Dessert Recipes

Silky vanilla Bavarian cream pie with an egg custard base, melted ice cream, and billowy whipped cream set in a baked pie shell. Old-school elegance that wobbles on the fork.

Eggnog mousse with rum, brandy, nutmeg, and whipped cream set with gelatin. A light, airy holiday dessert topped with crushed peppermint candies that tastes like eggnog in cloud form.

Old-fashioned peach gingerbread upside-down cake: molasses-spiced gingerbread baked over fresh sliced peaches, then topped with butter-glazed peaches and a preserves brush. Late-summer dessert perfection.

Blue ribbon cheesecake with a graham cracker crust, rich orange-scented cream cheese filling, and a final flourish of fresh orange zest. A short-bake cheesecake with the texture of mousse.

A two-layer Jello salad with a cherry pie filling base topped by a creamy lemon layer of cream cheese, pineapple, whipped cream, and marshmallows. Serves 12 from a 9x13 pan.

Black chocolate sponge cake: deep dark chocolate sheet cake with boiling-water batter trick, topped with creamy peanut butter frosting. Old-fashioned chocolate-peanut butter combo.

No-bake fruitcake packed with candied cherries, pineapple, dates, raisins, and nuts, bound with sweetened condensed milk and crushed graham crackers. Refrigerate and slice.

Light and fruity pie folds whipped topping and fresh strawberries into instant-set strawberry jello, then chills in a graham crust. A 7-ingredient no-bake summer dessert with cloud-light texture.

Light fruitcake is the pale, buttery holiday classic: candied pineapple, cherries and citron with golden raisins, pecans and walnuts, brightened with lemon and vanilla, then brandy-soaked and aged for weeks.

Baked pears in a buttery pineapple cream sauce with crystallized ginger and toasted almonds. An elegant warm fruit dessert with tropical, caramel-rich flavor.

Layered pumpkin walnut pie hides a buttery brown-sugar walnut praline beneath a creamy, cream-cheese-rich pumpkin custard in a shortbread crust, crowned with baked pastry leaves. A Thanksgiving showpiece.

One of my favorites. These are the cookies I make when I am trying to impress someone or cheer a person up. Though they are made with milk chocolate they are not too sweet. The edges are airy and crunchy and the center is soft and chewy.

Classic jelly roll cake with light sponge wrapped around your favorite jam and dusted with confectioners sugar. Vintage rolled cake recipe in 45 minutes flat.

Fa-la-la-la's are festive spritz-style cookies pressed into holiday shapes from a buttery shortening dough flavored with vanilla and almond extract. Christmas cookie classic.

Toasted coconut layer cake with zesty lime-lemon curd filling and fluffy coconut-crusted seven-minute icing. A tropical showstopper that's equal parts tangy and toasted-sweet.

Old fashioned fruitcake bars packed with candied cherries, dates, raisins, and nuts in a moist applesauce batter. Easier than traditional fruitcake and just as festive.