Dessert Recipes

Rum-flamed bananas sauteed in butter with powdered and brown sugar, then ignited with a full cup of rum for a dramatic tableside dessert. Serve over vanilla ice cream.

Chocolate chip cookies with a secret in the technique: beat the margarine and sugars until fluffy and pale before anything else joins the bowl. Crisp edges, soft centers, walnut crunch.

Shamrock cookies for St. Patrick's Day, a tender mint-scented shortbread tinted green, shaped from three little dough balls plus a stem and dusted with green sugar. A fun holiday baking project.

Peanut-shaped peanut butter cookies with orange zest and a classic crisscross top. A fun, hand-shaped cookie that kids love to help make. Crisp edges, chewy centers.

Sicilian cassata cake with a delicate sponge layer, Marsala wine soak, and rich chocolate custard filling. A traditional Italian celebration dessert built in stages.

Crunchy brown sugar nugget cookies baked in muffin tins with oats, granola, pecans, and butter. Flourless, crumbly, and caramelized with crispy edges.

Slice and bake chocolate chip cookies with a make-ahead freezer dough. Shape four logs, freeze for up to 6 months, and bake fresh cookies anytime in 10 minutes.

Freezer-friendly slice and bake peanut butter cookies with the classic fork crisscross pattern. Make the dough in bulk, freeze in logs, and bake fresh anytime.

Chocolate snickerdoodles rolled in a cocoa-cinnamon-sugar coating. Chewy oat cookies with a crackly crust and deep chocolate flavor that beats the classic version.

Soft Southern cream cookies made with sour cream for a pillowy, cake-like texture. Pressed flat with a cinnamon-sugar coated glass and baked until barely golden.

No-bake sour cream pumpkin pie layered with spiced pumpkin chiffon and sweet whipped cream, finished with toasted pecans. Gelatin-set filling means a stunning autumn pie with no oven time for the filling.

Vintage 1930s special cocoa cake: a tender chocolate layer cake made with bloomed cocoa, brown sugar, and cake flour. Old-fashioned recipe that beats most modern boxed mixes.

Soft, melt-in-your-mouth sugar cookies made with both butter and oil for extra tenderness. Pressed flat with a sugar-dipped glass and baked golden. Makes 6 to 7 dozen.

Old-fashioned griddle spice cakes made with sour milk, nutmeg, and baking soda, stacked with butter and sprinkled with cinnamon. A heritage breakfast treat served pie-style in wedges.

Spiced almond macaroons: gluten-free five-ingredient cookies with crackly tops and chewy almond centers, lifted with warm cinnamon. Bake on greased sheets and finish with a scatter of sliced almonds.

Cinnamon-spiced almond meringue cookies made with just 5 ingredients. Light, crisp, and naturally gluten-free with ground almonds folded into stiff egg whites.