Dessert Recipes

Macaroon meets chocolate chip cookie in this co-winner in the drop cookie category, with a twist of cinnamon, nutmeg and mint; it's from Jessica Wall-Valadez of Milwaukee.

A from-scratch blueberry lemon cobbler with a flaky buttermilk biscuit crust brushed golden and sprinkled with sugar. Lemon zest and warm spices make 3 pints of berries sing.

Here's a cake for praline lovers that can be prepared as a layer or sheet cake.

No-bake fruit balls made with cherries, dates, walnuts, and coconut ground together and rolled in sugar. A quick, old-fashioned confection with natural sweetness.

Crunchy toffee-studded drop cookies loaded with crushed candy bars and chopped pecans. A buttery brown sugar dough bakes up golden with irresistible brickle crunch in every bite.

Crispy deep-fried cardamom pastries with rum, butter, and a powdered sugar coating. Pale, delicate, and fragrant with freshly pounded cardamom seeds.

Chocolate mocha mousse: a French-style chocolate mousse with strong coffee, butter, egg yolks, and clouds of whipped cream and stiff egg white. The classic dinner-party finale, made the proper way.

hese are perfect for serving with coffee and dessert, and I include them in boxes of home-made assorted cookies for gift giving

No-bake oatmeal fudge cookies with cocoa, evaporated milk, butter, and rolled oats. Drop-style cookies that set on waxed paper into chewy, chocolatey rounds. No oven required.

No-bake chocolate peanut butter oatmeal cookies with shredded coconut, ready in 15 minutes. Stovetop fudge cookies that set up on waxed paper, no oven required.

Espresso tuiles with whole coffee beans, pecans, brown sugar, and corn syrup. Crispy, lace-like French cookies shaped into elegant curves while still warm.

Crustless Oreo cheesecake with chunks of cookie folded right into the batter and a cookie-crumb top. Baked in a water bath until silky, then flipped so the bottom becomes the top.

Traditional Italian almond biscotti (Biscotti di Prato) baked twice for shattering crunch. No butter, no oil, just flour, eggs, sugar, and whole blanched almonds.

Trinidadian sugar cakes are chewy Caribbean coconut candies cooked in sugar syrup and tinted pink. A traditional street-fair sweet from Trinidad and Tobago.

Citrus chiffon cake made with fresh orange juice, orange and lemon zest, and whipped egg whites for a cloud-light crumb. A 10-inch tube pan classic dusted with powdered sugar.

Fat-free cocoa squares with applesauce instead of butter or oil. A hot cocoa-brown sugar sauce poured over the batter before baking creates a gooey, self-saucing chocolate dessert.