to cool.

Baked apples ready fast: Granny Smith apples cored and stuffed with brown sugar and butter, dusted with cinnamon, and baked until the sugar caramelizes into a buttery syrup. A 4-ingredient fall dessert.

Dense apricot bars sweetened with maple syrup and loaded with dried apricots, walnuts, and cashews. No eggs, no butter, finished with powdered sugar icing and optional chocolate drizzle.

Caramel chocolate chip cheesecake with an oat-walnut crust, dark brown sugar and corn syrup filling, and chocolate chips scattered on top. Rich, dense, and deeply caramelized.

Classic homemade apple pie from scratch: a flaky double crust packed with cinnamon-spiced McIntosh and Granny Smith apples, thickened just enough and dotted with butter. The all-American dessert done right.

Moist applesauce cake spiced with cinnamon and cloves, spiked with instant coffee, and topped with a creamy coffee buttercream frosting. A one-bowl spice cake that bakes in 30 minutes.

Chocolate madeleines: classic French shell-shaped tea cakes made with semi-sweet chocolate, butter, and cake flour. Delicate, buttery, and with a tender crumb under a crisp edge.

Microwave coconut-graham pie crust with toasted sweetened coconut, crushed graham crackers, butter, and sugar. A no-bake crust ready in 20 minutes without heating up the oven.

Zuleika cake is a flourless almond cake with a tender, macaroon-like base crowned with a rich cooked egg yolk cream and toasted almonds. Naturally gluten-free and best made a day ahead.

Praline sauce made with dark brown sugar, toasted pecans, and vanilla, thickened with cornstarch and skim milk. A lighter take on the classic Southern dessert sauce.

First prize chocolate fudge cake, a flourless-style dense chocolate cake with semisweet chocolate, coffee, and folded egg whites. An award-winning showstopper with deep fudgy texture.

Old-fashioned oatmeal chocolate chip cookies made with shortening for extra-chewy texture. A from-scratch drop cookie recipe that makes three dozen.

Loaded with 4 cups of blueberries and kissed with almond extract, this sheet pan cake bakes up golden with a juicy berry filling and sweet lemon glaze drizzle.

Impressive apple pie with cinnamon crust, sour cream filling, and crunchy walnut-brown sugar topping. Three distinct layers of flavor and texture.