Dessert Recipes

Mocha buttercrunch pie with a pecan-chocolate shortbread crust, a frozen mocha mousse filling, and a coffee whipped cream top studded with chocolate chips. Three layers of coffee-and-chocolate richness in every slice.

Tall honey cake (lekach) baked with 1¼ cups honey and a full cup of strong coffee for moisture and depth. Walnut-studded with warm spices, traditional for Rosh Hashanah and the Jewish New Year.

Traditional Panforte di Siena with toasted almonds, hazelnuts, candied orange peel, citron, cocoa, and honey syrup cooked to soft ball stage. A dense Italian Christmas confection.

Single-crust pastry pie shell with margarine, blind-baked at high heat until golden in 10 minutes. A basic flaky pastry that works as a base for cream pies, custards, and fruit fillings.

Peanut butter cookie cake: a tube-pan cake with a cookie-dough crust, melted chocolate layer, and peanut butter cake filling. Shortcut dessert that eats like a showstopper.

Italian polenta cake with ground almonds, cornmeal, orange and lemon zest, and vanilla bean. Naturally gluten-free with a tender, grainy crumb and citrus perfume.

Pumpkin snack cake spiced with cinnamon, ginger, and allspice, made lighter with egg substitute and low-fat milk. Soft, moist, and dusted with powdered sugar.

Spiced pumpkin or winter squash cake with a classic cooked caramel frosting. Four autumn spices, buttermilk tenderness, and a rich old-fashioned finish worth the candy thermometer.

Quick red velvet cake: yellow cake mix hack with buttermilk, cocoa powder, and red food coloring. A doctored box shortcut that delivers moist, classic red velvet in under an hour.

Vietnamese sesame cookies (bánh mè) with toasted sesame both ground into the dough and pressed onto the tops. Crisp, nutty, and sealed with an egg-wash gloss.

Sugarless slice-and-bake cookies made with whole wheat flour, chewy dates, toasted coconut, fresh orange zest, and crunchy pecans. Naturally sweetened by fruit alone, these make 5 dozen crisp, nutty rounds.

Tiny lemon ricotta turnovers with a butter cookie dough, creamy lemon-ricotta filling, and colorful nonpareil sprinkles. Italian-style filled cookies.

Vanilla sheet cake split and filled with a whipped butter-shortening cream made with evaporated milk. Cut into squares for individual cream-filled cakes that taste like homemade Twinkies.

A Southern-style pound cake with butter, five eggs, and a hint of almond extract, baked low and slow then soaked with a warm lemon glaze. Dense, buttery, and utterly addictive.

Three-layer white chocolate cake with coconut, pecans, and buttermilk topped with a pourable white chocolate frosting. Includes the frosting recipe.

Classic Southern chess pie with a custardy brown sugar and vanilla filling baked in a flaky pastry shell. A simple pantry pie with a crackly sugar top and silky middle.