Dessert Recipes

Painted sugar cookies decorated before baking with egg yolk paint and food coloring. A fun, creative baking project for kids that skips messy icing entirely.

Paper-thin lemon cookies sliced from refrigerated dough, loaded with fresh lemon zest and juice. A crisp, buttery slice-and-bake cookie that spreads into translucent wafers with caramelized edges.

Party cake upgrades a boxed cake mix with extra eggs, sugar, and oil for a bakery-style cake that bakes in bundt, sheet, or layer pans. Popular doctored cake mix hack.

Party date cake is a big-batch chocolate date loaf topped with sugar, chopped nuts, and chocolate chips. Served warm in slices with whipped cream for a crowd-sized dessert.

Passover cheesecake with a chocolate macaroon and almond crust, filled with a silky cream cheese custard. A flour-free holiday dessert best made a day ahead.

Single-crust pie pastry made with lard and a touch of shortening for a flaky, old-fashioned 9-inch shell. The traditional fat blend bakeries used before all-butter pastry took over.

Pastelitos, little hand pies filled with mashed dried fruit, honey, and cinnamon in a flaky shortening crust. A traditional Latin American fruit turnover baked golden.

Red, white, and blue ice cream pie with a blueberry muffin mix crust, French vanilla ice cream filling, and sugared strawberries on top. A Fourth of July dessert.

Coconut kisses made from whipped egg whites, shredded coconut, and a touch of almond extract, topped with candied cherries. Light, chewy, and naturally gluten-free.

Pecan butter balls made with chopped pecans, butter, and vanilla, baked until sandy and tender. A classic Southern cookie for holiday tins and gift boxes.

Peach caramel crisp: ripe peaches baked over a hardened caramel base and crowned with ground almond praline streusel, served warm with vanilla ice cream. Summer fruit dessert elevated with French patisserie technique.

Peach cheese pie with a baked cream cheese filling topped with sliced peaches arranged in a petal pattern under a glossy peach juice glaze. A beautiful chilled summer dessert.

Peach cream pie: halved fresh peaches baked under a cinnamon-cream custard in a flaky crust. Simple summer dessert from peak-season stone fruit.

Old-fashioned peach ice made with fresh peaches, sugar syrup, and beaten egg whites for a light, airy texture. A vintage frozen dessert from the days before electric ice cream makers.

Old-fashioned peach ice cream churned in a hand-crank or electric freezer with crushed ripe peaches, evaporated milk, and a touch of almond extract. A summer porch classic.

A light, airy no-bake peach lemon chiffon pie: gelatin-set peaches and tangy lemonade folded with whipped evaporated milk in a graham crust. A cool, fluffy summer dessert that skips the oven entirely.